Perfect Work: In Progress, by Pastor Rob Ketterling
Well, it's about that time of year where I start looking at the final couple weeks of the year, and I'm trying to figure out how the year is going to close out; if the rest of the year will be the best of my year, and if I'm going to hit all my goals. If you don't know this about me, I'm a goal setter.
I'm looking at, like, okay, I said I would read this many books, and I read about
30. I have 12 books in process, and I think I can get all those done, and maybe three more to about 45. So I'm doing that. I set a goal to read one hundred of the old-school sermons, and I'm at 90, so I've got ten left. I think that's no problem. I'll do that. Becca and I looked at our Kingdom Builder goal. We said with three more pay periods we are going to hit our goal this year, and we are excited about that. That's what I do. I start to look at how will it close out, how will this year close out.
And then I want to let you know in a couple of weeks I'll transition completely over to 2015. It will still be 2014, but I will transition, and I will start setting goals. I will start. As a matter of fact, I've been adding them to the list. I've got a whole file of things that I'm praying about for next year in goals. But it is just transition. It is like, all right, now we are looking forward.
And I want to let you know that as I was looking at the year and kind of, all right, we are closing this out, how did we do? How are things going with all the goals for the church, for my life, for our family?
All of a sudden I realized that at the beginning of the year we started a series called Perfect Work. How many remember the series we did, Perfect Work at the beginning of the year. Okay. We did a series there where we did it actually as a whole church together. We did it together as an interactive thing where we had the weekend services and then the Lifegroups that were partnered with that. And we are going to do the same thing
again in 2015. New series. The series and the theme for next year is going to be Greater. And we are going to believe it is going to be a greater year for us.
But this year our theme was maturity, that we wanted to mature. So we said we are going to let Christ do his perfect work in us, that we are going to mature and we are going to add to these virtues, and we are going to keep moving forward and this is going to be our theme. We are going to just make sure that God moves us to maturity. We read the verse James 1:4, Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
And in that series I actually did a sermon where I had four chairs. Okay, by show of hands, how many remember the four chair sermon? Raise your hand. All right, so we did the four chair sermon. And we enjoyed it. We had the infant, the toddler, we had the young adult and the mature follower of Christ. I was like you need to move from this one to this one to this one. And we talked about the challenges that they face; you know,
what happens when they read the Bible, what happens with money, what happens with their language, and suffering and sin, and we said all this stuff. And so I was just moving people forward.
Well, as I'm kind of recapping the year, I just realize, all right, how did we do?
How did we do with maturity? Did we move people from not knowing Christ to being infants? Did we move people from infants to toddlers, toddlers on up? Did we move people along in the process? And as I was praying about it and focused on it, I felt I just wanted to do a refresher here and take two weeks, so this week and next week. And this week we are going to look at chairs one and two. We are going to look at people that are spiritual infants and people that are spiritual toddlers. And then next week will be young adults and the mature.
If you're young adult or mature and you're like, "Oh, this isn't for me," yes, it is.
Because the infants and the toddlers need you to be pouring into them. They need you to be taking care of them. So don't check out. You should have your eyes on who are the infants and who are the toddlers.
So as we look at this, I remember we used Hebrews chapter 5. It was a scripture about maturing, and I want to read this for you. Hebrews 5:11-14. It says, 11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
The writer of Hebrews is frustrated because the people are not moving forward in the progression.
13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
So this is a work in progress. We are going to see if you're moving along.
And we are hoping instead of being frustrated like the writer of Hebrews, that as you look at your life you're saying, I am moving forward, I am making progress, the church is moving forward and we are fulfilling this. We are moving forward into maturity. So the first person I want to talk about is the infant person. You're the infant and you're spiritually new in the faith.
Now, I've got some exciting news for you, but it also challenges me. River Valley gives many times an alter call at the end of the service. What does that mean? From the alter area we are saying do you want to give your life to Jesus Christ? Do you want to have a personal faith relationship with him? We know there could be about 20 percent of our church on any given weekend that doesn't know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
We expect a lot of visitors and people that are exploring the faith, and so we will give an opportunity. So I want you to know already this year over three thousand people have said, "Yes, I want a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."
And I think that's pretty amazing. Let's clap at all of our campuses. Yeah.
[Clapping]
It's absolutely amazing to me. I love that we give that personal invitation.
Now here's the part that bothers me, okay? We only grew by a thousand. Okay? So either we had a bunch of people that were in church that finally got saved, which is great. Or people give their life to Jesus Christ and some slipped away, which is not great. Or there was a blend of it; people were here and lived somewhere else or found a church closer or whatever the case may be.
But I just want to make sure when we are winning people to Christ, when we are moving them from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, when we are helping them to become spiritual infants, that we are doing everything we can to help them
to grow in their faith and stay in the faith. That's what I'm praying; that we will continue to do that. And I believe that a church like ours that is prepared for new people to find faith, God is like, "That's where I'm sending them. I'm sending them to a church that is prepared to receive these people."
And as a church I challenge you. I said every time somebody steps up in leadership, God can send us four more people. It seems like every time we have people serve or greet or lead a Lifegroup or whatever, every time somebody steps up and says, "I've moved into the mature chair, I moved forward," then God says, "Well, then I can fill the nursery again." And that's what happens. And so we saw people moving forward. These people found faith, and I love that God is like, "Okay, this is a great place for me to send big sinners and even bigger sinners." I like that, that people found faith in Jesus Christ.
Now, when they find faith in Jesus Christ and they get forgiven of their sins, there is so many things that are happening in their life. We are going to walk through that. In 1 Peter chapter one, and I as I read this this week I felt like Peter was talking to these groups going through the chairs. Obviously, it was on my mind. But in 1 Peter 1:3-4, it says, 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope... See, that's that new infant. ....new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.
It talks about us being brought into the family of God. As a matter of fact, Ephesians talks about us being adopted into the family. And when you give your life to Jesus Christ, you become a new creation, you become a spiritual infant in the family. And God is like, "Welcome to the family."
And the one thing that I absolutely love about all the new people finding faith in Jesus Christ is they start to discover all the things that are theirs. They are like, "Wow,
forgiveness is mine! I didn't know I could be forgiven." They are like, "Love is mine. Peace is mine. Wow, I didn't know these things were there for me." And they started adding all these things. They just start realizing who they are in Christ and what Christ gives them.
And they realize that their past doesn't hold them anymore, that they are forgiven, and they keep adding all these things. And I absolutely love it. It is so exciting to watch this take place.
And it's almost like if you imagine a physical baby, a newborn baby, all of a sudden a newborn baby starts to realize like, "Hey, that guy with the deep voice talking to me. I think he's my dad." You know? And all of a sudden that baby starts realizing, "That lady that takes care of me every day, I think she is my mom. That guy over there that looks a little older than me, I'll dominate him some day." Okay, you know, that's just going
through the mind, and I'm wondering what babies are thinking. "And that little furry creature running around, I'm not sure who is related to that thing." You know, they are thinking when they start, "Hey, this is my family. This is my dad. This is my dad. This is my mom. I've got a family. Hey, this is my chair. I've got a chair. This is my car seat, and I hate it." You know, they just all those things they just start discovering and they start learning what's theirs. "This is my blanket. This brings me comfort."
Okay, if you can imagine, it is just like that, it's just like that. And all these people at our church are discovering, "This is for me! God has this for me, and I'm discovering this." And this is all part of it. I thank God for that. And I want to tell you as you discover this, as the spiritual infants discover these things in their life, there is a couple things you need to really grab hold of. And we want you to make it. That's why I'm sharing this with you.
If you're a spiritual infant, we have several things that we talk about. They are components of our church. We talk about we want you to be inspired. We want you to be connected. We want you to be a world changer. And we want you to be devoted. Now, I want to let you know for spiritual infant, it is be inspired and be connected. The other things will come in time, but the first thing we want you to do is be inspired and be connected.
And the first thing with be inspired is that we want you to be inspired by staying faithful to weekend services. When you get together with other believers, like what we are doing this weekend and you're together, you will learn things when you're around the family of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And if you're
going to discover all the things that God has for you, you need to stay connected. And you'll start learning things.
Have you ever noticed that children start learning things by being in the family? They don't know exactly how it is, but they start watching and they are like, "Well,
they take that thing and they put it in their mouth," and, you know, they miss. Or they see -- how many know if you have an iPad or an iPhone and you have a five-month old or older, it's gone, right? You know, they take that thing and they swipe and they learn. They watch you. How many know you could teach a kid, "Touchdown, Vikings!" and then pray that we score a touchdown? How many know you can teach them? They just do whatever you do. How many know in church, you do that and you start getting around people and you start learning. They watch and they learn.
Children are like little Velociraptors in Jurassic Park. How many remember that movie? You know, the people open the door, and all of a sudden at Jurassic Park that Velociraptor is like [sound] and it's attacking them, you know. That's what kids are thinking. They are thinking, "[sound] I'll take over this family!" Okay, but they are learning, okay?
That's what's happening.
And so you need to be around the church. All of a sudden you are like, "Hey, they are raising their hands. Okay, can I do that? I can do that." Some people are like, "I don't know, they are just raising their hands, I'm doing it." And then you understand why you are doing it. But you learn how to I pray. You learn how to worship. You learn these things by being around them.
And I just want to say to you be inspired. Stay faithful to the local church.
And if I can say this, don't ever become the average American Christian. Don't ever do it. Because the average American Christian now is only going to church one out of every three weekends. Okay? That's unacceptable. One out of three. You know, "I got a thing. Busy with that. We'll get there when we get there." That's how come a church can be 200 every day, and on Easter they are 800 or a thousand because everybody shows up on the one day. It's kind of like rotating church. Don't do that. You need to be involved. You need to be around. You need to be there as often as you possibly can.
I think about new Christians, new infant Christians. You know, sometimes I will see them at every service on the weekend. Every service. I'm like, "Hey, were you here on Saturday night?"
And they are like, "Yeah, it's good. I'm back."
I'm like, "We're preaching the same thing today." "I know, and it's good."
I'm like, "It's video. It didn't change. It's the same thing."
They are like, "I know, but I'm just so excited and I'm taking it in."
Don't lose the hunger. Don't lose the hunger. I thank God that you come five times on a weekend, but don't all of a sudden let it be once every five weeks. Don't slip.
Don't do that. I love what Pastor Brian Houston said. He said, "The more optional church becomes to you, the less impact it can have on you." It's not optional. It is not optional.
We want you to be inspired. And the world is so hard, and then you come into this place and you come around the family and you learn and you get encouraged, and it's uplifting and it's faith building. That's who we are. And so you come together with these people. We are pulling for you.
Another component for the spiritual infant is to be connected. You need to be inspired and you need to be connected. What does that mean? It means be in a Lifegroup. I'm telling you this, you don't do your faith alone. You need to be in a Lifegroup. It is so important. Titus chapter 2 really is talking about this. He's saying, "Teach the old men this. Have the old men teach the young men teach this. Teach the old ladies this. Have them teach the young ladies this."
It's about mature people in chairs three and four teaching those people in chairs one and two and saying, "Hey, we are going to make it. You're going to be able to be there." Your stories, your testimonies, when you are in chairs three and four and you're
sharing with the young infant, those stories are like bedtime stories. How many know when you have a little child, you start reading them the stories. It starts with the little rubber books that they can chew on. You know, it is like one word and a picture, and you flip it over and you point and they just take it in. Some of your testimonies, you think they are so simple.
But your testimony is what helps strengthen them, because they need to be connected. As a matter of fact, we need a whole bunch of people to step up that are mature believers that will say, "I will lead a Lifegroup. I will help the infant. My stories have value for them and I'm going to do this."
New believers need to get in a Lifegroup. Grab it. Get online. Get into it. As a matter of fact, if you know somebody that is a new believer and they are not in a Lifegroup, bring them to your Lifegroup. Get them in your Lifegroup. You are like, "Well,
I'm in a knitting Lifegroup." I mean, you know, well, bring them there. I don't care. Teach them how to knit. The stories will be worth it. If they are ever in Armageddon with a thing of yarn and knitting needles, they can make a blanket or something, I don't know. But get them there, all right? Get them there and let them be around you. It is something about this. We need this to happen. And you need to be inspired and you need to be connected. Because here's what you keep discovering: This is all mine. The family of God is mine.
The blessings of God are mine. All these wonderful things, it's for me and I get to grow in this. It is an amazing thing that happens.
Now, the next group that comes after that is the toddlers, because after you start discovering all the things that are yours, all of a sudden you start discovering this is mine, this is mine, it's so great. How many know when you become a spiritual toddler, now God wants to show you all the things that are not yours? "That's not yours anymore. No, that's not yours. You thought that was yours. That's not yours. You're not going to have that."
And again, going back to 1 Peter because, again, I read it with this in mind. In 1 Peter 1:13-16, it says, Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
You were just a baby. Now you live in ignorance. He says, 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Then in 1 Peter 1-3 he says, Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
So you're doing this, you're inspired, you're staying connected, and as you are connected, here's what's going to happen. God is going to start regenerating you. He has adopted you into his family, and he said, "As an infant you've got to understand who you are. You are now in the family." And then as you start to grow, he starts to say, "Now that you are in the family, here's how the family acts. Here's what the family does and doesn't do." And it's called regeneration. He starts to form you into his image. He is like, "I want you to look like God, because the more you look like God, the more people outside the family enjoy our family and our family has the answers." So he starts saying, "This is not going to happen. We are not going to do this anymore. I'm going to put some godliness in you, and I'm going take this out of you." He says, "There is no more lying, there is no more stealing. There is no more other things. There is all these things, slander," he says, "we don't do that. Not in this family. We are going to do the right thing."
How many know when you're going through that and God starts to discipline you, it doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good at all. You really like the adding, the adding, the my, the my, the my. And now all of a sudden God starts saying, "No, I'm going to form
you and I'm going to take these things away from you. We are not doing this." And this discipline that happens over and over and over again is there for your benefit.
In Hebrews Chapter 12, I want to read this for you. Hebrews 12:4, I'll start there. In your struggle against sin... You're in this toddler stage. ...you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?
He is saying, "You know what? I'm disciplining you. I'm taking care of you.
I'm changing you. And I'm forming you into my image." And that's what is going to happen. There is going to be a discipline and it doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good. But guess what? It is for your own good. We are going to take these things out of your life. And so you think -- he says "I'm going to take this out of you. I'm trying to form you into my image."
I can remember when I was disciplining our kids, I kept thinking, "I'm trying to discipline you. I'm trying to form you into the image that is good." How many have heard that line, like, "This hurts me more than it hurts you"? And honestly, as a parent you don't want to discipline. But we need to do this. We've got to discipline. And I can remember, you know, telling the kids, I said, "I'm disciplining you so that you will be formed into the image of God. I am disciplining you so you'll be a good kid when you are older."
And I can remember one time Logan disobeyed me. He was in a time-out and he kept leaving the time-out. He was our strong-willed child, by the way. He kept leaving the time-out and leaving the time-out. So I went and got a chair and kind of held him in the time-out, and I said, "You're not leaving the time-out. You've got to know what you did was
wrong."
Finally his spirit broke, and he turned around and he said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry."
And I said, "I'm trying to form you into the image you need to be. This is the phase that you're in right now, and you've got to learn what we do and what we don't do so that you grow up to be the right person."
So God is saying, "I'm going to discipline you." So he's adding all these
things. Add this, add this, add this. And then over here he's like, "All right, now these things have got to go. Nope, that is not our family. Nope, we are going to do it this way. We are going to do it this way."
And the writer of Hebrews says don't despise discipline. He says don't despise the discipline. Well, how do we despise the discipline? You're all excited about all the things that are added to you, and all of a sudden you are walking in the ways of the Lord and you are there, and then all of a sudden God says, "I'm going to take that away from
you. That's not the way a Christian walks." You go, "What?"
And he goes, "No, you're not going to have that anymore."
And then you leave and you go, "I can't believe he's taking away my unsaved girlfriend." You run away and say, "I can't believe he did that."
How many know you are despising the discipline?
God is like, "No, you're not going to do that anymore. You used to get drunk.
Now you're not going to get drunk. As Christians we don't get drunk."
You're like, "I can't believe I can't even get drunk." Huh? That doesn't sound familiar? Apple Valley campus didn't need this, just in case you're wondering.
Forgiveness. He says forgive. No, we are not going to hold grudges. We are
not going to hate our enemies. "Can't believe it. He hit me first." You know, "I can't believe it."
How many know if you don't get past that, you're stuck. You're stuck. And God is like, "We are going to take that away from you. We are going to live differently, and I need you to work with me." How many know that if you refuse to change, if you refuse to, no, don't do that! You need to submit. You need to change, and this will be better for you.
So what do you need? Again, you need to be inspired. But you need to be connected, because people in your Lifegroup will help you as you go through this. They are saying, "You know what? What is going on in you is normal. It's normal." You know what, there are things God is going to take away from your life that are going to form you into his image, and it is normal. And it does hurt some. But you know what? It works a greater good. And I'm telling you what God has in store for you is so much better. Let him take away the things that don't matter and the things that actually lead to destruction.
Paul says, or writer of Hebrews, and I'm assuming it is Paul, but the writer of Hebrews says don't make light of the Lord's discipline and don't lose heart. One says don't faint. How many know when God says you can't have that, some people say, "Well, I'm not going to try. I'm not going to try. If that's what God wants, then I'll just sit here and just stay stuck." Don't do that! He says don't faint. Don't lose heart. God is disciplining you and forming you. Don't throw a temper tantrum.
Some people will walk away and say, "Okay, if this is what happens when you follow Jesus, if this is what happens and he starts forming you and he expects you to forgive your enemies and he starts asking these things of you, then I'm out. Then I walk away." How many know you can start doubting if God even cares for you? "I don't think he even cares." How many know you start believing the lie, like, "This thing will never end, and I'm never going to get through that."
And all of a sudden you're in community and you're connected and then God says, "You know what? I can bring you through this. These people will encourage you.
You're going to make it. You're going to make it."
It's so vital for you if you're a toddler, spiritual toddler, to have a mentor, have a Lifegroup, to have people in your life that can form you and help you to understand that is not unusual, and then they will tell you their story. "Hey, this is what God did with me, and I'm telling you it worked out amazing. This is what God did and he brought me to the next step and the next step."
Because that's what Hebrews 12:11 says. It says, No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. It's saying, "Guess what, there is going to be a harvest of righteousness if you keep doing these things and letting God train you and form you into his image."
So I'm just saying that our church will continue to welcome people in and say, "Welcome, we'd love for you to be a spiritual infant."
Infants, don't stay there. Keep moving forward. And when the Holy Spirit slaps your hand, agree with what the Holy Spirit is doing and move along with that correction. And then add the new things. Get in new habits, get rid of the old habits, and get ready to move into the next phase and say, "God, whatever is next, Lord, I receive it. Whatever is next."
Here's the thing. Our nursery next year will be full again. I don't see it easing up at all. I think we need people moving from infant to toddler, toddler to young adult, young adult to mature, because I see just continued salvations. That's not going to change. There are going to be more people coming to faith and more campuses and more expansion and more things going on. So if we are going to do this, each group needs to keep moving
forward so we can bring forth a great harvest of righteousness and saying, "God, use us to reach the next person that needs to come into your kingdom." How are we doing? Are we maturing? Are we really moving forward? Have we stalled out? Let's not stall out. Let's keep moving forward in Jesus' name.
So, Lord, I pray that you would help us to move forward in your name. Lord,
I thank you for that. I thank you that the church is continuing to see thousands of people come to faith in Jesus Christ, and we want to retain more of that. We want to see them stay in the family of God. We know some may have gone to other churches and we rejoice in that. We are just part of the Kingdom of God. But we would be deeply saddened by those people that made a decision and then just fell by the wayside. God, help us to be ready to welcome spiritual infants into the body and help them to grow. And as they discover all the blessings that are theirs, may they just rejoice in that.
But as they move forward to toddlers, Lord, I just pray over them. May they give up the things you're asking them to give up. As you say, selfishness has to die.
Immorality has to die. You need to be pure. You say these things have got to go. God, I pray that we receive that and we let grace just change us and grace bring us to godliness. So I thank you for that.
Lord, help our church to move forward. Help us, Lord, with lots of people that are mature and can help lead and disciple and connect these people and move them forward. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. I pray that we mature and that you do your perfect work in us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen, amen.
