How We Are Transformed To Look More Like Jesus

Monday, August 25, 2025

His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 2 Peter 1:3-4

How We Are Transformed to Look More Like Jesus

We are all going somewhere. We are all on a spiritual journey. When you look back on your journey how does who you were then compare to who you are now? Have you changed at all and if so, for better or for worse? Our journey is not a straight path with no obstacles or cliffs along the way. Our journey is a messy, winding, twisted path that crisscrosses and drops off along the way. But every bump and bend along the way of our path are important parts of our journey. 

We are in a series on what spiritual movement looks like as a disciple of Jesus and what the strategy is for making disciples here at NSBC. At the center of the core values here at North Side Baptist Church is holistic discipleship. As individual followers of Jesus and as a church, our call is to make disciples - one who has trusted Jesus by faith, is following and being transformed by Jesus, and is on mission for Jesus by leading others to do the same. The discipleship pipeline is a path where we as a church help lead every generation toward a fully-formed life with Jesus. A discipleship pathway is our personal path that moves us toward spiritual maturity. In order to grow towards spiritual maturity, we must move. 

As we become believers, we have a choice. We get to decide whether we will move and grow in our relationship with Jesus or if we will just sit in the pew and wait for the day we get to see him face to face. Yesterday we learned the next step in the discipleship pipeline is transformation. Transformation does not happen unless we move. We must surrender and follow Jesus to be transformed. Following Jesus leads to learning to live and love like him, stepping where the Spirit steps, leading to transformation, glorifying him, and pointing others to him. That is a lot happening at the same time! As Pastor Jim told us yesterday, it is a partnership between us and God and us and other believers. 

What does transformation look like? As we grow Jesus transforms our mind and reshapes our desires. to reflect his. This Spirit-led formation is ongoing sanctification that reflects Jesus in everything we think, say, and do. He will be reflected in our character, desires, and everyday lives. This is how Jesus transforms us to look more like him over time. When we walk the Jesus way, it will be evident to those around us as they will see this transformation in our lives. 

We have everything we need for transformation through his divine power. The work of transformation is the work of Christ in us. Peter tells us how we can follow Jesus into this transformation:  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. 2 Peter 1:5-10 

The work of transformation in us is from Jesus but we move into rhythms of growth by using the tools he has given us – his Word, other believers, and his promises. Peter also says in verse 10 that if we do these things, we will never stumble. When we walk with him, immersed in his word and standing on his promises, we will step where he steps, without stumbling.

Remember the pathway on the journey. Most people are focused on the finish line but the journey is the most important part.The journey is where transformation takes place. Pay attention to where you are and what God may be trying to teach you in this moment. You are on a journey and you are being transformed if you have surrendered and stepped out onto the winding path.  

How is Jesus transforming you to look more like Him every day? 

Which of the virtues that Peter lists need to be more evident in you? 

Will you ask God, through His Holy Spirit, to do a work in you to reflect Jesus more fully in your character, desires, and everyday life?

Move: Growing Toward a Fully Formed Life “Being Transformed"

Move: Growing Toward a Fully Formed Life
“Being Transformed" 
2 Peter 1:3-10 (CSB)

 

- Key Truth: “Movement is the catalyst for growth. Therefore, there can be no spiritual growth without spiritual movement.”

- Spiritual Movement: “The journey to fill the gap between where we are and where God wants us to be.”

- Discipleship Pipeline- A pipeline focuses on the church as a whole.

- Discipleship Pathway- A pathway focuses on an individual or a ministry within the church.

Transform Overview:

- Discipleship Principle: As we follow Him, He transforms our minds and reshapes our desires to reflect His.

- Discipleship Focus: Spirit-Led Formation

- Discipleship Goal: Our goal is for disciples to experience the ongoing work of sanctification— growing to reflect Jesus more fully in their character, desires, and everyday lives.

Main Question: How does Jesus transform us to look more like Him over time?

1.        Peter before the resurrection. (Matthew 26:69-75)

2.    Peter following the resurrection. (Acts 2:1-41)

3.    Peter in process. (Galatians 2:11-14)

4.    Peter as a maturing disciple. (2 Peter 1:3-15)

After the Message: 
Read 2 Peter 1:3-10. How is Jesus transforming you to look more like Him every day? Which of the virtues that Peter lists need to be more evident in you? Will you ask God, through His Holy Spirit, to do a work in you to reflect Jesus more fully in your character, desires, and everyday life?

 

Planted and Thriving

Friday, August 22, 2025

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  John 15:5

Planted and Thriving

Imagine a vine growing and the branches that are producing the beautiful sweet fruit.  If you come along and cut off the branch, it, along with the attached fruit, will wither and die.  That is how are lives will be apart from Christ.  If we remain in Him, read our Bibles and grow in our relationship with Him and serve Him, we will produce fruit in our lives.  It we cut ourselves off from Him, we will become like a dried-up branch with shriveled up fruit.  Not a very pretty picture, is it?  Without its connection to the life-giving source of the vine, the branch will not live.  It will shrivel and dry up and will not produce any fruit.  As a branch cannot grow, thrive, and produce fruit, we cannot grow, thrive, and produce fruit apart from Jesus.  

The Purpose of Abiding

Without Jesus, we can do nothing.  Without Jesus, we do not grow or thrive.  Without Jesus, we do not produce the fruit in our lives.  All of that comes from abiding or remaining in Him.  I love the word abiding and the thought of abiding in Christ. To me that means that every part of me is wrapped up in Him, enveloped my Him.  Every breath I take, I take in Him.  Abiding is being together every second. One inside the other, literally a part of each other.  This is the connection that produces the fruit in our lives.  Sustenance and nourishment from the One True Source allows us to bear fruit and thrive.  Apart from that sustenance, nothing.  Barren, dry, parched and shriveled lives.  

Abiding in Christ is a patient expectancy; it is neither wasteful idleness nor anxious striving. The Psalmist cried out, "Rest in God alone, my soul,  for my hope comes from him." Psalm 62:5 When we turn our hearts toward the world’s resources, we leave our place on the vine and the strength that comes from Him.

Where we abide is where we exist.  Waiting upon the Lord is not a pursuit of our soul but the resting of our soul in Him.

Unless You Abide In Me…

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  John 15:4-5

 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law…  Galatians 5:22-23

 

Unless You Abide In Me…

 

When we are living in the Spirit, the fruit that comes out of our lives will reflect the Holy Spirit, but when we are living in our sinful nature, the fruit in our lives will reflect our sinful nature.  When we become Christians, God has a desire for us to bear good fruit and bear a lot of it, to be highly productive: Jesus said, This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:8   Another time, Jesus says that we did not choose Him, but He chose us and appointed us to go and bear fruit that will last – eternal fruit! We can only produce this fruit by abiding in him - living in him and stepping where he steps every step of the way. When we abide in him, we will produce his fruit in our lives. 

 

Jesus gave us everything we need to produce good fruit and to produce a lot of it, and that is to abide in Him.  We cannot produce spiritual fruit on our own.  It only comes through a relationship with Jesus.  A branch cannot bear fruit without the vine and we cannot bear fruit without Jesus.  

 

We also have to be careful that we don’t produce bad fruit.  The Bible says Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit” Matthew 7:17–18. In other words, bad fruit is not the problem, but only a symptom of the problem. We need to dig until we find the root of the problem, and then ask Jesus to heal us. We can have a bad attitude, or let bitterness or anger take root and then we produce rotten fruit instead of good fruit. We have to treat the root to save the whole tree.  

 

We are known by our fruit

A tree cannot always be distinguished by its bark or leaves, but you can always tell a tree by its fruit. You cannot pick an orange from an apple tree, or grapes from a tomato vine.  It is the same with us.  Our actions prove what kind of person we are.  We can say we are a Christian, but if there is no fruit in our life to prove it, people will see that and know we are not truly living in the Spirit. Likewise if we say we are a Christian but then produce bad fruit, people will notice.  We cannot disguise our Christianity by pretending to be one thing and yet produce something totally different in our daily lives. Unless we are abiding in him, we won't be able to produce something that looks like him to the rest of the world.  

 

When we are living in the Holy Spirit and allowing the Holy Spirit to control our whole beings, these fruits will be evident to others around us. Without God’s spirit, we are all flesh and raw human nature.  But the Holy Spirit in us produces wonderful virtues of godly character that is all the result of Him acting from within us.  Obedience to the Holy Spirit is what produces fruit in our lives.  Spiritual maturity and growth does not happen automatically.  It takes purposeful effort on our part to yield to the Holy Spirit.  His desire for our lives is to produce good fruit by abiding in Him. 

 

 

 

  

What Brings True Riches?

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished and asked, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:23-26

“Riches” 

Jesus had just spoke with a man known to us as the rich young ruler. He was a good man who had kept all the laws, but when it came down to the cost of following Jesus he wasn’t willing to pay the price. Jesus told him:

“If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard that, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions. Matthew 19:21-22

Understand that Jesus is talking about money here but in the context of our lives,"riches"can be anything that we make an idol or put above God in our hearts. 

This man went away grieving because Jesus told him he had to make a choice – to pay a price – to follow him. Jesus knew his heart. He knew that he loved his riches and would not give them up and follow Jesus. He was miserable and was not willing to give up the very thing that was making him miserable. How true is that for so many of us? The thing we hold onto and don’t want to let go of may be the very thing that drags us down into the quicksand. Jesus saves. He gives life – eternal life – that begins the minute we accept his gift of salvation. New life now and for all eternity. Yet we want to believe that we can drag our “riches” with us and still live the Jesus way. But Jesus does not share his throne with anyone or anything. Following Jesus is a sold-out, all or nothing commitment. He wants our whole heart. That does not mean we can’t love anything or anyone else. It means we cannot love anyone or anything else more than we love him. It means giving him the highest place in our lives.

A common false belief at that time was that wealthy people were favored by God. Jesus tells them this is not true. Trusting and following are not usually traits of someone who is very wealthy, but they are required to live the Jesus way and have a relationship with him. At least there is the perception that money = power and security. Jesus tells his disciples that it is hard for rich men to enter heaven because riches can also create a false sense of contentment in the moment. Riches can cause us to feel like we don’t need Jesus or to worry about eternal life.

Then Peter responded to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you. So what will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields because of my name will receive a hundred times more and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first. Matthew 19:27-30 

Peter responds to Jesus saying that the disciples have done what he asked by leaving everything behind and following him. He asks, “What will there be for us?” Jesus tells him that everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields because of my name will receive a hundred times more and will inherit eternal life. Jesus promises us that our blessings from leaving our “riches” behind and following him will be a hundred times more, on top of inheriting eternal life. A life surrendered and following Jesus will be so much more fulfilling than anything any “riches” could ever give us. If you have ever chased ”riches” of any kind then you know that you are never fulfilled and always reaching for more. Jesus is everything we ever need and want. The abundance of the world is never enough but the abundance of a life lived in Jesus provides peace, contentment, complete joy and so much more than we could ever ask, seek, or imagine. 

How about you? Aren’t you tired of trying to drag dead things with you on a path only meant for life?

What are your “riches?”

Are you willing to go all or nothing for Jesus?  

Follow Jesus to Find Joy and Abundant Life

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. John 15:9-11

Follow Jesus to Find Joy and Abundant Life

We are all searching for something, and until we find what we are looking for we will grasp one wrong thing after the other. What is it? Some may say happiness, purpose, or fulfillment. But what we are really seeking is joy – not to be mistaken for happiness. True joy from the Lord is deep rooted in our heart. That joy, like the Lord, is unchanging because He is unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever so when we find true joy in Him, that joy is the same yesterday, today, and forever, no matter what. It cannot be shaken or taken by anyone or anything. 

What makes us happy in this moment will be gone the next. Our circumstances can be like shifting sand where we constantly have to adjust what to hold onto and what makes us happy. When we hold onto anything but Him, we will continually have to shift because that one thing will not make us happy or secure always. So we grab the next wrong thing. We are searching for deep seated joy but instead settle for momentary pleasure or happiness in something or someone that will ultimately end up disappointing us, leaving us emptier than before, and even more desperate for that hole to be filled. 

How do we experience the fruit of joy in our lives as the Holy Spirit forms it in us? We are all for having the fruit of joy in our lives, but often we do not want to do any work on our end. But to find true joy, there a couple of steps we must take. 

Remaining in Him – To remain in something is to abide, dwell, or make your home in. As Christians following Jesus, we live our lives in Him, stepping where the Spirit steps, learning to live and love like Him. If we are not abiding in Him, we will abide somewhere. When we abide in Him, He gives us life and we bear the fruit of the Spirit as we are transformed. If we are not abiding in Him, our fruit will look very different. 

Obedience – John 14:23 says If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. Jesus said if we truly love Him, we will want to obey. Obedience to Jesus is a direct result of a transformative relationship with Him and the Agape love He pours into us. His love for us and our love for Him is part of our Spiritual Formation – the process of being formed into the likeness of Christ for the sake of others. - Robert Mulholland, Invitation to a Journey, 16. Part of walking in obedience in Him is pouring out that obedience into the lives of others. When we pour His agape love out to others, we will find true joy. The secret to an abundant and joyful life is to give it away to others 

God wants us to find complete joy. He desires to give us abundant life in Him, where true joy is found. We settle less and fill the void with something – anything. This deep seated, unshakable joy is far more desirable and fulfilling than anything we try to substitute for it. It is a gift given and the result of abiding in Christ in a loving and transformative, relationship with Him and obedience to Him. 

Who Are You Following?

Monday, August 18, 2025

 Just then someone came up and asked him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” he said to him. “There is only one who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he asked him. Jesus answered: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as yourself.  “I have kept all these,” the young man told him. “What do I still lack?” “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard that, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions. Matthew 19:16-20

Pastor Jim is taking us through a series on what spiritual movement looks like as a disciple of Jesus and what the strategy is for making disciples at NSBC. At the center of the core values at North Side Baptist Church is holistic discipleship. As individual followers of Jesus and as a church, our call is to make disciples - one who has trusted Jesus by faith, is following and being transformed by Jesus, and is on mission for Jesus by leading others to do the same. The discipleship pipeline is a path where we as a church help lead every generation toward a fully-formed life with Jesus. A discipleship pathway is our personal path that moves us toward spiritual maturity. In order to grow towards spiritual maturity, we must move. Last week we learned that Trust is the first step on the discipleship pathway. As Christians, our belief in Jesus as the Son of God and our Savior is the foundation our life in Jesus is built on. As Pastor Jim said, “Trust is the oxygen of every relationship,” and without trust a relationship will die. 

The next step on the pipeline is Follow. Our foundation of trust in Jesus must be secure or we will not follow him. We are all following someone or something. Who or what we trust will determine who we follow and who we follow will determine how we are transformed. Trust is the beginning and the foundation, but it is an invitation to more. It is an invitation to be transformed. 

We often try to mold Jesus to look like us, to match our desires and join us where we want to be. As disciples of Jesus, we are supposed to be transformed to be like him, to learn to live and love like him, to step where the Spirit steps. Follow means that we surrender everything and join Jesus where he is working. We can do this because we trust him. 

For many, they will never find what they are looking for because they are looking in the wrong place. We will never find the right thing in the wrong place, but we will always find the wrong thing in the wrong place. The void we want filled, the hole in our heart we want patched, the loneliness we want to vanish, the loss we want erased – nothing on this earth will help any of this. The King of Kings is the only one who can give us what we want and need. The Rich Young Ruler had a life full of idols and still he knew something was missing. He felt the void. He was still seeking fulfillment. He did not like Jesus’ answer that he had to give up everything and follow him. But the cost of following Jesus is high. It costs us everything, but we gain everything in return. We must love him more than anything else in or lives so we must lay it all down and follow him. 

Does that mean you need to sell everything tomorrow? No but Jesus knew this man’s heart and he knew that this man loved his possessions more than he loved Jesus or wanted to follow him. We must get rid of anything or anyone that we love more than Jesus.  There is no room on the throne of our hearts for anything or anyone else.                                        

Are you following Jesus? Have you surrendered every part of your life to him?                     

Move: Growing Toward a Fully Formed Life “Learning to Follow” Matthew 19:16-22 (CSB)

 

Move: Growing Toward a Fully Formed Life
“Learning to Follow”
Matthew 19:16-22 (CSB)

 

- Key Truth: “Movement is the catalyst for growth. Therefore, there can be no spiritual growth without spiritual movement.”

- Spiritual Movement: “The journey to fill the gap between where we are and where God wants us to be.”

- Discipleship Pipeline- A pipeline focuses on the church as a whole.

- Discipleship Pathway- A pathway focuses on an individual or a ministry within the church.

Follow Overview:

- Discipleship Principle: Following Jesus means learning to walk with Him daily through obedience and relationship.

- Discipleship Focus: Rhythms of Obedience

- Discipleship Goal: Our goal is for disciples to begin intentionally following Jesus—not just attending, but abiding; not just learning, but living.

Main Question: What does it mean to follow Jesus and what will it cost us?

1.        We all want eternal life. (Matthew 19:16-20)

2.    Jesus provides eternal life on His terms.  (Matthew 19:21)

3.    We all must respond to Jesus’ offer of eternal life. (Matthew 19:22)

After the Message: 
Read 1 Peter 2:2-3. Are you walking with Jesus daily in obedience and relationship? How is that evidenced in your thoughts, words, desires, and actions? What spiritual rhythms and habits do you need to put into your life so that you may follow Him more faithfully?

Even When You Don't Understand

Friday, August 15, 2025

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust…with all your heart… Even When You Don't Understand

For some who grew up in church, Proverbs 3:5-6 may be some of the first verses ever memorized as a child. Ironically it may be the most challenging concept that we many struggle with our entire lives. Solomon is talking to his son advising him to trust God – with his whole heart. Solomon knew the dangers of not trusting in the Lord with your WHOLE heart. He knew that obedience that comes from the heart that loves God is more important than our outward conformity to God’s will. Putting superficial trust in God is only trusting him halfway , not complete surrender.

It is against human nature to trust anything or anyone other than ourselves. Letting go and handing over the reigns is harder for some than others because we want to be in control. We want things the way we want them. We pray but often we tell God exactly how we expect him to answer. He does want us to bring the desires of our hearts to him. He wants good things for us and he loves us. But we have to be willing to accept what his good and perfect will is. He has our best interests at heart, and he will always answer in the way that is best for us and glorifies him.  Trusting with all our heart requires an open hand. It requires laying it at his feet and walking away without picking it back up again. 

Trusting God requires practice like all spiritual habits and formation. We won’t get it right the first time and there will be times we have to learn to trust him again. We might get hurt and decide we are not going to trust him. We decide not to trust because we feel we do not deserve his love, forgiveness, or help. We stop trusting or hoping because of unanswered prayers. We stop trusting because we lost someone we love or something happens we do not understand. We just cannot wrap our minds around how our God, that we know and love, could let it happen. Do we dare trust again? What if it happens again? We think if we don’t trust and if we don’t hope we won’t be hurt again if it happens. We can learn to trust him even when we don’t understand.

do not rely on your own understanding…

What a mess we can get ourselves into when we rely on our own understanding. We can never understand enough to rely on ourselves, and we don’t have to. Our sovereign, omniscient Father will do it for us. Trusting him with all our hearts means we trust his understanding over ours.

When we make the choice to trust him instead of understanding on our own and when we acknowledge him in everything we say and do he will make our paths straight. We can take the next step in peace, trusting him to lead us all the way. 

Are you fully surrendered in trusting God with all the things?

Are there areas of your life you are holding onto and not surrendering, but leaning on your own understanding?  

Beautiful Feet Bring Good News

Thursday, August 14, 2025

How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.  Romans 10:14-15

Beautiful Feet Bring Good News

 

Paul has just finished telling the Israelites about how they can trust in God: If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:9-10  They were still hung up on trying to do enough or be good enough for their salvation and Paul’s heart was broken at their unbelief. Now Paul is pointing out that unless they believed in God, they were not going to call on him. Unless they know who God is, believe he is who he says he is, and trust him, they will not be saved.

 

The responsibility comes back on those of us who are already Christians to take the truth that saved our lives to the lost ones in this world. And how can they believe without hearing about him?  Paul is saying that it all goes back to the spreading of the gospel, and preachers must be sent. Disciples must be sent.  God calls them and we (the body of Christ) send them.

Paul is specifically speaking about preachers, but Jesus gave all Christians the Great Commission - Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 27:19-20 

Our testimonies of how God has changed us and what he has done in our lives needs to be shared. Maybe you don’t have an amazing story of transformation. Maybe you have been in church from the time you were born, became a Christian, and have been in a steady relationship with him since then. But you still have the greatest story of all time to share. God has changed you and he has worked in your life. Sometimes we have to take a minute and reflect on our lives, and we can see the hand of God. That is still a powerful testimony and good news that a lost and hurting world needs to know.

We have been entrusted with the most glorious truth anyone can ever hear, and we have been equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit to share it. Paul says that we can either go or enable others to go and share the good news. But we have not been given the choice to do nothing. Jesus commissioned us that very same day he commissioned his disciples to take his truth to the ends of the earth. When we share his truth, we are giving them something they can believe in, call on, and be saved. 

Faith = Trust

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  James 1:2-4

Faith = Trust

Faith.  It is the essence of a Christian’s existence.  By faith we are saved… that is just the beginning. Faith is the way we come to know God and the way we develop our spiritual strength and knowledge of God. The way we began is the way we continue.  However, faith is not always easy.  A faith test is when our concept of God and the reality of our lives conflict and we can’t understand why something is happening.  

Faith is like a muscle and when it’s stretched and it’s pulled then it develops. Your faith develops as it is tested.  You don’t develop your faith just attending church once or twice a week, even throwing in a Bible study.  God builds our faith by testing it.  If we had really had our way, our faith would never be tested…but God would never have the chance to prove that faith worked.  Our declarations of faith would ring hollow. We would simply be echoing empty religious clichés learned in church and Sunday School.  No skeptic is ever convinced or won over by that kind of false faith. 

 

The testing of your faith is more about who God is than who we are.  If we truly have faith in God - who he is and what he has done - we will trust him. God’s desire is that we know Him and experience His goodness in our lives.  The positive end of a test of faith may not be a change in circumstance but a greater knowledge of God and His love and power in our lives.  That is when faith gets hard.  It’s easy to understand that God may not answer every prayer by giving us everything we ask for. That, we can wrap our minds around, but it is hard to realize that sometimes God’s will is that everything stays the same for a while.  Maybe nothing changes.  That’s not the answer we want to get when we are in a difficult or painful situation.  Faith becomes a fragile Paper Mache shell when everything inside is withering away as we seek relief from a painful situation.  In those times, faith is stretched thin, but it is there. 

 

If you are waiting… if you are wilting and waiting… I challenge you to drink the living water.  It is hard and exhausting, but there is a reason.  If we simply exist in our suffering, we will miss the point.  What a fruitless effort to just suffer through and completely miss what the Lord is doing because we are so focused inward.  There is something working, something is happening.  It is never His purpose for us to understand His ways, just to understand Him.  Hold fast, trust in the Lord as He is developing and strengthening your faith. 

 

How To Trust In Jesus

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:9-10

What does Paul say that we are to do to trust in Jesus? Have you done this? If so, when? What does Paul say is the result of trusting in Jesus?

How To Trust In Jesus

Chapter 9 of Romans ends with Paul speaking about Israel’s rejection of Jesus – the Messiah. Israel did not believe in faith that Jesus Christ could save them apart from themselves. They still believed that they must be saved by works of the law, rejecting that salvation comes only from Jesus who was crucified for their sins. Paul is heartbroken because they just don’t get it, or they refuse to listen to him. They are choosing to reject the truth that the only way to God is through faith in Jesus Christ. After following the law for their whole lives and trying to keep all the laws so they would be good enough you would think that they might welcome the relief that it is actually not something they could ever achieve on their own. 

Paul begins chapter 10 praying for them and their salvation, and in verses 9-10 he gets to the heart of what truly brings salvation for everyone: If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

There is nothing we can do to save ourselves from the penalty of our sins which is death. No amount of works can do for us what only Jesus can. He came to earth as a baby and gave his life on the cross to pay that penalty for us. It is a gift given and all we have to do is to believe it and receive it. It is our belief in him as the Son of God who was raised from the dead that results in our righteousness. When we confess with our mouth our belief in him as the Son of God it results in our salvation. All we have to do to trust in Jesus is to believe, receive, and confess. 

For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame, since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:11-13

Paul goes on in verses 11-13 to say that salvation is available for all – Jew and Greek alike. Paul specifically said this because the Jews believed they were better than the Gentiles (Greeks). Jews were also known as Israelites or Hebrews, and they were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were God’s chosen people that he had a covenant with. All other non-Jewish people were Gentiles. The way the Jews viewed it, they were chosen and everyone else was not. But Paul sets them straight here.  

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved – no matter who they were, what they have done, or where they come from. Everyone is the same in the eyes of the Lord as he loves us all equally and offers salvation to everyone, from every heritage and walk of life.  

What about you? Have you called on him and trusted him with everything in your life? 

What are you still holding onto that you don’t want to turn over to him? 

 

Trust - The Catalyst For Growth

Monday, August 11, 2025

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. John 11:25

 

Last Sunday Pastor Jim started a series on what spiritual movement looks like as a disciple of Jesus and what the strategy is for making disciples here at NSBC. At the center of the core values here at North Side Baptist Church is holistic discipleship. As individual followers of Jesus and as a church, our call is to make disciples - one who has trusted Jesus by faith, is following and being transformed by Jesus, and is on mission for Jesus by leading others to do the same. The discipleship pipeline is a path where we as a church help lead every generation toward a fully-formed life with Jesus. A discipleship pathway is our personal path that moves us toward spiritual maturity. In order to grow towards spiritual maturity, we must move. 

 

We learned yesterday that the first step on the discipleship pathway is trust. When we become Christians we put our trust in Jesus, believing that he is who he says he is as the Son of God and that he died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. We accept his gift of salvation and believe that his resurrection conquered death, giving us hope, new life in him, and the promise of eternal life in him. This foundation of trust is what our whole life in Jesus is built on. We trust him to forgive us, save us, and raise us to new life. 

  

Discipleship Principle: Jesus is worthy of our trust because of who He is and what He has done. 

How does trust become the catalyst for new life in Jesus?

 

Our key truth for this series is “Movement is the catalyst for growth. Therefore, there can be no spiritual growth without spiritual movement.” Spiritual Movement is the journey to fill the gap between where we are and where God wants us to be. As Pastor Jim said this yesterday, “Trust is the oxygen of all relationships.” Trust is necessary for us to move, and movement is essential for our growth in Jesus. If we are not moving, we are not growing. If we do not trust Jesus, we cannot take the next step, and the next step, and the next step in our growth in him. If we truly surrender in trust to him, we will take every step on the path he leads us down.  As His followers, we put complete confidence in him and His Word. To trust in Jesus means to believe everything he said and accept his Word as truth. 

 

Trusting in Jesus is essential for growing in faith, as it deepens our reliance on him and gives us opportunity to experience His faithfulness, which in turn leads to a stronger, more resilient faith. It is cycle. Trusting leads to seeing his faithfulness in our lives and those around us and learning to trust him above anything and everything. 

 

Trust creates safe spaces and peace. Trust gives courage and endurance as we navigate the hills and valleys in our lives and see him faithful over and over again, in joy and sorrow. In trust like this we can thrive no matter what our circumstances are. Trust is the first step that leads to a deeper relationship with Jesus and learning to live and love like him, helping us to step where the Spirit steps. 

 

What about you? Have you trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life – to forgive you, save you, and to a new life in him? 

 

Are you fully surrendered to him, to his calling and purpose in your life and obedience to trust him for the next step? 

Move: Growing Toward a Fully Formed Life “Learning to Trust”

Move: Growing Toward a Fully Formed Life
“Learning to Trust”
John 11:1-27 (CSB)

 

- Key Truth: “Movement is the catalyst for growth. Therefore, there can be no spiritual growth without spiritual movement.”

- Spiritual Movement: “The journey to fill the gap between where we are and where God wants us to be.”

- Discipleship Pipeline- A pipeline focuses on the church as a whole.

- Discipleship Pathway- A pathway focuses on an individual or a ministry within the church.

Trust Overview:

- Discipleship Principle: Jesus is worthy of our trust because of who He is and what He has done.

- Discipleship Focus: Gospel Engagement

- Discipleship Goal: Our goal is to create space for people to encounter Jesus and respond in faith—moving from unbelief to belief, from not knowing Him to trusting Him with their whole lives.

Main Question: How does trust become the catalyst for new life in Jesus?

1.    We are all sick. (John 11:1-3)

2.    Jesus is the answer to our sickness.  (John 11:4-16)

3.    Jesus gives new life to those who trust Him. (John 11:17-27)

After the Message: 
Read Romans 10:9-10. What does Paul say that we are to do to trust in Jesus? Have you done this? If so, when? What does Paul say is the result of trusting in Jesus?