Spiritually mature Christians take the initiative, they own it, and they know how to reach out to get what they need from Jesus. They take the initiative to read the scriptures and give themselves hope for their souls. They lead their family because they know that they have to demonstrate this at home. That's maturity.

Spiritually mature Christians take the initiative, they own it, and they know how to reach out to get what they need from Jesus. They take the initiative to read the scriptures and give themselves hope for their souls. They lead their family because they know that they have to demonstrate this at home. That's maturity.

So how does one become spiritually mature? Well, as Crawford Loritts will say in today's message, it begins with having our lives dominated by the fruit of the spirit. The result is a passion for Jesus and a passion for his mission. Join us for our study. Welcome to Living a Legacy, featuring the Bible teaching ministry of Doctor Crawford Loritts. Crawford has been involved in both parachurch and local church ministry for over 50 years. The messages we feature each week come from Crawford's 15 years as senior pastor of Fellowship Bible Church of Roswell, Georgia. He is now retired from that church and has traveled worldwide. He currently serves as head of the Christian Leadership Mentoring Ministry called Beyond Our Generation. Crawford's books include leadership as an identity, Make It Home Before Dark, and Your Marriage Today and Tomorrow, a book he co-wrote with his wife, Karen. When today's message was originally given, Crawford was challenging the members of Fellowship Bible Church to take on the full dynamic of discipleship. It was a kind of state of the church challenge. In last week's program, Crawford listed three of four observations about the Apostle Paul's passion for Christ. The first three were Jesus was Paul's center, Jesus himself was the message, and Jesus was Paul's destination. And we'll get to that fourth observation today. Let's head to Colossians chapter one, where the Apostle Paul urged believers to make Jesus their passion and their process. Here's Crawford on living a legacy.

So how does one become spiritually mature? Well, as Crawford Loritts will say in today's message, it begins with having our lives dominated by the fruit of the spirit. The result is a passion for Jesus and a passion for his mission. Join us for our study. Welcome to Living a Legacy, featuring the Bible teaching ministry of Doctor Crawford Loritts. Crawford has been involved in both parachurch and local church ministry for over 50 years. The messages we feature each week come from Crawford's 15 years as senior pastor of Fellowship Bible Church of Roswell, Georgia. He is now retired from that church and has traveled worldwide. He currently serves as head of the Christian Leadership Mentoring Ministry called Beyond Our Generation. Crawford's books include leadership as an identity, Make It Home Before Dark, and Your Marriage Today and Tomorrow, a book he co-wrote with his wife, Karen. When today's message was originally given, Crawford was challenging the members of Fellowship Bible Church to take on the full dynamic of discipleship. It was a kind of state of the church challenge. In last week's program, Crawford listed three of four observations about the Apostle Paul's passion for Christ. The first three were Jesus was Paul's center, Jesus himself was the message, and Jesus was Paul's destination. And we'll get to that fourth observation today. Let's head to Colossians chapter one, where the Apostle Paul urged believers to make Jesus their passion and their process. Here's Crawford on living a legacy.

What Paul is saying is, look, you gotta you gotta be strategic, he said. With all wisdom, I stand back and I look okay, good, good. What what what do I need to change and what do I need to do differently to make sure nobody misses Jesus? How do I need to phrase something? Say nobody misses Jesus? How do I need to change his strategy over here? Because it's becoming more convoluted and confusing so I can get people to Jesus? You know, when I was reading, it said, I just thought about my own family. We got kids who are pretty big age span. I mean, between Heather and Brennan, there's three years in between Brendan and I mean, between Holly and Brennan is three years. And between Brennan and Heather, there's four years in between Heather and Brian. There's another four years. So you can only imagine when we were having family times around the dinner table, having a wonderful time of worshiping Jesus and devotions. It was chaos. You know, I just hate these people to write these devotional books and said, this is something that works for all age groups. Liar. You know, you got, you got you got Holly throwing a milk across the place and Brendan, you know, spitting at his sister. And I can't wait to give him a spanking. But I got to get through Proverbs and then, I mean, you got you got all this stuff going on. That's kind of a picture of a church, isn't it? It's different places. It didn't take us long to realize. Okay, wait wait, wait. We we need to divide and conquer. And by the way. But you know what? We did not stop doing this is a strategic error. Simply because a person can't understand what you're doing doesn't mean that what you're doing lacks value to that person. Amen. We discovered it was important, even if they didn't understand what we were reading, for them to see us reading the Bible. And I'm convinced our kids have a love for the Word of God in their ministry today. And God, God called them. But I'm convinced it's not so much me, but what they saw in their mom. The fact that they were exposed. So I want I want to I want to be I don't want to go to the other extreme. Don't don't don't dumb down stuff but adjust it. Adjust it. And I think it's worth for all of us, especially me. And as we develop plans and as we think about what God wants us to do as elders, what we're wrestling with is that we we want to make sure that what we do comes out of this text is not parallel to it, not ancillary to it, but it comes right out of this passage. Paul says, well, if you care about people getting to Jesus, don't be stupid. Think strategically. Okay? Thirdly. Jesus is our destination Now listen to the text again. Pay very close attention. Christ in you! The hope of glory. Him we proclaim. That word proclaim is a word filled with conviction. Warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. Why? Why? Now I want you to. I want you to pay attention to what he says here. Pay attention to what he says. He does not say so that we can introduce as many people as possible to Jesus. That's included in what he says. But that's not the comprehensive passion that he has. This sounds terrible, but Paul was not just concerned about people coming to know Jesus. Listen to what he says so that we might present everyone mature in Christ. The vision was maturity in Christ. The vision is not just conversion. The vision is a picture of what we can be in this world. It is a vision of what Christ in you, the hope of glory, can do for you and in you. Right now, in this world, it is not just a sliver of heaven. Although if that were not enough, I mean, that's that's more than enough. But there is meaning. There is richness. There is. There's wealth there. There is so much more. Crawford for you. So much more. I'm so indebted to John Piper for writing that great book, Don't Waste Your Life. There's so much more. And that's Paul's passion. So I want you to be a reproducer. Now, let me tell you what I think maturity means. I could go into this deeply. I started to do that just to lift out that one phrase and go through the whole New Testament to unpack what maturity means. I didn't want to go there, but let me give you the summation of what I believe maturity in Christ looks like. The goal of growth in the Christian life is to look like Jesus Christ likeness. Now I happen to believe. That maturity in Christ are lives that are dominated by the fruit of the spirit that's found over in Galatians chapter five, verses 22 to 23. I personally believe that those nine character qualities that are produced by the Spirit of God in us are really the nine fold biographical sketch of Jesus, what his life is dominated by. So a person who is a mature follower of Jesus Christ, their lives are dominated by the fruit of the spirit. I can go deeper into this theologically because I'm on strong ground. The Holy Spirit came to magnify and to glorify Christ, and so the fruit that he produces in us looks like Jesus, looks like Jesus. And so to be mature in Christ means that my life, my life is dominated by those nine character qualities that we call the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, I really believe the Bible teaches that to be mature means the ability to take the responsibility and to act on that responsibility to get what we need from Jesus. Maturity does not mean perfect. Some older translations have translated the word that's translated mature. Here they've translated perfect or complete. Who am I? I'm no Greek scholar. No, a little bit of it. But I would suggest that that that's misleading. Maturity is not perfection, but maturity is consistent responsibility based upon what you say are your presuppositions. Let me just you know where I'm going with this. I mean, we had a rule around our house that our teenage kids could never tell us that they were grown because my deal was this when you're grown, grown means this. Grown means that you pay your own bills, you take care of yourself, and you can stay in my house until you're 60 years old. But if you ain't paying your own bills and taking care of yourself, you're not grown. I mean, that's just Crawford's little paradigm And to be mature means not that you're perfect, but you're taking the responsibility for your life. So it is with spiritual maturity. Spiritually mature Christians are people, not not who are. It doesn't mean that they don't struggle with sin or that they don't. They don't struggle with problems, but it means that they can take the initiative for what they need. They own it, and they know how to reach out to get what they need from Jesus. They know how to plug into community. I need a brother or sister. So they take the initiative for that. They take the initiative to read the scriptures and get themselves hope for their souls. They lead their family because they know of that, because their consistent walk with God that they have to demonstrate this at home. That's maturity. It's maturity, not self reliant, but a consistent God. Reliance is maturity. And then number four, Paul expresses this passion, this arrival point. Maturity in Christ as being worth everything that we have. And I want you to notice. And sometimes my staff, when we first started going to this verse, I would always remind him because we would get stuck on, we would stay at verse 28, I would say, no, no, no, no. Our vision is Colossians 128 and 29 and 29. The motivation is in verse 29. Notice what he says in verse 29. He goes, this is really emphatic. Him we proclaim warning everyone, teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we might present everyone mature in Christ. Now connect the dots. He says, for this. What is.

What Paul is saying is, look, you gotta you gotta be strategic, he said. With all wisdom, I stand back and I look okay, good, good. What what what do I need to change and what do I need to do differently to make sure nobody misses Jesus? How do I need to phrase something? Say nobody misses Jesus? How do I need to change his strategy over here? Because it's becoming more convoluted and confusing so I can get people to Jesus? You know, when I was reading, it said, I just thought about my own family. We got kids who are pretty big age span. I mean, between Heather and Brennan, there's three years in between Brendan and I mean, between Holly and Brennan is three years. And between Brennan and Heather, there's four years in between Heather and Brian. There's another four years. So you can only imagine when we were having family times around the dinner table, having a wonderful time of worshiping Jesus and devotions. It was chaos. You know, I just hate these people to write these devotional books and said, this is something that works for all age groups. Liar. You know, you got, you got you got Holly throwing a milk across the place and Brendan, you know, spitting at his sister. And I can't wait to give him a spanking. But I got to get through Proverbs and then, I mean, you got you got all this stuff going on. That's kind of a picture of a church, isn't it? It's different places. It didn't take us long to realize. Okay, wait wait, wait. We we need to divide and conquer. And by the way. But you know what? We did not stop doing this is a strategic error. Simply because a person can't understand what you're doing doesn't mean that what you're doing lacks value to that person. Amen. We discovered it was important, even if they didn't understand what we were reading, for them to see us reading the Bible. And I'm convinced our kids have a love for the Word of God in their ministry today. And God, God called them. But I'm convinced it's not so much me, but what they saw in their mom. The fact that they were exposed. So I want I want to I want to be I don't want to go to the other extreme. Don't don't don't dumb down stuff but adjust it. Adjust it. And I think it's worth for all of us, especially me. And as we develop plans and as we think about what God wants us to do as elders, what we're wrestling with is that we we want to make sure that what we do comes out of this text is not parallel to it, not ancillary to it, but it comes right out of this passage. Paul says, well, if you care about people getting to Jesus, don't be stupid. Think strategically. Okay? Thirdly. Jesus is our destination Now listen to the text again. Pay very close attention. Christ in you! The hope of glory. Him we proclaim. That word proclaim is a word filled with conviction. Warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. Why? Why? Now I want you to. I want you to pay attention to what he says here. Pay attention to what he says. He does not say so that we can introduce as many people as possible to Jesus. That's included in what he says. But that's not the comprehensive passion that he has. This sounds terrible, but Paul was not just concerned about people coming to know Jesus. Listen to what he says so that we might present everyone mature in Christ. The vision was maturity in Christ. The vision is not just conversion. The vision is a picture of what we can be in this world. It is a vision of what Christ in you, the hope of glory, can do for you and in you. Right now, in this world, it is not just a sliver of heaven. Although if that were not enough, I mean, that's that's more than enough. But there is meaning. There is richness. There is. There's wealth there. There is so much more. Crawford for you. So much more. I'm so indebted to John Piper for writing that great book, Don't Waste Your Life. There's so much more. And that's Paul's passion. So I want you to be a reproducer. Now, let me tell you what I think maturity means. I could go into this deeply. I started to do that just to lift out that one phrase and go through the whole New Testament to unpack what maturity means. I didn't want to go there, but let me give you the summation of what I believe maturity in Christ looks like. The goal of growth in the Christian life is to look like Jesus Christ likeness. Now I happen to believe. That maturity in Christ are lives that are dominated by the fruit of the spirit that's found over in Galatians chapter five, verses 22 to 23. I personally believe that those nine character qualities that are produced by the Spirit of God in us are really the nine fold biographical sketch of Jesus, what his life is dominated by. So a person who is a mature follower of Jesus Christ, their lives are dominated by the fruit of the spirit. I can go deeper into this theologically because I'm on strong ground. The Holy Spirit came to magnify and to glorify Christ, and so the fruit that he produces in us looks like Jesus, looks like Jesus. And so to be mature in Christ means that my life, my life is dominated by those nine character qualities that we call the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, I really believe the Bible teaches that to be mature means the ability to take the responsibility and to act on that responsibility to get what we need from Jesus. Maturity does not mean perfect. Some older translations have translated the word that's translated mature. Here they've translated perfect or complete. Who am I? I'm no Greek scholar. No, a little bit of it. But I would suggest that that that's misleading. Maturity is not perfection, but maturity is consistent responsibility based upon what you say are your presuppositions. Let me just you know where I'm going with this. I mean, we had a rule around our house that our teenage kids could never tell us that they were grown because my deal was this when you're grown, grown means this. Grown means that you pay your own bills, you take care of yourself, and you can stay in my house until you're 60 years old. But if you ain't paying your own bills and taking care of yourself, you're not grown. I mean, that's just Crawford's little paradigm And to be mature means not that you're perfect, but you're taking the responsibility for your life. So it is with spiritual maturity. Spiritually mature Christians are people, not not who are. It doesn't mean that they don't struggle with sin or that they don't. They don't struggle with problems, but it means that they can take the initiative for what they need. They own it, and they know how to reach out to get what they need from Jesus. They know how to plug into community. I need a brother or sister. So they take the initiative for that. They take the initiative to read the scriptures and get themselves hope for their souls. They lead their family because they know of that, because their consistent walk with God that they have to demonstrate this at home. That's maturity. It's maturity, not self reliant, but a consistent God. Reliance is maturity. And then number four, Paul expresses this passion, this arrival point. Maturity in Christ as being worth everything that we have. And I want you to notice. And sometimes my staff, when we first started going to this verse, I would always remind him because we would get stuck on, we would stay at verse 28, I would say, no, no, no, no. Our vision is Colossians 128 and 29 and 29. The motivation is in verse 29. Notice what he says in verse 29. He goes, this is really emphatic. Him we proclaim warning everyone, teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we might present everyone mature in Christ. Now connect the dots. He says, for this. What is.

This?

This?

This vision, this. This passion of presenting everyone mature in Jesus, this passion for seeing them being reproducing disciples or followers of Jesus. He says, for this I labor and I toil. Paul says, I lay it all out there. There there is no higher calling. There's there's nothing in this world that is more worthy of everything that I am. For this I labor and I toil. Then he says, with all his energy that he so powerfully Works within me. Oh, I hear the questions say, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. You know, that's Paul's testimony, and you're not Paul. Absolutely. But don't go too far with that. Yeah, that is Paul's testimony, but I believe I can. I'm on solid biblical ground when I say I can trace this vision all through the New Testament. And this is the primary stewardship of every spiritual leader in a church, of presenting everyone mature in Jesus. It should be the thing that gets us out of the bed every day. It shouldn't be that we look at that phone call. Someone's in the hospital that we need to go see as a nuisance or as a problem or as a pain. You know, we get to do that. It shouldn't be a hassle when we have to counsel a couple whose marriage is falling apart, because somehow Jesus has gotten lost in the argument. No, we get to do that. Why? Because we want to mend the body. We want everyone to be mature. We want them to be whole. We want their lives to tell the truth about Jesus. And you see, biblically mature Christians are the ones who really fulfill the Great Commission. What is the Great Commission? This big word. Well, it's what Jesus last told us to do. It is our job description when he said in Matthew chapter 28, as you are going, make disciples. That word means followers of all the nations, and implicit as that is the ability to multiply. And I got to grow up in order to do that. Got to grow up In order to do that. So although it's Paul's testimony, it is all of our calling because everyone's given the responsibility to reproduce every last one of us. We're called on to do that. I love what Chuck Swindoll says. I don't know if this is original with him, but Chuck Swindoll is a very well known Bible teacher and pastor and author. He has a way of putting things together. Sometimes he made the observation, you know, becoming a follower of Jesus is a miracle of a moment. It happens just like that. Becoming a saint. Or I would use the expression A reproducing follower of Jesus is the work of a lifetime. Maturity in Christ is something that we constantly, passionately, continuously pursue. And it's never, ever over. Well, let me answer the question in a top line way. What does Colossians 127 through 29? What does it mean to us? What does it mean to us as a church? Well, I want to I want to put my remarks under this banner to keep it simple. Jesus is our passion, but Jesus is also our process. He's also our process. In other words, he is our passion in terms of vision. That's the what. But he's also our process in terms of application. In other words, that's the how process how vision what. And so we explain it this way okay. We explain it this way. We use three words to explain what Colossians 127 through 29 means as we continue to unpack clarity and vision in our church. But here are the three words that we're not getting away from. No experience and serve. That's what it means. No experience and serve. Imagine with me, if you will, that day by day people are coming to know Jesus. Imagine we create an environment in our church where people are experiencing the body and the life and the love of Jesus through dynamic community. In other words, nobody is hurting by themselves. People are loving one another. What a place. And then serve. Imagine. Imagine a place where everybody knows their gifts and talents and abilities. Imagine a place where they feel free to find out what God's called them to do. And although we might not be able to officially fund all this stuff, but we can help you and equip you and set you free to do that. Imagine a place that serves the poor and under-resourced and a sense of hope and help there. Imagine that. Well, that's how some of that is lived out at the expense of ambushing this message. I do want to say a word about our core values. Now you say, well, how does all of this relate? Colossians 127 through 29. The vision is maturity in Christ. No experience and serve. They are the rails that this, this, this, this maturity in Christ runs on. And I want to tell you the six things that the elders and our staff have agreed upon as the stuff that gives way to us. And by the way, values mean absolutely nothing unless they change behavior. Values are behavior. And here they are. One the scriptures. That's where we get our knowledge about Jesus. As I said, this is his. This is his autobiography. You know, we take the Bible very seriously. Hopefully not in an egghead sense, but in a life giving sense. Number two, we worship Jesus. Why? Because he's more than a man. He is the everlasting God. He's the King of kings and Lord of lords. We ascribe value to him. That's why we raise our hands and that's why we sing. Number three prayer. We depend upon Jesus. We know that we're not smart enough. We don't have. We can't meet our own needs. He meets our needs. Uh, stewardship. It's a big word that means that God owns it all. And we're responsible to manage what he owns. Stewardship means he owns it, but we're accountable. I don't know my money. I don't know my life. I don't know my family, I own nothing. Community. In other words, we one another, each other. We believe that dynamic Christianity is lived in a context of warm, loving relationships. And so we experience the life of Jesus through his body. And then finally mission. That has to do with cause we believe that we're here to accomplish what Jesus wants done, and that there's a plan and a purpose for each one of us, and that he is reaching the lost around the world and building them up. And we have a part to play in all of that. I want to give you something that really captured my heart. I was looking for something that would wrap up everything that I've tried to say today, and I was in my study and pulled Philip Yancey's book off the shelf. Classic book called The Jesus I Never Knew. And my eyes fell upon something that Yancey said, and I quote Martin Luther encouraged his students to flee the hidden God and run to Christ. And I know why. If I use a magnifying glass to examine a fine painting, the object at the center of the glass stays crisp and clear, while around the edges the view grows increasingly distorted. For me, Jesus has become the focal point when I speculate about such imponderables as the problem of pain or providence versus free will, everything becomes fuzzy. But if I look at Jesus himself and how he treated actual people in pain at his calls to free and diligent action. Listen to these words. Clarity is restored. If you want clarity in your life. Turn to Jesus. You want a sense of meaning in your life. Turn to Jesus. You want a church on fire? Make Jesus everything. Is Jesus everything to you today?

This vision, this. This passion of presenting everyone mature in Jesus, this passion for seeing them being reproducing disciples or followers of Jesus. He says, for this I labor and I toil. Paul says, I lay it all out there. There there is no higher calling. There's there's nothing in this world that is more worthy of everything that I am. For this I labor and I toil. Then he says, with all his energy that he so powerfully Works within me. Oh, I hear the questions say, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. You know, that's Paul's testimony, and you're not Paul. Absolutely. But don't go too far with that. Yeah, that is Paul's testimony, but I believe I can. I'm on solid biblical ground when I say I can trace this vision all through the New Testament. And this is the primary stewardship of every spiritual leader in a church, of presenting everyone mature in Jesus. It should be the thing that gets us out of the bed every day. It shouldn't be that we look at that phone call. Someone's in the hospital that we need to go see as a nuisance or as a problem or as a pain. You know, we get to do that. It shouldn't be a hassle when we have to counsel a couple whose marriage is falling apart, because somehow Jesus has gotten lost in the argument. No, we get to do that. Why? Because we want to mend the body. We want everyone to be mature. We want them to be whole. We want their lives to tell the truth about Jesus. And you see, biblically mature Christians are the ones who really fulfill the Great Commission. What is the Great Commission? This big word. Well, it's what Jesus last told us to do. It is our job description when he said in Matthew chapter 28, as you are going, make disciples. That word means followers of all the nations, and implicit as that is the ability to multiply. And I got to grow up in order to do that. Got to grow up In order to do that. So although it's Paul's testimony, it is all of our calling because everyone's given the responsibility to reproduce every last one of us. We're called on to do that. I love what Chuck Swindoll says. I don't know if this is original with him, but Chuck Swindoll is a very well known Bible teacher and pastor and author. He has a way of putting things together. Sometimes he made the observation, you know, becoming a follower of Jesus is a miracle of a moment. It happens just like that. Becoming a saint. Or I would use the expression A reproducing follower of Jesus is the work of a lifetime. Maturity in Christ is something that we constantly, passionately, continuously pursue. And it's never, ever over. Well, let me answer the question in a top line way. What does Colossians 127 through 29? What does it mean to us? What does it mean to us as a church? Well, I want to I want to put my remarks under this banner to keep it simple. Jesus is our passion, but Jesus is also our process. He's also our process. In other words, he is our passion in terms of vision. That's the what. But he's also our process in terms of application. In other words, that's the how process how vision what. And so we explain it this way okay. We explain it this way. We use three words to explain what Colossians 127 through 29 means as we continue to unpack clarity and vision in our church. But here are the three words that we're not getting away from. No experience and serve. That's what it means. No experience and serve. Imagine with me, if you will, that day by day people are coming to know Jesus. Imagine we create an environment in our church where people are experiencing the body and the life and the love of Jesus through dynamic community. In other words, nobody is hurting by themselves. People are loving one another. What a place. And then serve. Imagine. Imagine a place where everybody knows their gifts and talents and abilities. Imagine a place where they feel free to find out what God's called them to do. And although we might not be able to officially fund all this stuff, but we can help you and equip you and set you free to do that. Imagine a place that serves the poor and under-resourced and a sense of hope and help there. Imagine that. Well, that's how some of that is lived out at the expense of ambushing this message. I do want to say a word about our core values. Now you say, well, how does all of this relate? Colossians 127 through 29. The vision is maturity in Christ. No experience and serve. They are the rails that this, this, this, this maturity in Christ runs on. And I want to tell you the six things that the elders and our staff have agreed upon as the stuff that gives way to us. And by the way, values mean absolutely nothing unless they change behavior. Values are behavior. And here they are. One the scriptures. That's where we get our knowledge about Jesus. As I said, this is his. This is his autobiography. You know, we take the Bible very seriously. Hopefully not in an egghead sense, but in a life giving sense. Number two, we worship Jesus. Why? Because he's more than a man. He is the everlasting God. He's the King of kings and Lord of lords. We ascribe value to him. That's why we raise our hands and that's why we sing. Number three prayer. We depend upon Jesus. We know that we're not smart enough. We don't have. We can't meet our own needs. He meets our needs. Uh, stewardship. It's a big word that means that God owns it all. And we're responsible to manage what he owns. Stewardship means he owns it, but we're accountable. I don't know my money. I don't know my life. I don't know my family, I own nothing. Community. In other words, we one another, each other. We believe that dynamic Christianity is lived in a context of warm, loving relationships. And so we experience the life of Jesus through his body. And then finally mission. That has to do with cause we believe that we're here to accomplish what Jesus wants done, and that there's a plan and a purpose for each one of us, and that he is reaching the lost around the world and building them up. And we have a part to play in all of that. I want to give you something that really captured my heart. I was looking for something that would wrap up everything that I've tried to say today, and I was in my study and pulled Philip Yancey's book off the shelf. Classic book called The Jesus I Never Knew. And my eyes fell upon something that Yancey said, and I quote Martin Luther encouraged his students to flee the hidden God and run to Christ. And I know why. If I use a magnifying glass to examine a fine painting, the object at the center of the glass stays crisp and clear, while around the edges the view grows increasingly distorted. For me, Jesus has become the focal point when I speculate about such imponderables as the problem of pain or providence versus free will, everything becomes fuzzy. But if I look at Jesus himself and how he treated actual people in pain at his calls to free and diligent action. Listen to these words. Clarity is restored. If you want clarity in your life. Turn to Jesus. You want a sense of meaning in your life. Turn to Jesus. You want a church on fire? Make Jesus everything. Is Jesus everything to you today?

Doctor Crawford Loritts here on Living a Legacy. That was the second half of his message. Jesus is our passion and Jesus is our process. Crawford noted four observations about the Apostle Paul's passion. The passion we should have as well. Number one, Jesus must be center in us. Number two, Jesus himself is our message. Number three, Jesus is our destination. And number four, our maturity in Jesus must be worth everything that we have. If you weren't able to hear all of today's message, you can check out our website to stream the entire program there. Recent messages are posted as well. Start with living a legacy. Org. If you have some free moments today, get in touch with us. Let us know you're there! Look for the link called contact at Living a legacy.org. Coming up next week.

Doctor Crawford Loritts here on Living a Legacy. That was the second half of his message. Jesus is our passion and Jesus is our process. Crawford noted four observations about the Apostle Paul's passion. The passion we should have as well. Number one, Jesus must be center in us. Number two, Jesus himself is our message. Number three, Jesus is our destination. And number four, our maturity in Jesus must be worth everything that we have. If you weren't able to hear all of today's message, you can check out our website to stream the entire program there. Recent messages are posted as well. Start with living a legacy. Org. If you have some free moments today, get in touch with us. Let us know you're there! Look for the link called contact at Living a legacy.org. Coming up next week.

I know when we tell the Christmas story, it's all about shepherds and it's about a manger. And it's about a young lady that's scared to death. And this young couple and all of that is really wonderful. But listen, Christmas is profoundly personal. Christmas is about good news. And what makes the news good is the desperation of humanity. You don't have good news unless there's a bad situation, in other words.

I know when we tell the Christmas story, it's all about shepherds and it's about a manger. And it's about a young lady that's scared to death. And this young couple and all of that is really wonderful. But listen, Christmas is profoundly personal. Christmas is about good news. And what makes the news good is the desperation of humanity. You don't have good news unless there's a bad situation, in other words.

Join us for Crawford's message. Our deliverer. The first of two Christmas broadcasts for Crawford Loritts. I'm Bill Davis. Thanks for listening. Living a legacy is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.

Join us for Crawford's message. Our deliverer. The first of two Christmas broadcasts for Crawford Loritts. I'm Bill Davis. Thanks for listening. Living a legacy is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.