Bible Text: 1 Samuel 2:12-36 | Preacher: Rev. Dr. Lou Saldiveri | Series: Sunday Morning Worship | Intro: It is my understanding from the Bible that God’s desire is for us to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Him. In this section of Scripture, we, again, are seeing two families contrasted. One is a family who is growing and walking in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. The other is a “religious” family in which there is a father who refused to discipline his two sons who had no personal relationship with God.

I believe this passage can help give us principles about how to grow and continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. If you and I are going to continue to grow in our walk with Christ, we need to take sin seriously, because God takes sin seriously!

1. We Need to Know and Experience God Intimately
1. The Cross of Christ is where God’s love and holiness kiss
2. Loving obedience in the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word produces intimate knowledge of God
3. We need to commit to someone bigger than ourselves
2. We Need to Proactively Learn and Serve
1. Discipleship is a life long process
2. Real spiritual growth is always from the inside out
3. We need to live in the presence of God
3. We Need to Actively Deal With Sin
1. There needs to be daily repentance and confession of sin
2. We need to do away with the rationalization of sin
3. We need to stop changing the definition of sin
4. If we don’t deal honestly with sin before God, He will deal with it
1. There are always consequences for sin
2. It is better to deal with our sin immediately before God
3. Not dealing with sin show contempt for God

Closing: So, there are a few questions I would like to ask this morning:
1. Have you come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by faith?
2. With the help of the Holy Spirit, are we willing to proactively learn from God to obey Him and serve Him?
3. Are we willing to honestly deal with sin before God in true repentance and faith?
1. Look at Revelation 2: 1-7