Pastor Sam kicked off our new sermon series, spiritual habits for ordinary people. Sam talked about how because of Jesus, we are no longer under the Law, but instead we are under grace. Therefore, faith is not about following the rules or completing tasks just for the sake of it: it’s about love. Through this we move from law to love, from religious systems to relationships which demonstrates our hearts to know God.

But doing this is not about effort or trying hard: it's about practice. We wouldn't try to get up off the couch and run a marathon tomorrow - we would train. Spiritual habits in our everyday lives is our means of training to reach the goal of the Christian life: to become more like Christ. Sam said to ask the following question: "Does my life mirror and model the character and priorities of Christ?" Spiritual habits help us to transform our lives so we look more like Jesus.

Sam compared our lives to a sailboat: Without the wind, a sailboat is useless and cannot go anywhere, but with the wind of the Holy Spirit we can go to places we've never imagined. All it takes is to show up, and to engage in spiritual habits as training to help attune ourselves to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and God will do the rest. Over the next 5 weeks, we will learn specific spiritual habits that can help us do the training of the Christian life so we can live as Jesus commanded and let the wind of the Holy Spirit guide us according to God's will.

• 1 Timothy 4:7-8: "7  Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8  for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

• Romans 3:20-28: "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. 21  But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22  This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,  23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  24  and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25  God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—  26  he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.  27  Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith.  28  For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law."

• Acts 4:1-13: "The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2  They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3  They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4  But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand. 5  The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6  Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7  They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?” 8  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9  If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10  then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11  Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.' 12  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” 13  When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."

• Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

• Galatians 5:22-23: "22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23  gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this.

• 1 Corinthians 9:25-26: "25  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26  Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air."

• "What we want to do over the next few weeks is look at some spiritual habits that you and I as ordinary people can implement in our lives to be able to harness the power of God and to be able to do extraordinary things in the power of the Spirit that we could not do on our own." - Pastor Sam

• "How do we take a law and understand the heart of the law is to be able to love God and to love people. And this is a transition from law to love, and ultimately from religious systems to relationship because it's the love... that demonstrate our heart to know God." - Pastor Sam

• "You can do all the right things with all the wrong motives, when you're spending time in God's Word and you think it's about counting - 'did I do it, did I do it, did I do it,' - but you're not becoming more loving or more kind or more patient, and you're not loving God and loving people. And the whole idea of the transformation that God wants to do with you can be missed... It's not about the law, It's about the relationship. It's not about the rules, it's about being in this sense of: 'God would you transform me to see the purpose of the law.'" - Pastor Sam

• "What is the goal of the Christian life? It is simply this: to become more like Christ." - Pastor Sam

• "There's an immense difference between training to do something and trying to do something. Trying hard can only accomplish so much, but if you're serious you enter into a life of training. How many of you right now could go get up and run a marathon? I loved the idea of running a marathon, but I just can't get off the couch without my potato chips to get out the door... What we're training for is this: the reflection of the character and priorities of Jesus." - Pastor Sam

• "A spiritual habit is any activity that can help me gain power to live as Jesus taught and modeled." - Pastor Sam

• "Spiritual growth requires discernment. We learn to respond to the fresh wind of the Spirit as we spend time in His word, as we spend time in prayer, as we spend time with other believers discerning God's mind and listening to what God wants to teach us." - Pastor Sam