1. Our Goal

I. What a believer doesn't do.

II. What a believer does.

Tree. He is like a tree planted by streams of water.

1. It takes a long time. It does not happen overnight, it takes a long time to get the sinful kinks out of our personality… I think this is where most of us stumble. We want it now and we wanted it yesterday. God has determined to make the progress of godliness slow, enduring, long term.
2. It is steady. Always there, always drinking and growing, reading, praying, attending to all the means of grace — nothing spectacular, not flashy, not a dreamer but it drinks in deeply daily, regularly.
3. It is unnoticeable. You never notice the tree growing — it becomes clear later.
4. It is reliable. Bears fruits in its season; when required in affliction, in prosperity, in loss, in gain, in adversity, in highs and lows — when bereaved, when relieved, when pressed, when at full liberty, when alone, when with company, with friends, without family, etc.
5. It is unmistakable. The growing is unnoticeable but the product is unmistakable. Eventually it cannot be denied.

III. How do we get to be this tree?