PHYSICAL GROWTH
: learning to walk, walk, …. Run …… exercise…..
MENTAL GROWTH
: acquiring education… masters ….doctorate degree…
ECONOMIC GROWTH
: landing a very lucrative job…investing in business…
SOCIAL GROWTH
: expanding your horizon on social contacts.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH
HOW TO GROW SPIRITUALLY
…………..
“For every one hundred who can face ADVERSITY, there is only one who can face PROSPERITY.”
• Becoming a Christian is only the beginning of a wonderful life.
• JAKOVAC – talk about the experience 6 years ago, 1500 + were baptized at the Times beach and to my surprise one of those who were baptized was my sister.
CONVERSION (Baptism) is an event. It only happens once…. It is…moving from darkness to light…a complete U turn from the old ways…. A change or transformation…removal of the old lifestyle.. talk about a school mate.. one of
those baptized.. still maintaining the old habit of smoking.
SALVATION on the other hand, is a PROCESS, the process of becoming who you really are in God’s mind….. It begins at conversion and continues until we are fully transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
PHILIPPIANS 2:13
According to Paul…”Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
* talk about my sons measuring their heights.
Read 1 CORINTHIANS 9;24-27
*talk about the experiences of my son during their climb to Mt. Apo….before climbing he must undergo physical training….exercise to develop stamina
If we want to climb those magnificent mountains to spiritual maturity…..we follow these tools:
Spiritual growth is not automatic..
It takes an intentional commitment…..you must WANT to grow….DECIDE to grow….MAKE AN EFFORT to grow… PERSIST IN growing….
Your commitment can develop you or they can destroy you… they will DEFINE you..
“….continue to WORK OUT your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.
WORK OUT ……your (my) responsibility..
WORK IN………..God’s role
In exercise…you WORK OUT is to develop a BODY… not to GET A BODY.
“Be careful how you think, your life is shaped by your thoughts..”
“ The way you THINK determines the way you FEEL, and the way you feel influences the way you ACT.
G …JOHN 15;7 – GO TO GOD DAILY IN PRAYER
.
* Basic expression of our faith
*”Breathing” of our spiritual life
* Lifeline to God
* It is like a child talking to daddy….he knows how to give and when to give.
*sometimes He said NO to our prayers just like a poem by Claudia Weiss.
I ask the Lord to take away my pride and He said NO. He said, it is not for Me to take it away but for you to give up…..I ask the Lord to grant me patience…He said NO…patience is not granted… it is earned…I ask the Lord to give me HAPPINESS ..He said NO…He said, I am giving you blessings…happiness is up to you.
According to Billy Graham “ Prayer is the most important spiritual exercise that a Christian can have. If you wish to live a happy, yielded and victorious life, a daily prayer is absolutely essential.”
Prayer plays a significant role in faith maturity. Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Not that it is necessary in order to make known to God what we are, but in order to enable us to receive……Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him…Steps to Christ p. 93
James 4:8 “Come near to God and He will come near to you.”
William Lee said… it is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they are; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they be; nor the music of our prayers, how sweet our voice may be; nor the logic of our prayers, how argumentative they may be; nor the method of our prayers, how orderly they may be—which God cares for. FERVENCY of spirit is that which availeth much.
ANSWER TO PRAYER REQUIRES PREPARATION
A rather lazy student noticed that a fellow student always recited her lessons well, so he said to her, “How is it that you always say your lesson so perfectly?” She replied, “I always pray that I may say my lessons well.” “Do you?” said the boy somewhat surprised. “Well then, I will pray too.” However the next morning, he could not even repeat a word of his assigned lesson. Perplexed, he ran to his friend and reproached her as deceitful. “ I prayed,” said he, “but I could not say a single word of my lesson.” “Perhaps” rejoined the other, “You didn’t study hard enough.” “ I didn’t study at all,” answered the boy. “ I thought I didn’t have to study after praying about it.”
ENEMIES OF PRAYER
• TIME …. Lack of time… I don’t have time with God…what if God has no time with you….
• WORRY
• DOUBT
• FEAR
TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL…..an experience during the time when I was driving my van.. In praying, remember, it is not the elegance of our words— it is the sincerity
of our hearts.
R…. ACTS 17;11 (Read God’s word daily)
Psalm 119:105…..Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
If you want to talk to God……PRAY
If you want to hear him talk….READ THE SCRIPTURE
The Bible was not written for the scholar alone; on the contrary, it was designed for the common people.’
We should not take the testimony of any man as to what the Scriptures teach, but should study the words of God for ourselves. If we allow others to do our thinking, we shall have crippled energies and contracted abilities. The noble powers of the mind may be so dwarfed by lack of exercise on themes worthy of their of their concentration as to lose their ability to grasp the deep meaning of the word of God.
There is nothing more calculated to strengthen the intellect than the study of the
Scriptures. No other book so potent to elevate the thoughts, to give vigor to the faculties
as the broad, ennobling truths of the Bible. If God’s word were studied as it should be, men would have a breath of mind, a nobility of character, and a stability of purpose rarely seen in these times.
Scripture must be compared with scripture. There must be careful research and prayerful reflection.
Fill the whole heart with the words of God. They are the living water, quenching your burning thirst. They are the living bread from heaven.
Reading the Bible…. We eat His words. John 6:53… The Words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Digest it…..Goes into our spiritual cells……..If our mental and spiritual diet consists of “junk food,” we will not be able to discern spiritual truths that God desires to instill in our hearts.
O……….JOHN 14;21 (OBEY GOD, MOMENT BY MOMENT)
Obedience to God is the by product of the loving relationship
1 John 5:3 Loving God means keeping His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome….
John 14:17 …If you love Me .. keep My commandments.
Abraham, the father of the faithful, illustrates that the only basis for obedience is because God says so.
W…. Matt 4:19 (Read) …. WITNESS FOR CHRIST BY YOUR LIFE/ WORDS
Simply being who you are. Living for Jesus everyday so that not only your words tell of Christ, but your life…reflect His life…
According to Gorbachev…. To show light, you must be BURNING.
We are told in Luke 12:35….To let our loins be girded about and our lights burning…..YOUR LIFE IS THE GREATEST SERMON ANYONE CAN EVER SEE.
A Story on WITNESSING…….
St. Francis of Assisi said one day to one of the young monks. “Let us go down into the town and preach.” They passed through the streets and returned to the monastery without having said a word. “ You have forgotten, father,” said the young monk. “that we went down to the town to preach.” “My son,” Francis replied, “We have preached, We were preaching as we walked. We have been seen by many; as we walked. We have been seen by many: our behavior has been noticed; it was thus that we preached. It is no use my son, to walk anywhere to preach unless we preach everywhere as we walk….
Are we luminous Christians? …… The best argument for Christianity is a consistent Christian life. There is no argument against the silent eloquence of holiness…..It is not merely that we say, or what we do, but…what we are that matters. That is the witness that is convincing.
Witnessing is one beggar telling another beggar where he or she can find bread” is a truism expressed in seminars about sharing our Christian faith.
We must make sure that we are right with the Lord before we can be the witnesses that the Lord wants us to be. It is so important that we seek to have a personal revival, regardless of what happens around us. Of course, if we all had to wait until we were perfect before witnessing to others, few of us would ever be witnesses. That is not the point, God is willing to use those who are willing. The question is, Are we willing to be the best we can be for Him and the high calling He has for us in Christ Jesus/ Are we willing to be used as the most effective witness for Christ that we can be? If so, we need a personal revival every day of our lives.
WHEN OUR LIGHTS SHINE AS A RESULT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TRANSFORMING OUR LIVES AND LIVING IN US, THE GOOD DEEDS AND WORKS OF SERVICE HE ENABLES US TO PERFORM WILL ILLUMINATE ALL THE LITTLE CORNERS OF WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE…THE
We will be judged according to the light we have received…..READ JOHN 12:35
T ….1 PETER 5:7 ..TRUST GOD FOR EVERY DETAIL OF YOUR LIFE.
When we trust Him, we move beyond our understanding, beyond our comprehension,
to a dimension of belief where we are willing to relax in life because we know there is a Great, all powerful loving God watching over us.
Psalm 37:5 … Commit your way unto the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass..
H….ACTS 1:8 (HOLY SPIRIT- ALLOW GOD TO CONTROL AND EMPOWER YOU DAILY LIFE.)
Fruits of the Spirit…. Love…joy….peace….patience…kindness…goodness….faithfulness….gentleness…self-control..
God speaks through us through His providential workings and through the influence of His Spirit upon the heart.
A Christian life is a dynamic life: it is always in a process of change. We can never remain static, for remaining static is another way of saying we are not growing, and if we are not growing, we are truly moving backward.
If we really want to grow, these are some practical tools for having a real relationship with God;
These are the three sets of spiritual disciplines: the Inward disciplines, those that take place inside our minds; the Outward disciplines, those that take place through our actions; and Corporate disciplines; where we work together as fellow believers. Examples of inward disciplines include meditation ( Isa 1: 18), prayer ( Ps. 5: 1-3) and fasting ( Isa. 58:6). Some outward disciplines are simplicity ( Luke 12:15, Matt. 6:33), solitude (Luke 6:12) and service ( Matt. 25:34-36). The corporate discipliunes include confession ( Matt. 5:23,24) and worship ( one example is found in 1 Chron. 16:16, 29).
According to Benjamin Franklin…” There is a difference between imitating a good man and counterfeiting him.”
Spiritual disciplines have been described as behaviors that facilitate spiritual growth.
A Christian walk is similar to walking up on an escalator that is going downward…. The direction of the world is going downward…that is why if we stop…the escalator will eventually bring us down…. Christian experience is like that. .that is why we need to always GO UP.. steadily….How? Well… by following the tools… what are they again….?
G ..Go to God daily in prayer
.
R .. Read the Bible..
O.. Obey God ..moment by moment
W.. Witness with your life and words
T…Trust God for every detail of your life
H.. Holy Spirit allow Him to control and empower you.
