Currently we’re in a message series called “Growing Great Relationships.” Last week, we talked about “Loving from the Heart.” This week, I want to tackle a somewhat more difficult topic. What do we do when a relationship has problems? When a relationship becomes damaged? When someone we care about hurts us? Some people hold a grudge and become bitter. Others try to pretend that nothing has happened. Neither response is God’s way to deal with problems in a relationship. …
Valentine’s Day is all about love. And what better place to be on Valentine’s Day then worshipping the inventor of love, God Himself. As we’ll see, God both invented love and He best exemplifies love. So maybe God has something of importance to teach us about love on this Valentine’s Day 2010. …
Today we begin a new message series called “Growing Great Relationships.” Each of us has a variety of relationships with other people in our lives. Each of us has casual acquaintances. People we know a little bit about, but not too much. With things like Facebook growing in popularity, people have more and more of these casual acquaintances. Oftentimes, people you’ve never met, but who know someone you know. …
Medical science has made many advances in recent years. Largely because of those advances, the average life span has steadily increased and now stands at 78. People working in the medical field have found cures for many diseases and influenced the world for good. It would be unthinkable for a medical researcher to find a cure for a fatal disease and then not tell anyone about it. When you find a cure that will help others, you do everything you can to let others know about that cure. …
Currently we’re in a message series called “Five Foundations for Life.” As we start out the new year of 2010, it’s important to look at these five basic purposes that God has for every believer. These past three Sundays, we’ve looked at Powerful Prayer, Meaningful Relationships and Spiritual Growth through God’s Word. Powerful prayer had to do with our relationship with God. Meaningful relationships was focused on our relationships with other believers in the church family. Last Sunday, we examined the importance of studying the Bible in order to grow spiritually.
Knowing what the Bible says is not enough, we must apply it and put it into practice in our lives.
James 1:22 (NLT) But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
There are people who get these five foundations in their lives out of balance. Some people so focus on studying the Bible, that they have no time to actually do what it says. James tells us that there is no benefit in studying the Bible is you don’t do what it says.
Today, we’re going to talk about “Compassionate Service.” Another title may have been simply “Putting God’s Word into Practice.” Serving in the family of God is a God-given method to grow spiritually. It goes hand in hand with studying God’s Word to know what to do.
It’s kind of like giving one of your children a book about playing baseball. They can sit down and study that book about baseball for weeks. They can take a test and score 100% because they know all the baseball vocabulary and rules. Yet, until they pick up a bat, glove and ball and get into the backyard to put their knowledge into practice, they don’t know how to play baseball. Knowledge must be applied before you reap the benefit.
God has a plan for your life of putting His Word into practice. God’s plan for each of our lives is different.
Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Notice in this verse, that as a believer, you were created for a purpose. Your purpose is to do the good things that God planned for you before you were born. What are those good things you are to do? They are putting God’s Word into practice in a way that is consistent with how God created you.
James 1:25 (NLT) But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
The blessing of God comes on the lives and families of those who put God’s Word into practice. So how can you grow in doing God’s Word?
Listen to my January 24, 2010 message “Compassionate Service” (message-notes).
Today, we’re going to look at the topic of “Spiritual Growth”. This is the third foundation stone that we’re looking at in our message series “Five Foundations for Life.” What is spiritual growth all about? When a person becomes a new believer, whether you are 5 or 95, you begin as a spiritual infant. God’s purpose for every believer is that they grow to spiritual maturity. Just as God’s purpose for every baby is that they grow to adulthood, so His purpose is for every new believer to grow to spiritual adulthood.
Now, physical growth pretty much happens automatically, or so it seems. However, there are some requirements for physical growth. A child needs to eat right and learn a whole host of things to grow into a well-rounded productive adult. Regarding spiritual growth, many people think it happens automatically as well. People tend to measure spiritual maturity by how long a person has been a believer, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years and so on. But what does the Bible say?
Hebrews 5:12 (NIV) In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
The first thing we can learn from this verse is that God desires every believer to mature to the point they can teach someone else about the truths of God. The second thing we learn is that this desired spiritual growth does not happen automatically. Spiritual growth had not happened for the people this book was written too. They were still spiritual infants, needing spiritual milk, rather than solid food. If spiritual maturity is not measured by how many years you’ve been a believer, how is it measured?
Hebrews 5:13-14 (NIV) Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
These verses show that a mature person understands the teaching about righteousness, that is God’s Word. Not only does a mature person understand the Bible, they have applied it to their lives. A mature person has trained themselves to doing the right things in life.
Today, our topic is Spiritual Growth. We’re going to be looking at how you can accelerate your spiritual growth and grow towards spiritual maturity. Every foundation that we’ll be talking about in this series is important for spiritual growth. However, today, I’m going to talk about how God’s Word can bring about spiritual growth and maturity.
2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT) All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
That’s a good verse to memorize this week. It’s one of our action steps on the back of your Connect Card. The Bible is essential to growing spiritually. The start of the New Year 2010 is a great time to pursue God’s goal for your life of spiritual growth.
Listen to my January 17, 2010 message “Spiritual Growth” (message-notes).
