HOW TO KEEP ON GROWING SPIRITUALY
Reading:
Eph 4:14 We must stop acting like children. We must not let deceitful people trick us by their false teachings, which are like winds that toss us around from place to place.
Eph 4:15-16 Love should always make us tell the truth. Then we will grow in every way and be more like Christ, the head of the body. Christ holds it together and makes all of its parts work perfectly, as it grows and becomes strong because of love. (CEV)
2Pe 3:18 Let the wonderful kindness and the understanding that come from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ help you to keep on growing. Praise Jesus now and forever! Amen. (CEV)
I - To grow spiritually, one must have eternal life.
Nowadays, our human technology almost perfected the craft of imitating the plants so that sometimes it is very hard for us to distinguish the plastic or fake from a real one. But no matter how beautiful the artificial plants maybe, but still they do not posses life that the real plants have. That is why they do not grow. Growing distinguish the fake from the genuine.
In order to grow spiritually, one must have the life of Jesus into his heart. A person can imitate what the Christians are doing like going to church or giving offering, but if he does not have Christ into his heart, those good works will not make him real Christian and Child of God. He must be born into the family of God by accepting Jesus into his heart.
A. We receive eternal life by receiving Jesus
1Jn 5:11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
1Jn 5:12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
B. The Word of God enables us to know that we have eternal life.
Real Christian has assurance of salvation. True Christian do not have fear of death because he know he has eternal life in Christ.
1Jn 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
C. This life in Christ gave us new purpose for living.
One of the marks of a real Christians is unselfishness. Once you become real Christian, you start to live not for yourself but for Christ.
2Co 5:15 He died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but only for him who died and was raised to life for their sake.
II - For the seed to start the growing , it must be buried first on the ground
God allow the believer to be buried in problems, trials and persecutions. This divine process makes our old nature die so that new life will germinate and start growing in our lives.
Joh 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
The bible portray the believer of Christ into jars of clay and Jesus is the treasure. It is to let us realize that life is not about us but about Jesus Christ. Our goal is to manifest the life of Jesus in our mortal flesh so that in our weaknesses God may be glorified.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
2Co 4:8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
2Co 4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
2Co 4:11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
2Co 4:17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
2Co 4:18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Paul example:
2Co 11:24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
2Co 11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
2Co 11:26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
2Co 11:27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
2Co 11:28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
Php 3:10 All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death,
Rom 8:28 We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.
III. Spiritual growth involves proper spiritual diet and exercise
Spiritual Food:
The word of God is our spiritual food.
Heb 5:12 By now you should have been teachers, but once again you need to be taught the simplest things about what God has said. You need milk instead of solid food.
Heb 5:13 People who live on milk are like babies who don’t really know what is right.
Heb 5:14 Solid food is for mature people who have been trained to know right from wrong.
Spiritual Exercise:
We must put into practice all that we hear and read from the Word of God. Through this, we will be able to build our lives on the Rock who is Jesus Christ the foundation of our lives.
Mat 7:24 "Therefore, everyone who listens to these messages of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.
Mat 7:25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation was on the rock.
It is only after the rain, floods and the winds tested our lives that we will be able to prove what kind of foundation that we are standing by.
IV. To grow spiritually, one must be planted in the house of the Lord
To be planted in the house of the Lord means to belong to the family of God in a Local Church. The church has an important part in our spiritual growth.
Psa 92:12 The righteous will flourish like palm trees; they will grow like the cedars of Lebanon.
Psa 92:13 They are like trees planted in the house of the LORD, that flourish in the Temple of our God,
Psa 92:14 that still bear fruit in old age and are always green and strong.
1Co 12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
I - To grow spiritually, one must have eternal life
II - For the seed to start the growing , it must be buried first on the ground
III. Spiritual growth involves proper spiritual diet and exercise
IV. To grow spiritually, one must be planted in the house of the Lord
If you have been blessed, encouraged or inspired by this sermon then it’s your turn to be an encouragement too. You can do it by sending email to this contributor at spy2rb@yahoo.com or post comment on the discussion box below.
