Growing Up Spiritually Ephesians 4:14-16NLT
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Q&A: What would truth be without love? Puffed up knowledge. However, truth mixed with love becomes a powerful spiritual mixture that will convert the helpless and the hopeless.
Doctor RT. Kendall was asks the question: “What is the number one reason people don’t walk in a greater anointing?
His answer was bitterness and un-forgiveness.
He uses Ephesians 4:30-32NIV And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
“If believer’s choose to forgive, God’s word will become alive!” Matthew 18:21-22NLT Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!
"Some Jewish rabbis taught their followers not to forgive beyond three offenses.
Peter, no doubt, thought that forgiving seven times equaled going the second mile.
Jesus responded to Peter's inquiry by noting that true forgiveness knows no limits.
So go and do likewise!"
Hear this word: “We can have all the talent in the world, but if we aren’t fit together- We won’t be healthy, and Jesus can’t be the head.” (Anything with two heads is a freak.)
Abraham Lincoln once said- “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”
So again, How do I stand? Through my love walk mixed with faith in God.
Standing firm in Christ while keeping a good confession takes strong faith. The kind of faith that isn’t moved by sickness, situations, people, emotions or even death. (Love is the key ingredient)
James 2:21-24NIV Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. 24 So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.
What makes a person do the right things?
Roger from Illinois developed terrible arthritis and couldn’t handle the northern winter’s anymore, so he moved to tropical Bangkok, Thailand. One day he remembered his grandmother’s favorite song, “What You Are.” It goes: What you are speaks so loud that the world can’t hear what you say; they’re looking at your walk, not listening to your talk; they’re judging from your actions every day.
This song prompted Roger to feed the homeless who stayed along a half mile stretch of road. Every morning, he served hot food to more than 45 families. Years later, one of the homeless women came to know Jesus as Savior and sought out Roger to thank him for introducing her to the love of Christ.
If you are to stand firm you will- Number 1, Walk in love.
Abraham willingly offered his son because of love- his love to please God.
1 John 4:11-12NKJ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
We talk about love, write about it, sing it. Everyone wants to love and be loved. However, true love becomes obscured in all the verbiage and confused by counterfeits. There’s types of love: 1. Erotic 2. Philo 3. Agape.
Here’s true love: 1 John 4:9-10NLT God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
God’s love moves into action. God’s love sends, gives, serves, feeds, heals, and even died for others. For God, love is an action verb.
If you are to stand firm you will number 2, Walk in faith.
James 2:17NLT So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
This doesn’t mean that works will result in faith, but that good works will affirm that our faith is real.
One man said, “What matters isn’t faith and works; it isn’t faith or works; it is faith that works.”
“As you develop your love walk, in return your faith will begin to stand firm.” (Faith and love are inseparable.)
Galatians 5:6NLT For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.
It’s time to stand firm; it’s time to mix love and faith together to become a force to be reckoned with.
Benediction.
