5 ways to grow spiritually
I see our church’s vision and mission is in helping people grow spiritually and this is done by 5 different ways:
• By engaging with relevant Biblical teaching and preaching.
• By connecting in divine appointed relationships.
• By practicing spiritual disciplines daily which enable us to experience God.
• By serving in a ministry or on a mission trip.
• By praying through and adjusting to unexpected circumstances in life.
Let’s look at these 5 paths to spiritual growth in more detail: Five ways to grow spiritually! The fab 5!
1. Practical teaching/preaching – Hearing, learning and then the application of what you learned by doing it - are all keys to growing in our faith walk.
a. Making God’s Word practical is the calling of a pastor/teacher.
i. The key: God wants us to not just know the Bible but do the Bible.
ii. We learn by anointed preaching and teaching. This is one of God’s methodologies to have us grow in our faith and our spiritual wisdom.
b. Andy Stanley states, “Practical teaching that moves people to action is one of the primary things God uses to grow our faith.”
c. The problem in American Churches is too many know the Bible but they do not do what the Bible says to do.
i. They hear the Word but they do not apply it or even believe it!
ii. James 1:22: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
2. Providential relationships – In our lives we can name key people who have all played divine rolls in helping us to grow in our faith.
a. Every one of us most likely can tell of a person who has helped us in our spiritual journey. These people all played key roles in growing your faith because God brought them into your life to help you grow..
i. Think for a moment – Can you name a few key people in your life who helped you grow?
ii. God brings people into our lives at just the right moment to help us grow spiritually.
1. Can you identify who these people are?
2. Can you identify a key teacher – a youth pastor?
b. We have an example of this Acts with Paul and Ananias/Barnabas.
i. Acts 9:10-19: 26-31:
1. 10In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
12In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.
14And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.
16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
17Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and
19after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus…
i.
26When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.
27But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
28So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.
29He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.
30When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.
c. Now the next question: Who have you helped to grow spiritually?
3. Private Spiritual disciplines – these include prayer, and giving and striving to stretch us in our faith so it will grow – so we will grow.
a. It’s the key concept of discipline or we could call it spiritual growth exercises – Examples of disciplines are: physical exercise, diet, budgeting, calling my mom, these are all things we are suppose to do in life. They take commitment and scheduling to happen.
i. When we prioritize spiritual disciplines it helps us grow in our confidence with the Lord. God will use these exercises to help us grow!
b. Quote: Andy Stanley: Discipline is all about doing what you don’t what to do now so you can do what you want to do later.
i. It’s all about delayed gratification like going to school to become what you want to be.
ii. Examples of spiritual disciplines: Prayer, fasting, devotions, personal Bible Study, going to church, and acts of self-denial or sacrifice.
c. Spiritual growth is a biblical assumption for the normal Christian life. As people over the last two thousand years have responded to the redemptive message of the Gospel they have, to varying degrees, matured in their faith experience.
i. Thirty years ago, Richard Foster, in the beginning of his book, Celebration of Discipline wrote these words: “Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people. The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths.”
ii. In recent years George Barna has stated, “Christianity would be incredibly influential in our culture if Christians consistently lived their faith. The problem is that millions don’t live like Christians-and that’s partially because they don’t know how.”
1. I Corinthians 3:1-3:
a. 1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ.
2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?
2. To become the spiritually mature people God intends us to be will require a disciplined life that will result in a lifestyle that will recognize and consistently respond favorably to God’s presence in our lives.
3. Paul, the apostle, in his letter to the Christians at Colossae wrote: “And whatever you do, in word or indeed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:17)
4. Personal ministry – Have you ever volunteered to do something you were not qualified for and discovered it helped you to grow because you were actually doing ministry?
a. One way God helps us to grow in our faith is by placing us in places to serve others for the Kingdom and the result is we end up growing.
i. Personal Story: My teaching release time in the projects of St. Paul to the Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese children during my senior year at NCBC.
b. What is God saying to you about serving in His Kingdom?
i. Is it a short term Missions trip?
1. This willingness fits the category of spiritual growth.
ii. How about serving in your church or in a certain para-church ministry (Like Pass) this is another venues God uses to grow us spiritually.
c. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6:
i. 4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
d. Ephesians 6:7, 8:
i. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men,
8because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
5. Pivotal circumstances – Life is filled with unexpected surprises. But each unexpected event is a divine opportunity to grow through it.
a. These circumstances can be good, can be trials, can be stressful or stages of life but in these situations God wants us to grow through them so as to teach us His faithfulness and to build our confidence in Him.
b. Personal examples: My call to ministry. The call to my first church as pastor.
c. Example Acts 10 Peter and Cornelius and a vision from God.
i. See Acts 11:1-4: 1The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.
2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him
3and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
4Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened:
5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was.
6I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air.
7Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
8“I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
9“The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’
10This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
11“Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.
12The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them.
ii. You have to be intentional about growing your spiritual faith and you have to trust God to work in and through your life to create those spiritual growth opportunities.
