Spiritual Growth Baby – adult

Spiritual Growth
Baby in Christ or in culture
Protecting depths of the spirit – being examples
How do you know what level or stage someone is. You can’t do it by looking. It takes
relationship
Baby’s can’t be pushed or
Patient
Inclusiveness’s
Milk – hungry but can’t eat
Sensitive to change and they startle easily
Drawn here for many reasons
Greet with smile and warmth
Newborns need direction and guidance
Self centered vs self sacricial- they out their needs rst
They can’t handle heavy correction
Just learning their senses – learning new things
We never want to put out the spark that
Jesus has put in them about the church
Never feel like an intruder or outsider, they are seekers
A small seed must grow
1. We gain knowledge but have no perspective
2. We are convicted but often lack the skills implement growth
3. We attempt change without developing our character
NEED: If you want to experience a better year in 2025 you must put your spiritual life in order. I
want you to commit to spiritual growth this year. This is the one thing each of us needs
regardless of our present level of spiritual maturity. If you don’t commit to spiritual growth even
the most religious sounding goals will be meaningless.
Pastor, I’m reading through the Bible again this year.
-But I sure don’t plan on using any of it.
2. I’m going to have perfect attendance this year.
So don’t expect me to invite anyone else.
This isn’t spiritual growth, though I certainly hope both of these will be part of your strategy this
year.
Spiritual growth not only changes our habits, its changes our personalities.
It transforms us into the people God takes pleasure in.
Ephesians 4:1-13
1. Knowledge
2. Perspective
3. Skill
4. Conviction
The result, Character, is often viewed as the 5th Element of Spiritual Growth.
Personally, I prefer to teach that Christian Character is the goal of Spiritual Growth.
Level 1: THE FIRST ELELMENT OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS
KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge of the Word – in any conversation concerning gaining learning or knowledge God’s
revealed knowledge must be included.
It is senseless to talk of building the roof until the oor and walls are constructed.
In the same way we recognize in order for us to grow in knowledge or wisdom we must gain
better understanding of what we are already given.
In reference to the Bible and the things of God you must ask two basic questions:
1. What do I already know?
2. What do I need to know?
Of course the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know.
Learning is more of an upward spiral than a linear movement.
Knowledge of the WORD –
Wonder about it – awareness
Observe it – empirical science (comment on false that isn’t based on what we can observe}
Reect on it – meditation
Do it – application
I like this model because it so accurately reects the way we gain true knowledge.
Simply becoming aware of something doesn’t imply wisdom.
It isn’t until you have applied that knowledge that you begin to gain understanding.
Illustration: Baby – Adult growth
I want to develop the idea of Reection for a moment.
Understand this term in the context of what the Bible calls meditation.
Christian meditation is a far dierent endeavor than transcendental meditation attempted by
eastern mysticism.
One attempts to bypass all the physical stimulants that your body naturally perceives in order
to feel at one with the universe.
A feeling of emptiness is the desired goal.
There in lies the greatest dierence.
If I spend any time at all thinking about God, the emptiness brought about by the things of this
world begins to subside.
Christian meditation doesn’t try to become one with an impersonal universe.
As Christians our prayers and meditations are meant to get us in touch with a personal creator
whose ways are far greater than our own.
Get in touch with God and watch what happens.
Meditation – Gen 24 Isaac meditating in the evening looks up to see a beautiful bride
Meditation – Josh 1:8 “ this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall
meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do all that is written in it.”
Joshua spent far more time meditating on what God had given him than on reading War Plans
and Strategy Books. God gave him the promised land.
Phil 4:8 meditate on the things that are nobler, purer and lovelier and watch the outcome.
Satan is “behind” you.
God deals with what is behind you not you. Peter,
Overcome evil And evil one.
1. Get saved – I John 5:14
2. Avoid their influence Deuteronomy 18:9
3. Put on the Armor Ephesians 6
1 JOHN 2:15 balbyou have overcome the wicked
Level 2: THE 2ND ELEMENT OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS
PERSPECTIVE
Can you watch the spirit with your eyes closed?
Perspective is primarily an aspect of view point or vantage point.
The higher up the tree you get the further you can see.
We must learn to view things from God’s vantage point not ours.
This requires the promise of the Holy Spirit, that dwells in you as a child of God.
This larger frame of reference allows you to see how things are interrelated.
Spiritual Discernment allows you to make accurate comparisons concerning importance and
priority.
Throughout the Bible the terms understanding, wisdom, and discernment are used to describe
how we gain perspective through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Quenching, denying or ignoring that Spirit results in what the Bible terms blindness, hardness
of heart, and a dull outward appearance.
“Knowledge” tells us only what has happened.
“Perspective” tells us why.
We gain perspective only if we are intentionally trained with spiritual discipline.
You can spend your entire life gaining knowledge but will have no understanding if you avoid
exercising spiritual discernment.
Hebrews 5:14 Tells us that “solid food” is for the spiritually mature only because they have
exercised their spiritual senses enough to absorb it.
Spiritual Perspective will do the following for you:
Love God more –
Renmen Bondye plis –
Better resist temptation –
Pi bon reziste anba tantasyon –
Mature through trials – Matirite atravè esè –
victory without risk is hollow
Protect you from error – Pwoteje w kont erè
allowing yourself to be lulled in by the errors of those around you
Level 3: THE 3RD ELEMENT OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS
SKILL
Three of the ve steps of the learning model focus on skill development; tell them, show them,
walk them through it, practice it, apply it.
Skill is the ability to do something with ease and accuracy. Most of us are trying to go about
our spiritual development by coming to SS and sitting through preaching. You will never grow if
that is all you do.
Skills are developed not by watching or listening but by practice and exercise.
If all you do is read your Bible you are only watching and listening. You must practice and
exercise the truths you read in order to develop Bible Study Skills
Ministry skills must be practice and exercised as well as supported by your tithes. That is why
we teach Stewardship is your time your talents and your tithes.
Another key element is our relational skills.
You must practice the give and take nature of personal relationships on real people with
real needs and real problems.
You are here to relate to people the gospel.
Believe Big
So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who
was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the
twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. 1 Kings
19:19 NKJV
Why did God pick Elisha to be Elijah’s replacement?
He did so because Elisha believed big. We see why in two places.
We see it in Elijah’s request for some help. In 1 Kings 19 we see Elijah
being chased by his enemies, the rest of the prophets are presumed
dead and Elijah feels all alone. So he is crying out to God for some help.
God found a young man who was like Elijah. He found a man who was
as zealous for God as Elijah was. He found him Elisha because he
believed in a big God.
Elisha’s name means God is Savior. He was busy working when the
prophet found him. He was not just sitting around waiting for God to use
him, Elisha was working.
This tells us something else about why God chose him.
Those who learn to be diligent and devoted to the tasks God has called
them to today, doing whatever they do “…heartily, as to the Lord”
Colossians 3:23, will be those who are best prepared for any ministry
God may call them to tomorrow.
The work of building the Kingdom of God requires constant self-sacrice
and tireless devotion to our duties.
People who believe in a big God are people like that. And that is the kind
of person Elisha was.
Elisha believed big. The Word of God gives us great direction in regards
to what believing big is all about.
We need to believe in God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. We
need to believe in the Holy Spirit. We need to believe in the new life God
has given us through the crucixion and resurrection of Jesus.
We need to believe in the forgiveness of sins.
We need to believe that Jesus is coming back again. We need to believe
that the gates of hell will not prevail against us. We need to believe in
God’s healing and provision.
We need to believe that God’s Word is the truth.
That is believing big and we need to believe big so that we can get to the
next level.
Dream Big
So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and
slaughtered them and boiled their esh, using the oxen’s equipment, and
gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah,
and became his servant. 1 Kings 19:21 NKJV
Elisha followed Elijah for 7 or 8 years. Waiting for that day when the
same power of Elijah was available to him.
When you want something bad enough you will dream about it. It will
captivate your thoughts. Elisha dreamed of a double portion of what
Elijah had.
What do we dream big for? A new car? A new house? A new pair of
shoes? A new boyfriend or girlfriend? We need to dream bigger. We need
to dream dreams that are so big that only God can fulll them.
Our dreams are not just the things that happen at night when we are
asleep after eating some spicy food!
Our dreams are the goals and the visions that re our heart. They are the
visions of our lives being at the highest level of fulllment through Jesus
Christ.
A big dream is a magnet that pulls us to the next level.
We need to be careful though because not all of our dreams come from
God. Jesus said that apart from Him we can do nothing. Our dreams
must ow from God because when our dream is God’s dream nothing
can stop us.
When our dream is not God’s dream we nd the dream hollow and
unsatisfying.
What does a big dream look like? A big dream always involves building
the Kingdom of God. It always involves bringing sinners to Christ.
There are not many in our world who would see the value in dreaming
this big. The world says dreaming big means having a steady job, paying
the bills, and keep moving forward without making too many waves.
The fulllment of big dreams has nothing to do with what our society sees
as success but rather it has everything to do with the success of reaching
people for the Kingdom of God.
We need to dream big.
Represent Big.
Adults, do you remember when we were children?
When we were children the world seemed like a perfect place. When we
were young we had no worries. We did not worry about the bad news
stories. We did not worry about the crime rate.
When we were young we did not worry about God not answering our
prayers. We prayed and we believed that God was hearing us. We
dreamed about doing big things and we never feared telling anyone
about our beliefs and our dreams.
When we were young we had no trouble believing that the Bible was
truth. It was God’s Word that was taught to us at church and in our
homes.
When we were young it was easy to believe big, dream big and represent
big.
When we were young no one could tell us that God did not exist and that
God did not hear us. We knew it and we were not ashamed of it.
Just before God was about to take Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind we see
how big Elisha’s resolve was to represent big.
7 Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a
distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the
Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it.
The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed
over on dry ground. 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell
me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” “Let me inherit a
double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied. 2 Kings 2:7-9 NKJV
Elisha, believed big, he dreamed big and nothing held him back he
represented big. He received a double portion of what Elijah had and the
result was twice as many miracles and time and time again he stood up
against the enemies of God.
Elisha represented God and was used by God to make a difference. Do
represent God big? Are you speaking the truth of God to others? Are you
honoring God with your life, loving people, serving people, loving God
and serving God? Do you represent God big with your attitude? Do you
represent Him with the Fruit of the Spirit?
If we are going to represent God big we need to be lled with His spirit
and exhibit His fruits in our lives. We will never adequately represent God
in this world unless we are following Him wholeheartedly sold out to
Jesus.
Church we need to level up. We need to believe big, dream big and
represent big.
We were not created to be stagnate. God wants us to be constantly
growing and rising to new levels in this life. He wants us to ourish and
excel at whatever we set our hand to.
Level 4: THE LAST ELEMENT OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS
CONVICTION TO LOVE
Conviction is simply why you do the things you do. Without conviction you are easily swayed
by the meaningless gossip of this world that swarms around your head like gnats.
It amazes me how strongly we feel about weak issues like sports and fashion. Strong
convictions about weak matters have damaged the witness of the church, while issues of real
importance are completely ignored.
We will not become the Spiritual House required of us with such weak convictions. We are
living stones oering acceptable sacrices.
Christians need to show love without hypocrisy.
Some time ago a young sailor called his parents after his release from the military service. He
said he was bringing his buddy home to stay with him. “You see, Mom,” he said, “my friend is
pretty badly broken up. He was severely wounded and has only one leg, one arm, and one
eye.” After a little reection, the mother said grudgingly, “Of course, Son, I guess he can stay
with us a little while.” Her voice, however, carried the message that they would not like to be
burdened very long with such a severely handicapped fellow. Two days later they received a
telegram from the admiral’s oce, saying their son had plunged to his death from a hotel
window. When his body arrived for burial, his parents saw that he had only one arm, one leg,
and one eye! The memory of her last conversation with him lingered with that mother her whole
life. She often cried out, “Why didn’t I speak more carefully, more lovingly? If only I could take
back those thoughtless words ‘he can stay with us a little while.’ But it is too late now!”
That woman lived with regret because she did not show true love. If we do not have love for
others then we also will have regrets.
1. LOVE’S DEMAND Romans 12:9
“Let love be without dissimulation.”
Matthew 19:16-22
“And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may
have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but
one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (vv. 16-17).
The law promised life to those who kept it. God said in
Leviticus 18:5, “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgements: which if a man do, he
shall live in them: I am the Lord.”
So Jesus answered this young man’s question of what he could do to receive eternal life by
saying,
“If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Was Jesus telling this man that he could be saved by works and not faith alone?
Theoretically, if a person kept God’s law perfectly, he would be saved by works, but that is not
possible for anyone to do.
Jesus’ answer was designed to show the man his inability to obtain eternal life by keeping the
commandments.
Let’s read on.
“He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit
adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy
mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (vv. 18-19).
The last-quoted command: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” summarized the rest of
the commandments that Jesus stated,
and it ought to have opened the young man’s eyes to his shortcomings;
for how has he loved his neighbor as himself?
The young man was not, however, convicted of sin.
He pressed his enquiry as to salvation by works because he thought himself on the road to
winning it.
“The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I
yet?” (v. 20).
Perhaps the young man really did think that he had perfectly kept all of these commandments.
But his response to Jesus’ next statement would prove that he hadn’t.
“Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man
heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions” (vv. 19-22).
Was Jesus saying that in order to be truly saved we must sell all of our possessions and give
the money to the poor.
No, Jesus was showing the man that he had not really loved his neighbor as himself, and so he
was guilty of breaking at least one of the commandments.
How could anyone, who was content to be wealthy, profess to love his neighbor as himself
while needy, poverty-stricken people were suering all around him.
If he actually loved these people as he loved himself, he would help them.
This man professed to love others, but his actions proved otherwise.
Are you like this rich young man?
Do you say that you love your neighbor when in reality you don’t?
Paul wrote, “Let love be without dissimulation.”
The word dissimulation means without hypocrisy.
Is our love for others without hypocrisy?
In olden times the “hypocrite” was a man who played a part on a stage.
When we assume a character we do not have, we play the hypocrite.
Here are some other translations of this verse:
J. B. Phillips: “Let us have no imitation Christian love.”
NLT: “Don’t just pretend to love others.”
Amplied: “[Let your] love be sincere—a real thing.”
NKJV and NASV: “Let your love be without hypocrisy.”
The same word that has been translated “dissimulation” in this verse has also been translated
as “unfeigned” in 1 Peter 1:22.
1 Peter 1:22
“Seeing ye have puried your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”
F. B. Meyer writes in his commentary on First Peter: “How often we are one thing to their [our
friend’s] face and another to their back! How subtly we are tempted to maintain appearances,
because of some ulterior gain! Our politeness is often skin-deep. Our smiles assumed for a
purpose. Our words smoother than butter, whilst our hearts are drawn swords. Our acceptance
of apologies, as supercial as Joseph’s brethren thought that his would prove to be after old
Jacob’s death. Our love is not altogether ‘unfeigned’!”
2. LOVE’S DEBT Romans13:8
“Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth one another hath fullled the
law.”
Does the statement “Owe no man anything” mean that it is a sin to have a debt?
J. Hudson Taylor, the godly missionary to China, would never incur a debt, basing his
conviction on this verse.
Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher, had the same belief.
However, the Bible does not forbid borrowing or legal nancial transactions that involve
interest.
What the Bible does forbid, though, is failing to pay honest debts.
While there are these debts that can and should be paid, there is a debt which can never be
paid.
It is our debt “to love one another.”
The debt of love is always owing.
Any payment made in this respect does not release us from continued indebtedness.
This is the reason for the Lord’s remarkable answer to Peter when Peter raised the question,
“Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?”
The Lord’s answer was, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven”
(Matt. 18:21-22).
When Peter has forgiven his brother seven times, he has not even begun to discharge his debt
of love.
He must forgive and forgive and forgive, realizing that such is the love of God.
Love’s debt is large.
3. LOVE’S DUTY Romans 13:9
“For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt
not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is
briey comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Paul mentions the last ve of the Ten Commandments here and not the rst ve because his
subject is a Christian’s duty to his neighbor—the subject matter of the commandments six
through ten.
Matthew 22:34-40
Jesus reduced the Ten Commandments to two, underlining the heart of each of these
commands and placing the emphasis on love rather than on law.
Luke 10:29-37
“Who is my neighbour?” (Story of the Good Samaritan).
Galatians 5:14
“For all the law is fullled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
When we practice love, there is no need for any other laws, because love covers it all!
If we love others, we will not sin against them.
If we love our neighbor, will we commit adultery?
If we love our neighbor, will we kill?
If we love our neighbor, will we bear false witness?
If we love our neighbor, will we covet?
No, if we love our neighbor, we will not sin against him.
4. LOVE’S DESIRE Romans 13:10
“Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fullling of the law.”
Love hurts nobody.
It only does good to others.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
“This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It
is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inated ideas of its own
importance. Love has good manners and does not pursue selsh advantage. It is not touchy. It
does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, no
end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still
stands when all else has fallen” [Phillips].
Love is a biblical decision, not an emotion.
This is why God says you can love your enemies because he’s not asking you to like them.
He’s asking you to love them.
We have confused like with love. For example,
We love chocolate cake.
We love ice cream.
We love Poland.
We love the body of Christ.
A lot of these things we like and we have confused like with love.
The biblical decision to love can turn into like in general you want to love, and it will eventually
may turn into like, but the rst decision must be to love
1 John 3:16-17 we know love by this
Love is not what you say is what you do.
1 John 3:20
How you know you’re not Loving… It’s because you have the capacity and the mindset to do it
but you choose not to
Love is a biblical decision to suppress your emotions to care for another even when you don’t
want to
You will not need feelings to love.
You should want to like what you love, but you can love what you don’t like
We need love for the unsaved.
Someone has said, “The world will not care what we know until they know that we care.”
We need love for fellow believers.
Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi was once asked what it took to make a winning
team. He answered, “There are a lot of coaches with good ball clubs who know the
fundamentals and have plenty of discipline but still don’t win the game. Then you come to the
third ingredient: if you’re going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another.
You’ve got to love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy and saying to
himself: If I don’t block that man, Paul is going to get his legs broken. I have to do my job well
in order that he can do his.
“The dierence between mediocrity and greatness,” Lombardi said, “is the feeling these guys
have for each other.”
Someone has imagined the Carpenter’s tools holding a conference. Brother Hammer presided.
Several suggested he leave the meeting because he was too noisy. Replied the Hammer, “If I
have to leave this shop, Brother Screw must go also. You have to turn him around again and
again to get him to accomplish anything.”
Brother Screw then spoke up. “If you wish, I’ll leave. But Brother Plane must leave too. All his
work is on the surface. His eorts have no depth.”
To this Brother Plane responded, “Brother Rule will also have to withdraw, for he is always
measuring folks as though he were the only one who is right.”
Brother Rule then complained against Brother Sandpaper, “You ought to leave too because
you’re so rough and always rubbing people the wrong way.”
In the midst of all this discussion, in walked the Carpenter of Nazareth. He had arrived to start
His day’s work. Putting on His apron, He went to the bench to make a pulpit from which to
preach. He employed the hammer, screw, plane, rule, sandpaper, and all the other tools. After
the day’s work when the pulpit was nished. Brother Saw arose and remarked, “Brethren, I
observe that all of us are workers together with the Lord.”
Psalms 116:-12-14