Taking Your Growth To Another Level

We live in this world, but as believers we are not of this world. All the spiritual forces of darkness are against us. As believers, the odds are stacked against us in this world spiritually. I believe that everything that happens in this world is designed strategically by the devil to cause us to fail spiritually.

At times, we might state we feel stuck in our relationship with Jesus. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever talk about being stuck with Jesus. There is no such thing as standing still spiritually. You don’t get stuck in your relationship with Jesus. The moment you stop pursuing a daily encounter with Jesus, the carnal nature grows stronger.

In the treadmill of life, if you don’t move forward, you are moving backward. Share on X

“On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!””

Matthew 13:1-9 NKJV

In Matthew 13, God outlines in this parable the many ways to die spiritually, but only one way to live spiritually. In this parable there are only 4 categories of people. According to Jesus’ parable of the sower, there are many ways to die but only one way to live.

1. Those who do not understand and die – Unbelievers.

This is why preachers exist – to help you understand and make sense of it all. This is what Sunday services are for – to help people hear and understand the Gospel.

How can you accept and follow Jesus if you do not understand the gospel?

2. Those who have no roots and die – Baby Christians.

They have no foundation and can’t stand the test of time (Jeremiah 17:7-8.)

Roots grow over time, when nourished. Babies grow over time, when nourished.

This is what life class is for – to help people grow roots in Christ.

3. Those who are unfruitful and die – Lukewarm Christians.

Cares of this world. Pursuit of wealth, worrying about the future – in other words, the spirit of this world got to them.

Trust can only grow when it is tested. Share on X

Coffee left out too long without being used becomes lukewarm. Zapping coffee in a microwave doesn’t solve the bigger problem.

A conference is a microwave – you zap something hot again but if it goes back to the counter it won’t stay warm. Only way to keep a cup of coffee hot is by mixing it with hotter coffee.

The cure to a wet log is dry logs on fire. You can’t start a fire with a wet log. You can’t keep a fire with only a wet and dry log. And you can only change a wet log by throwing it into a bunch of dry logs on fire.

This is what life groups are for – to help people become fruitful.

Hardest part about lukewarm Christians is they don’t recognize it in themselves. An unbeliever knows what they are. A baby Christian knows what they are but a lukewarm Christian doesn’t know!

God wants to not just zap you but He wants to throw you into the fire with other Christians on fire!

4. Those who grow and live – Disciples.

Biblical sign of growth and life is fruit. They hear the Word, abide by it, apply it, make it their standard, honor it, follow it, reflect on it, memorize it, meditate on it. It transforms them because their relationship with God is alive. It is real. They encounter Jesus daily (James 1:22).

They understand that checkmark Christianity (doing something because its required) won’t sustain them and won’t take them to Heaven.

In a marital relationship, if you only perform tasks and do things because you are required to, that relationship is dead.

They understand that when you don’t feed yourself with the word of God, and when you don’t have daily encounters with God, your carnal appetite grows stronger very fast.

Their Christian life is not on life support but growing, alive and thriving.

For unfruitful Christians, the church becomes their life support. The only thing keeping you alive is the church.

The church cannot be your life support. It has to become your gym, not your emergency room. But even the effects of a gym depends on your attitude.

So how do I grow? I am so glad you asked. Everyone grows by connecting with God by having daily encounters with him. The vision of hungrygen keeps you from checkmark Christianity.

12 ways to connect with God:

Everyone connects differently with God. Attend regular Sunday services to gain understanding of God, attend Life Class to be rooted in Jesus and join a life group to get in a fire relationship with Jesus. Disciples have personal encounters with God. That is what sustains everything. All else flows out of that.

Adoration – worship

Compassion – serving others

Conversation – dialoging with God

Creation – in God’s beautiful creation

Expression – through your creative gift

Fasting – denying your flesh

Learning – rhema words from God

Meditation – filling your mind

Movement – silencing the noise

Reformation – making crooked paths straight

Remembrance – a thankful heart pleases Him

Solitude – just me and You

If we don’t keep moving in our Christian journey, we become a sitting duck. The hardest target for the devil to hit is a moving target. Create as much distance between yourself and the shooter as possible and keep moving – make yourself a hard target to hit. You cannot afford not to grow.

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