Text: 2 Peter 3: 18a
“But grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ”.
INTRODUCTION
-
Peter
is the author of the first and the second letter.
-
After
writing the first letter to encourage Christians who were under intense
persecution, he wrote the second letter because there were false teachers who
tried to divert believers from the truth of the Gospel.
-
Peter
encouraged them to allow the grace to enable them to grow up in Christ despite
of false teachers and opposition.
-
He
wanted them to renounce false teachings and remain firmly established in the
truth of the scripture.
-
Peter
knew that without spiritual growth and maturity, the church will never be
strong enough to reject false teachings.
-
Growth
is one of the most important things that every livingthing needs.
-
God
has a special purpose to allow gowth to exist. He knew its importance.
-
Even
in spiritual matters, growth is very important.
WHAT DOES
IT MEAN TO GROW SPIRITUALLY?
-
Growing
spiritually simply means, the process of developing in spiritual matters.
Moving from the lower stage to the higher
-
To
hate evil or being separated from sinful ways and love to practise what pleases
the eyes of God.
-
To
hear and do what the Bible says.
-
To
have a desire that wants to know more about God.
-
It
is not the will of God for you to be stagnant or remain as a spiritual babe
every year. That is why He wants you to hear and know about growth in your
life.
-
Without
spiritual growth in your life, you will live a defeated Christian life of which
is not the will of God.
-
Know
– what is keeping us from growing?
-
When
a believer grows to maturity, Isaiah says that no weapon that will be formed
against him by the devil shall prosper, (Isa 54: 17) because he knows what to
do when the devil shoots him with the firery dirts (Arrows).
SPIRITUAL
HEALTH
-
Before
we talk about growth, lets see something about spiritual health.
-
For
someone’s body to become healthy, he must eat well, drink much water, do
exercise and have good time to rest.
-
Even
in spiritual matters, we eat well (The bread of life) and drink spiritual
water.
-
Without
eating the word, praying, fellowship and sharing Christ to others, our
spiritual life will be malnourished- No strength – No growth and even death can
occur.
-
No
one in the world causes any living organism to grow. It is only God who knows
how growth is happening and he’s the one causing it.
-
Our
part is to eat and become healthy and automatically growth will happen.
-
Paul
wrote to the Corinthian church that, “I planted, the seed, Apollos watered it
but God made it grow? (1 Corinthians 3:6).
IMPORTANCE
OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH
-
When
a believer grows spiritually: -
a)
There
will be a total dependance to God only.
b)
There
will be a strong faith even in times of suffering. (Example Job)
c)
He
will never be diverted or cheated by false teachers (doctrines)
d)
He
will have a continuous communication and strong relationship with God.
e)
He
will never be ashamed to testify about Christ to others.
f)
He
will keep on practicing what God says without complaining or seeing it as a
burden to him e.g praying, holiness, Tithing and giving offerings e.t.c.
HOW DOES A
CHRISTIAN GROW SPIRITUALLY AND WHAT CAUSES THE GROWTH?
-
When
Peter says grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, he
tells us as believers to let the grace and the knowledge of Christ help us to
keep on growing, to be obedient to the voice of God.
-
There
is no way a Christian can grow spiritually unless he becomes obedient to the
word of God.
-
When
a Christian thirst for God and puts all of his thirst in Him alone, he will be
empowered by God. He will start to experience a new thing in his life. .
-
It
is only the power of God that causes the growth. Illustrate how a sorghum seed
is grown till is ready for harvest!
Five ways
to help you grow spiritually
-
For
you to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ;
a)
Don’t
allow any in to dominate your life (Romans 6:23)
b)
Pray
always (1Thessalonians 5:17) Ask God to fill you with Holy Spirit.
c)
Don’t
be missing teachings and prayer meetings in the church (Acts 2:42)
d)
Exercise
true Christian love (John 15:9)
e)
Worship
God through tithings and giving offerings
(Leviticus 27:30; Psalms 24:1)
HINDRANCES
TO SPIRITUAL GROWTH
-
In
these last days, the devil is trying to fight the church by creating some
hindrances to stop christians from growing.
-
He
knows that if Christians will keep on growing to maturity his works will all be
in vain.
-
He
is making others to be dormant / stagnant in the churches.
Tell a story of a woman who tied her
goat at the nearby bush as she was working in the shamba. A thief came &
stole the goat!.
-
This
is what the devil has done in the spiritual life of some people in the church
today. They are seen to be a live but the whole body has been taken away by the
devil.
-
That
is why you cannot see a sign of growth in their lives.
-
They
are just on the same level everyday.
What is
keeping our churches or lives from growing?
WHAT IS KEEPING OUR LIVES/CHURCH FROM GROWING
- Failure to believe/ obey Gods word – mixing Gods word & traditions.
- Not attending Bible / teaching meetings – Not sharing the gospel to the unsaved.
- sinful life without repentance-
- living without praying (prayer less life is a powerless life)
- Robbing God – Not giving for the works of God.
CONCLUSION:
- God wants you to recongnize the
things that have hindered you from spiritual growth.confess them direct to God.
- Start desining and thirsting for
spiritual growth by being obedient to the word of God and you will experience
growth occuring in your daily life.
ALTER CALL
- May be you are here today, you have
heard the word of God and you are developing a desire to grow in your Christian
life.
- Tell Him you are here, speak out to
Him all of the evil things you’ve been doing that are the caurse of your
stagnant Christian life, ask Him to forgive you and cause a spiritual growth to
happen now.
PREPARED BY:
JACOBAM WILLIAM APEYO
P.O. BOX 488-30500,
LODWAR –KENYA.
CELL: +254700576781.
EMAIL: jacobam85@yahoo.com/william.jacobam@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment