It's at the end of experiences that God reveals the benefits. And we know that it is through Christ's difficult experience that we receive all of His benefits. So, we strengthen one another, encourage one another, and commit one another to the grace of God as we journey home.
Failure and discouragement call for perspective. Success and elation must be tempered by reality. Jesus is with us and making us like Him in all of the ups and downs of life. Balance and stability is the result of learning to trust Jesus.
God’s plan is still people. We still have the message of salvation. We still have the good news that Jesus saves. God is still setting people free in everything. He has appointed to eternal life those who will believe, rejoice, and glorify God.
A fulfilled person knows who they are, what they're called to, and why it matters. When we have a deep sense of identity, calling, and purpose we are able to persevere through adversity and disappoint me no matter what.
God is the great change agent of our lives. He is always making us different in some particular. Transforming. Modifying. So that we become different. Namely, like Christ. So...we remain open, stay sensitive, let God do the calling, and obey when He calls.
Spiritual maturity is taking God seriously and knowing God intimately. That doesn't just happen. Hidden in the very mind and heart of God are the characteristics of godliness and it takes time in His presence to learn them.
The key evidence that you want spiritual maturity will be an internal drive to diligently stay at it and an invisible determination to persevere in pursuit of Jesus Christ and his life in you.
In Psalm 26 we learn that the spiritually mature are open to the Lord, obey out of God’s acceptance rather than for his acceptance, reject godless community, are marked by gratitude, are faithful in public worship, and view life theologically. It's a life that wants to please God regardless and model's Christ's life regardless.
God requires us to mature in Christ. This is why Christ came, lived, died, and rose again. However, we can find ourselves resisting that. Why? In Hebrews, we find 3 reasons we stall out in our spiritual growth.
Adolescent traits that Christians must cultivate and never lose are a willingness to risk, a sensitivity to God, a commitment to authenticity, and courage to stand alone.
Spiritual adolescence is the season where we have both the knowledge of an adult and the capacity of an adult, but still lack the wisdom of how to put that knowledge into godly living. Common areas of needed growth are: Selfish Division, Personal Immaturity, Sexual Immorality, and Unrestrained Liberty.
Maturing spiritually is for a Christian of any age. It must never stop. We see in the lives of the early Christians, 3 areas of growth that stimulate maturity and demonstrate that we are maturing.
Some things about spiritual childhood aren't to be done away with. But instead should be encouraged. But there is another type of childishness that has no place in the life of the spiritually mature. In this sermon we learn 3 areas of childlikeness to celebrate and 4 areas of childishness to be condemned.
Sin was punished and paid for in Christ so that God would be both the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
The Christian life is walking with the Lord. It is caught rather than taught. However, we can see what it looks like and begin to step out in faith as God compels us to walk by the Spirit.
We'll never mature in our faith, if we've never been born into our faith. There are four musts that accompany a true coming to faith in Christ. We must be born again, it must be biblical, it must be personal, and it must be authentic.
There are definite and fixed stages of through which we must pass in route to becoming spiritually mature. The Bible uses the analogy of physical development. They are Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood. We all start at the same place and we all go through the same stages. Identifying and understanding where we are and where we want to be is the place to start in maturing.
Spiritual maturity means such things as being fully developed, wise in the ways of life, and a determination to submit to God. It includes self-discipline, a determination to obey the Bible, and a commitment to know Christ and be like Christ and tell others about Christ, every day, all the time. All of that with an attitude of contentment and joy.
The Bible describes the city of man as primarily being a place of darkness, death, and unbelief. And every person is born into the city of man, but in God's goodness he chooses to bring some, through a new birth, into the city of God. You become a citizen of this city through the light of the gospel of Jesus and his death for sin, a new life in Christ's resurrection, and you enter the city through faith.
Strongholds are situations or dilemmas that are keeping us bound and we can’t break free. Things we can’t work ourselves through or fix. But nothing is too difficult for God to break us loose. In God’s power there can be even a miraculous rescue. So we rest in God and we pray.
Whatever God plans, He pursues. This makes us patient. Whomever God chooses, He uses. This makes us humble. Wherever God selects, He sends. This makes us content.
God is forever on the cutting edge of change. Never his nature. Never His Word. But He changes his ways and his movements continually. We must remain calm, seek God's glory, embrace change, and continually evaluate.
All of us are seeking for security, approval, acceptance, comfort, meaning, purpose, joy that lasts/ On top of that there’s fear, a lack of peace, even a sense of guilt. There is a deep itch and some unknown scratch. Augustine wrote our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Thee, God.
God’s arm isn’t short. He has never met his match. He is offering you Jesus right now and you can have him right now and be forgiven right now and have eternal life right now so that if you would die right now you would be with God right now. Grace.
Based on external appearance, past experiences, or personal preferences our sin nature assumes the worst, our sinful mind forms bad opinions, so we do, say, or ignore unjust, cruel, and even hateful things. This is sinful, painful, and the only rescue from it is Jesus Christ.
We must be careful and above all biblical when thinking about miracles. The Bible teaches us that when it comes to the miraculous we can be open and expectant while maintaining discernment and honesty. When we do God will get the glory and people will come to Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was a turning point for the 1st century believers in the book of Acts, and Christian’s today still live under that same power and influence. The boldness, courage, and strength the early disciples had didn’t come from sheer force of will power or good intentions. It came from the assurances they had because the resurrection was real. The apostle Paul encourages us with 4 assurances that are rooted in Jesus’ resurrection. Assurances of hope that can reorient, and ...
If we are going to become a church like the early church, then we must be a church centered upon Christ. To do that, we must look to the Scriptures for our model of a Christ-centered church. Paul’s opening passage of thanksgiving to God for the Philippian church shows us what the realities of a Christ-centered church looks like.
God isn’t looking for strong willed individualists. No matter how gifted. He wants humble, broken, bruised, and dependent sons and daughters. People who have learned they can’t make it on their own.
