Well, we were actually driving on the way to church, and my son
asked me, dad, what book of the Bible are we going to be studying
now that we're done with Joshua?
And I love when my kids ask questions.
And it makes me understand that I'm conditioning them to know
that we do book studies.
But I actually had to tell them, we're not going to do a particular
book study now for a little bit because we're going to be doing
a series for the rest of the summer.
And different people define summer different ways.
And so that gives me a little bit of freedom to know that I can
go a little bit longer, a little bit shorter.
But we're going to be going through a sermon series entitled
Summer of Spiritual Strength.
And so for the rest of the summer, we're going to talk about
what spiritual growth is.
Number one, what is spiritual growth?
Number two, how can we grow, and how can we even gauge if we're
growing?
And I do believe that the Bible speaks quite a bit about spiritual
growth.
But if we were to pull the church, I think all of us would agree
that spiritual growth is important.
I think if I said, hey, how many of you believe spiritual growth
is important?
All of us would raise our hands, all of us would agree.
But then I might ask the question, and you probably have the
answer.
But let's just pretend like the church doesn't have the answer
so that we can grow in our understanding.
If I might ask, how do we spiritually grow, or what does spiritual
growth look like?
We might get different answers.
Talked a little bit about this in our small group this morning.
But some people might say, well, it's going to church.
Spiritual growth is, I go to church more.
But we all know that church attendance does not necessarily equate
spiritual growth.
Why?
Because people can come to church and go home and leave unchanged.
It's just, hey, I'm at a different place today.
I'm walking into a building, sitting down, going home, and I'm
the same.
So just going to church doesn't change us in our spiritual
growth process.
Some people might even say, well, I read my Bible, so that means
I'm spiritually growing.
Well, we all know that there are unsaved people that read the
Bible.
It doesn't mean that they're spiritually growing.
So those two things might necessarily be spiritual growth.
They might be ways that we can grow in our walk with Christ.
Others might say prayer, others might say service.
And these are all good things, but they're not necessarily spiritual
growth.
And so we have to go down to the most basic level of what is spiritual
growth.
And I believe that we can go to a few passages of scripture that
might give us a working understanding of what spiritual growth
is.
And then I would like to take us to a larger passage of scripture
that speaks to the first step of that spiritual growth process.
So go with me, if you will, to Romans chapter 8.
We were just here in our Romans study, but I do believe that
Romans chapter 8, verse 29 gives us a good definition of what
spiritual growth is.
Romans chapter 8, verse 29 is a passage of scripture that many
people use as a proof text for determinism.
Basically, God selects a certain group of people at the beginning
of time and he makes those people Christians and others, he
makes non Christians.
And I don't believe that that's what this verse is talking
about.
If you want to know more about that study, you can go back to our
Romans 8 study on the live stream.
But Romans chapter 8:28 says, for whom he did for know, he also
did predestinate.
Now, who did he for know?
Well, this is, I believe, speaking about those that he knew
in the past with his relationship with them, the the saints
of old.
And those that he knew before he predestined to be conformed to
the image of His Son.
So just as God has been faithful to those that he knew before,
so he will be faithful to us today as Christians.
And he predestinates those that are part of the family of God.
To do what?
To be conformed to the image of His Son.
I believe that is a great definition of what it means to grow
spiritually.
And that is to be more like Christ, to be conformed to the image
of Christ.
Now you might say, what does that mean?
That means just simply this.
To look like Christ, to act like Christ, to talk like Christ,
to respond to like Christ, to deal with pain like Christ, to deal
with conflict like Christ.
It list goes on and on.
But the Bible says the way that we can gauge our spiritual growth
is are we living more and more like Christ?
And you might say, well, Pastor Josh, I'll never be like Christ.
I'll never be perfectly like Christ.
Well, on this side of heaven, there's no way that we could be like
Christ.
But the Bible tells us very clearly here that it's God's plan
for us to be conformed to the image of His Son, meaning it's God's
plan for us as believers to be more Christ.
Like every single day.
It's a spiritual growth process.
So how do we get on that process, how do we get on the road
of spiritual growth?
How do we start that process?
Because the Bible tells us in second Peter, chapter three, verse
18, that we're to grow in grace.
Second Peter, chapter one tells us that we're to add to our
faith.
So you say, well, how can we add to our faith?
How can we grow in grace?
Other passages of Scripture, like Colossians chapter two, tell
us to be rooted in Christ, to be grounded in Christ, to be established
in his word.
Well, how can we do all of that?
Well, we do that not through hard work, not, not through our own
will, not through our own success, but through the working
of the Spirit of God in our life.
Now, the first question that I might have you think about here this
evening, other than what is spiritual growth?
Is this how can we in the biblical sense grow in our spiritual
walk with Christ?
And how do we have the Spirit living within us?
Because to grow in our spiritual life, we have to be doing
it through the Spirit and not the flesh.
Galatians tells us that we can choose the walk of the flesh or the
walk of the Spirit.
And he talks about all the works of the flesh and he talks about
the fruit of the Spirit, which we're going to talk about in this
study.
But how do we start that process?
Well, we start that process of the Spirit indwelling us through
something called salvation.
Or we could call it justification.
We could call it putting faith in our Lord.
We could talk about John chapter three being born again.
But the way that we start the process is to believe in Jesus Christ
through faith that not of ourselves.
It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
And so Ephesians chapter two is where we're going to start this
study, because this talks about the starting point to our spiritual
growth process.
And if I'm walking anybody else through the spiritual growth
process, I need to start here.
I can't start with, well, how much Bible have you read today?
I can't start with how long do you pray every day if they don't
have faith in Jesus Christ, if they don't have the Spirit indwelling
them?
Romans chapter 8 tells us that the indication that we're born again
is that the Spirit indwells us that we are called the children of
God through the indwelling of the Spirit.
So in Ephesians chapter two, we're going to look at the first
ten verses here this evening, and what we're going to see is who
we were before we came to Christ, how We can come to Christ
and who we are after that.
And that's really a good outline to any of our testimonies.
When we were in Rwanda, we walked the men through a basic outline
of how to share their testimony.
And it was a really basic three step process.
Who you were before you came to Christ, how you came to Christ,
and who you are now in Christ.
And then we told them, hey, try to find a Bible verse that you
can go back to as a foundational truth that you can come
back to when you're doubting or when you're struggling.
So we go to Ephesians chapter 2 and we see who we were before we
came to Christ.
It says in verse one, and you hath he quickened or brought to life
who were dead in trespasses and sins.
The Bible tells us here in Ephesians 2:1 that before we came
to Christ, we were dead in our sins and he brought us to life.
Now, there's a lot of debate about what this phrase dead in our
trespasses and sins means, but I do believe that if we could take
it from the most basic level, we could say that in our sin, we
deserve death.
In our sin, the wage.
As Romans chapter 6, verse 23 says, the wage of our sin is death.
And so what we deserve and what our outcome will be if we are
not brought to life is death.
But the Bible says that God makes us alive.
And so we go from death to life, we go from darkness to light.
It's a huge transition.
It's not like, well, my life is getting a little bit better.
No, I'm not even on the path of hope.
I'm not even on the path of light.
I am dead in my sins, I'm stuck in darkness.
He says in verse two, wherein in times past ye walked according
to the course of this world.
He says, when we were in our sins, when we were dead in our sins,
we were walking in the ways of this world.
Now what's the ways of this world?
Well, we could see it in a lot of places, but I think the most succinct
list of what the world brings is First John, chapter two.
First John, chapter two tells us what the world provides for us.
If we love the world, if we want to walk in the ways of the world,
what will be the result?
Well, First John, chapter 2, verse 15 says, Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
So the Bible says, as we walk in the world, we are not walking
with the love of Christ.
We're not walking with the confidence in our heavenly Father.
We're walking in the confidence of this world.
And what does the world bring?
He says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father,
but is of the world.
And then he goes on to say something more interesting.
He says, and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.
And he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
So there's so many points that we see here, but essentially, when
we're walking in the ways of the world, we're walking with the
lust of our flesh, what feels good, lust of the eyes, what looks
appealing, and the pride of life, what lifts me up.
Then he says, what is that going to produce?
Verse 17.
It's going to pass away.
It's going to go away.
You might feel good for a season.
You might feel like you have everything you've ever desired, but
that will eventually slip out of our grasp and we will have nothing
at the end.
He says, no, that is not the hope that we find in the Lord.
That's the hope that we find in the world.
The hope that we find in the.
In the.
In the Lord is what that we will abide forever.
So he says, before we came to Christ, before we start in this process,
we were walking in the course or the way of this world.
The way of this world is what feels good, what looks good, what
lifts you up.
And the promise of that.
If you go back to even Satan's temptations with Jesus in the wilderness,
what did he do?
He appealed to all of these things.
The lust of the flesh.
Jesus was hungry.
He said, hey, make those stones turn to bread.
It'll make you feel good then.
Then remember.
He took him to a place and he says, I'll give you all the kingdoms
of the world.
He.
He appealed to the lust of the eyes, then eventually said, hey,
Jesus, just want you to jump off the temple because the angels
will catch you.
You know, you aren't you Messiah.
He appeals to Jesus's pride of life.
He says, hey, Jesus, get it now.
Don't wait for the Father's way.
Don't wait for the Father's timing.
Do what you want to do now.
That's what Satan always attacks us with.
And that's what we see here is ultimately the course of this world.
And he says, you're walking in the course of this world according
to the prince of the power of the air.
Now, you might not understand what that means, but essentially
what he's saying is this, that we're walking in the way of the devil.
We're walking as enemies of God.
Then he goes on to say a little bit more.
He says, and the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
So before we came to Christ, who were we?
We were dead walking in the ways of this world, which brings
destruction.
And what does it say, children of disobedience?
Not a very bright picture of who we were before we came to Christ.
Then he says in verse three, among whom also we have all had our
conversation or our lifestyle in times past, in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and
were by nature children of wrath, even as others.
So he paints the picture a little bit more detailed here.
He says, okay, all of us, no matter if you were saved 20 years
ago or you were saved two minutes ago, if you were saved when
you were seven, or if you were saved when you were 70, this is who
you were before you came to faith.
He says, you were fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind.
By the way, there's a lot there.
Because what that tells us is that we don't just sin with what
we do, but we also sin with how we think.
Jesus addresses that on the Sermon on the Mount.
There were.
There were people at the time of Jesus and even people today that
say, well, as long as you're not doing something, you can think
whatever you want to think.
But what Jesus said was this.
No, you know what?
It's more than what you do, even though what you do is bad.
Also, if you think these things, they can lead to a place
of sin in your life.
And so he says this.
We were characterized by our sin.
Now you might say, well, Pastor, isn't that the condition
of man?
Aren't we all just human?
Yes, that shows all the more reason why we need to get on the
path of Jesus Christ.
And so he says, that's who you were.
And then he goes on to say this.
And we're by nature the children of wrath.
So you were children of disobedience.
I was a child of disobedience.
And I was a child of wrath.
Verses 1, 2, and 3 tell us that before we come to Christ, it's
hopelessness.
We might think that we have hope, we might think that we have
direction.
We might think that we have some sort of salvation in something.
But he says, no, really, if you look at it from the most basic
level, we are all lost and we are all hopeless and we are all children
of the enemy.
We are all children of disobedience and we're children of
wrath.
But then I like in verse number four, two words come on the
scene and totally flipped the script, totally changed the direction,
says, but God, who is rich in mercy, what is mercy?
Well, we all know what mercy is.
Mercy is God withholding something from us that we deserve.
What do we deserve?
We deserve death.
We deserve punishment.
We deserve all the things that we earned in the lifestyle of our
sin.
But he says, no.
God came on the scene who is rich in mercy for his great love,
wherewith he loved us.
We see that we have a God who is merciful and loving.
Folks, if you're a believer today, you have a reason to celebrate.
You have a reason to be joyful.
You have a reason to have hope.
Why?
Because you have a God who is merciful and you have a God who loves
you.
You know, John 3:16, for God so loved the world.
And oftentimes we, we distinctly look at that verse and
we think, well, that's talking about God just loving the general
population.
And though that means, yes, that God loves us all, it also means
that God loves you.
And that can change the way that we see a situation.
If we're having a bad day, or if we're going through loss, or if
we're going through pain, or if we're going through confusion.
If we go back to understanding that the God of this universe, and
we truly believe this, that the God of this universe, who did
not need to love me, who I owe, who really truthfully I owe
everything to, came and loved us and displayed, as it says here
in verse number five, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ.
By grace you're saved.
It's through Christ and His sacrifice for us that he proved his
love for us.
And so as Christians as we're starting the spiritual growth process,
we take someone and we show them.
This is who Jesus is, this is what he does for you, and this is
what puts you on the path to spiritual growth.
It's not about being a better person.
So often I'll hear people say this, and maybe you have as well.
I need to get to church.
I need to clean up my life.
I need to get everything in order and then I can start trying
to serve God.
No, folks, that's not how it goes.
You come to Jesus in your brokenness, you come to his grace
with all of your dirtiness.
And he washes us clean.
And so it's not a matter of coming and saying, you know what?
I need to start the spiritual growth process by finding a good
ministry, by.
By getting involved, by.
By thinking about all these different things and by getting into
this Bible study, this Bible study, even though those can help
us in the spiritual growth process.
The first place to start is knowing Jesus and knowing him in
a personal way.
And that's what he says here.
It starts with Jesus.
We know that in the book of Hebrews it says that Jesus is the,
what, the author and finisher of our faith.
It's not just where we start, but it's where we finish.
It's not just where we start, but we are sustained by him in our
spiritual growth process.
So many people are looking to grow in their spiritual growth with
their own fleshly actions.
We talked about it this morning in our morning service.
Some people are list followers.
Others are led by their emotions.
Others are led by maybe a movement or a person.
Folks, none of those things will equate spiritual growth.
What equates spiritual growth is fighting spiritual things with
spiritual things.
It's a submission to God and allowing God to rule and reign in
our hearts and in our lives and that he directs us.
And so it says in verse number six, and hath raised us up to together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
You'll see a theme in this chapter.
You'll see in Christ Jesus with Christ Jesus through Christ
Jesus.
You'll see it over and over again in this passage because it's
a reminder that not only are we saved through Christ Jesus, but
we grow in Christ Jesus on a daily basis.
And so I can't emphasize it enough that spiritual growth is not
just working harder, even though it does sometimes take hard
work, but that hard work comes through a relationship with Jesus
Christ.
And so he says in verse seven that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards
us through Christ Jesus.
So what we can understand through this is that, yes, we're
saved.
But then God continues to pour out his exceeding riches over the
time and his kindness over our lifetime.
And what we can see is that's all through Christ Jesus.
And then of course, the famous two verses that you're all familiar
with.
For by grace are ye saved through faith.
Now, faith is not a work.
We know that because this verse would be contradictory if it
was.
Faith is believing.
Faith is trusting in the work of Jesus Christ.
So it is salvation by works, but not Our work, by God's work.
And we are, we are believing and having faith in what he has done
for us.
So for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
Your salvation is not your work.
It's not your merit.
It is the gift of God.
Now, if we think about our salvation from that frame of mind,
we will not fall into the trap of thinking that it's something that
we've earned and then it's something that we're entitled to.
Folks.
When we fall into that trap of entitlement, it's when we start thinking
that, you know what?
I'm a pretty good person.
I clean myself up pretty nicely.
I would love me too.
I'm the best person in this church.
I'm the best person probably in Delaware, right?
We can start to see that pride building, building, building.
And what we have to do is go back to Ephesians 2:8 and 2:9 and
realize that it's not by our own works, not of works, lest any
man should boast.
So what does verse nine tell us?
That the salvation that we have and, and the spiritual growth
that we have is not something that we can boast about.
We know that it's connected to our spiritual growth because of the
very next verse.
Oftentimes we might be tempted to maybe boast in our salvation.
But maybe you're not tempted in that.
Maybe you are grounded in your faith and you say, yeah, I know that
I didn't save myself.
I know that it's only because of Jesus Christ.
But sometimes even people who recognize that when will fall into
the trap of thinking that spiritual growth is something that
they have succeeded in.
Look at me.
I've accomplished everything.
I've read through the Bible.
Well, praise God.
We should read through the Bible.
But guess what?
When you read through the Bible, start over again because there's
more to learn.
You know, I've been going to church for, for 50 years.
Well, if God lets you go for 50 more, go for 50 more, right?
Because there's still something to learn.
There's still something to grow in.
But the Bible tells us is that what we do in our spiritual life
should never be worn as a badge of honor for ourselves, but
it always should be pointed back to the one who did it for us.
Glory be to God.
And so he says here in verse 8, 9, your salvation is by faith.
Your salvation is through Christ Jesus.
Your salvation is not something that you have done, but
something that you have received by the gift of our Lord.
And then a lot of times we don't think about verse number 10.
We stop at verse number nine, and we go, yep, that's salvation.
Now, like we said this morning, you're saved.
Now figure it out.
But what we see in verse number 10 is that there's more to
the story.
It says, for we are his workmanship.
Now that we're saved, God is working on us.
He's.
He is tooling us to a place in our life in which we are going to
be more and more like Him, Created in Christ Jesus unto good
works.
This goes back to our original definition back in Romans, chapter
8, to be conformed to Christ.
So God is working in us to be more like Christ.
You would say, well, Pastor Josh, I was driving this week.
Someone cut me off.
I don't think I was very Christlike.
Okay, I understand that.
The reality is, is that we have to recognize those moments where
we don't act like Christ.
And we have to recognize that I face that moment not in the spirit,
but in the flesh, because I cannot act in the flesh and in the
Spirit at the same time.
The Bible says in Galatians that they're warring against each
other.
So if I don't act like Christ, what is the result?
The result is I was acting in the flesh just as if I act in the
flesh, I, I, I'm not going to be doing good things for the Lord.
If I'm acting in the flesh now, it might look good to other
people.
I mean, how many times have we seen people who looked apart act
apart, did everything that they should do, but we find out later
that it was not legitimate?
Well, it's because people are good at hiding things.
People are good at being frauds.
But that doesn't mean that they were spiritually growing.
It just means that they knew how to mimic spiritual growth on
the outside.
And so in verse number 10, he says, we are created in Christ Jesus
unto good works.
Well, Pastor Josh, I thought you said that the good works aren't
saving us.
Well, they're not.
The good works aren't what's bringing spiritual growth.
Spiritual growth brings the good works.
I hope you understand that.
It's not the good works that brings the spiritual growth.
It's the spiritual growth in my life that produces those good
works in the right motivation.
And he says, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them.
It's God's plan for his family, for his church to walk in
the good works that he's called us to do in conformity to
Christ Jesus.
So I say all that to say this, we have to have a good working definition
of what spiritual growth is, and we have to understand what it
means to walk in that process as we start this series on spiritual
growth.
So Ephesians 2, really, verses 1 through 10 tell us so much.
We could go further in that chapter where he talks about this
understanding of Christ is our peace, Christ is our cornerstone.
We're all building upon him.
And I think that very last verse of Ephesians chapter two is
so important.
He says, in whom we are also builded together for habitation of
God.
Through what?
Through the Spirit.
So just as God is building us up in him, he's building us together.
And it says how he does that through the Spirit.
So I want to take you to the place that I think we can start with
as an evaluation process, and that is Galatians chapter 5.
Galatians chapter 5 tells us what it looks like to walk in the
Spirit.
So if we are to spiritually grow, we must understand that it's
a process of walking in the Spirit, responding in the Spirit.
So let me give you an example of this.
Let's say I'm walking out of the building here today, and someone
says something to me that isn't very nice, okay?
I'm walking out, and they say, you know, hey, I don't like your.
Your shirt that you're wearing today.
I think it's terrible, or whatever it is.
And they offend me, right?
I can respond in the flesh and say what I think I should say to
either hurt them or to make a joke or to do whatever that my flesh
wants to do.
Or I can respond in the Spirit and choose to follow Christ and say,
you know what?
What would Jesus do in this situation?
Now, as Christians, we don't have a lot of time.
Sometimes.
Sometimes I wish we could just pause.
You ever seen one of those movies where they have, like, a pause
button?
They can stop everything, but they can still keep going.
I've always wanted that as a Christian, like, something happens.
Let me just pause and really think about this and think about
every Bible verse, right?
But.
But the truth is that we don't always have that.
So it's good to preemptively be prepared to be walking in the
Spirit so that when the outward stimuli come to us in our
life, we're able to say, you know what?
That's.
This isn't in the Spirit.
This is in the flesh.
I don't need to do this.
So Galatians chapter 5, verse 16, it says this.
I say, then walk in the Spirit and Ye shall not fulfill the lust
of the flesh.
The Bible tells us right here how we can walk in the spirit and
how we can spiritually grow.
It's walking in the spirit and not of the flesh.
It's not yielding to those fleshly desires.
And he talks about it in verse 17, that the flesh lusteth against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.
So we see it's this inward battle that we have.
And, and Paul even mentions that in Romans, chapter seven.
And he says, and these are contrary to one to another, so that
you cannot do the things that you would.
But if ye be led by the spirit, you're not under the law.
Praise God for that.
And then he goes on to list all these things that are the works
of the flesh.
He talks about adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
that's lewdness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, stripes, additions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revelings.
And you say, what are all those things?
Well, he goes on to say in the next phrase and such like meaning
anything like this, anything that is remotely close to these things,
talking about fleshly desires.
And by the way, all of these things fall under those categories
of the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.
But he doesn't leave it at those sins.
He says anything like this of the which I tell you before, as I
have told you in times past, that they which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God.
He says, if you're characterized by those things, you're
not walking in the Spirit, therefore you don't have the Spirit
living within you.
And he says, this is the mark, verse 22.
But the fruit of the Spirit is what?
Love, joy, peace, long suffering.
That's patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
That's self control.
Against such there is no law.
And so he says, if you want to know if you're walking in the Spirit,
see if these elements are in your life.
Do you walk with a growing love for God and for others?
Do you walk with this type of joy that's bigger than circumstantial
happiness?
Do you walk in peace?
Do you walk in patience?
Do you walk in gentleness?
Do you walk in goodness?
Faith, meekness, temperance?
You might say, well, Pastor Josh, I'm trying, but I, I'm.
I'm not where I need to be.
Well, guess what?
None of us are where we need to be.
We all need to be growing in these areas.
The process is that growth to be more and more strengthened in
these areas.
And the only way that we can do that is through understanding
where we've come from and where we're going.
Where we come from is who we were before we were saved.
Then we find Jesus when it comes to faith.
And then through faith, we're able to grow in our spiritual walk
and have these areas.
I. I hope and I pray, growing more and more in our life on a daily
basis.
So here's the test.
Pastor JOSH I don't know if I'm walking in the Spirit today.
I'm not sure.
It's like this mystical thing.
Sometimes churches and Christians make the Holy Spirit something
that's, like, unobtainable.
It's like, I don't know for sure if I'm in the Spirit.
I don't know if I'm in God's will.
The basic test is this.
Run it through the ringer.
The way that I responded to my wife today wasn't characterized by
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.
All those ones there.
Well, you know what?
None of.
I couldn't see any of that in there.
Well, I can guarantee you then I responded in the flesh.
Why are you sure that it was the flesh?
It's biblical.
Okay, so if I responded in love.
Now, by the way, this isn't the type of love that the world calls
love.
The world's love is this.
Do unto others as they do to you.
If they love you, love them.
Be patient with those that are patient with you.
No, this is agape.
This is sacrificial love.
This is a love that does not reciprocate.
So there's that type of love that is not based on circumstance.
Love is the choice.
Joy is a choice.
This joy here is not circumstantial happiness.
Happiness is, hey, you know, I got a raise today, or I got to eat
my favorite meal, or I had a lot of fun today.
That's good.
In the Christian walk, there's nothing wrong with being happy.
But what the Bible tells us is that we can have a bigger type of
joy that can be found in not our circumstances, but in our standing
in the Lord.
And so that I can be going through a very difficult time, a
painful time, but yet still have the joy of the Lord.
Now, it might not manifest itself by happiness and the emotive
joy that we think about, but there's that inner contentment of
joy that we can find within our lives because of the Spirit indwelling
us.
And that goes for all of these.
Peace, long suffering, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, these are not based on what other people
are doing to us.
Because I think a lot of people would say this.
If I could just get all those people in my life out of the way,
I could be a good Christian.
Well, that's not the way that it works.
If I could just remove all these people's voices and this person
who cut me off in food.
Lions line here, and the person who is rude to me at work,
if I could just get rid of all that, I'd be a really great Christian.
The truth is, is that look at every single in instance in Scripture.
It's not about necessarily removing the obstacles.
It's about being able to navigate the obstacles with the power
of God in our life and saying, yes, there's persecution, yes, there's
hardship, yes, there's trials, but I can still have all these things.
Why?
Because the Holy Spirit is in my life and he's guiding me and directing
me and moving where I should move, and it's holding me back from
where I should go sometimes, in certain instances, and give me
the words to say and the words not to say think just as much as
sometimes.
We should ask the Lord to give us the words to say.
We should also ask, ask him to not give us words in our life.
Because sometimes we get in trouble by saying something.
Sometimes it's better not to say something.
Sometimes it's better just to pray over something and let it just
ride.
Because oftentimes I think that we can get ourselves in trouble
by just talking in the flesh.
And so Galatians chapter 5 tells us that there is this inner
turmoil that's happening.
And if we're walking in the flesh, we're not going to spiritually.
So the basic introduction of this study would be this.
What is spiritual growth?
Spiritual growth is being more and more like Christ.
How do we do that?
We're guided by the Spirit.
How do we live in the Spirit?
We die to the flesh and we yield to the Spirit in our lives.
The book of Ephesians talks about putting off and putting on,
putting off the old man and putting on the new.
So it's not just about, I need to stop the bad.
It is, yes, to reject the bad in my life, but it's also to embrace
what God is doing in my life in the good.
So it's not enough, as it says in the book of Ephesians, it's not
enough just to stop stealing, but we should stop stealing, then
earn money and give to those that are in need.
That's really the Christian life It's not just about avoiding
things.
If we're only characterized by what we're against, we're really
not living boldly for Christ because we really should be characterized
not only for what we're against, but also what we're for.
And so the spiritual growth process is that process in which
we're learning every single day how to yield to the Spirit.
And when we don't yield to the Spirit, we recognize it by the conviction
of the Holy Spirit.
And we're taught by the Holy Spirit to walk in the comfort and
the confidence of the Lord.
So think about these things as the role of the Holy Spirit within
your life.
Number one, he is a convictor.
He should convict us.
When we're walking and growing, we should regularly be feeling
the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
I. I would challenge you to think about the last time the Holy
Spirit has convicted you in an area you say, well, Pastor Josh,
I'm living a good life.
I haven't made any mistakes.
The Holy Spirit hasn't told me anything I've done wrong in the last
two years.
Well, maybe, just maybe, you've been, you know, death to the
Holy Spirit's conviction in your life.
A spiritually growing Christian is a sensitive Christian.
What I mean by sensitive Christian, I'm not talking about
they cry every single time someone looks at them.
Wrong.
I'm talking about they're sensitive to the Holy Spirit's conviction
in their life.
You know what, man?
Maybe, maybe the way I said that to that person might not have
been received well.
I need to go back and make sure that that was received the right
way.
It's not because you're paranoid.
It's because you want to make sure that if God brings it to your
heart that you need to deal with that.
I remember a time we had a new church member coming into the church,
and I said something in passing.
It wasn't with bad motivation, it wasn't with bad intention.
And I thought about it and I'm like, he might have took that the
wrong way.
And I can't sleep well tonight if.
And so I was like, 11 o' clock at night.
And I'm going, I can't call him.
That's going to even freak him out even more.
So I waited till the next day and I got to be a regular hour.
And I called him and I said, hey, brother, I need to talk to you
about something.
He's like, yeah, what's going on?
I said, yeah, I said something yesterday.
It wasn't anything bad, but, you know, I just Want to make sure
that you understand what I meant by that.
And he was like, what are you talking about?
I don't even remember what you said.
I said, okay, so it shows you that sometimes you'll come with the
Holy Spirit's conviction, and it might not even be an issue, but
sometimes it might be an issue.
So the Holy Spirit's convicting your heart on something
that you've said, something that you've done, something that
you thought about.
Deal with that.
Because with that Holy Spirit conviction comes teaching.
The Bible says in, in the Book of John that he will come to teach
us or to guide us into all truth.
So one aspect of the Holy Spirit is not only his conviction,
but his teaching.
He will teach us how to grow in that area.
So let's say, for example, I keep messing up in this area in my
life.
I keep running my mouth and saying things I shouldn't say.
Well, what do we do with our kids?
What do we do with people within our workplaces?
Hey, you need to learn from your mistakes.
And so the Holy Spirit's there to teach us that, hey, there is a
way to overcome this barrier in my life.
And the Holy Spirit will teach us through the word of God how we
can find tools and be empowered to overcome those fleshly
temptations in our life.
So the Holy Spirit convicts, the Holy Spirit teaches.
But the Holy Spirit also brings some level of comfort in our
life, right?
Because we know that the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is
the comforter.
Now, oftentimes we want to embrace the comfort of the Holy Spirit,
but we don't want to embrace the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
And you can't embrace the comfort of the Holy Spirit and reject
the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
I heard one commentator say it this way.
The Holy Spirit is a prod of conviction, but also a pillow for
comfort.
And I want the pillow of comfort, but I also should embrace
the prod for conviction.
It's.
It's like this.
I use this as an analogy and it's probably not a good analogy.
So I need to be careful about this.
Let's say there's a hypothetical man, okay?
Not me, not my wife, not my family, okay?
There's a hypothetical man that likes to sit down at the end
of his workday, especially on Monday nights, and watch a football
game, right?
And he wants to turn the TV on and he wants to just enjoy an ice
cold soda and sit there and, you know, eat chicken wings and watch
the football game.
And let's say this hypothetical man's Wife's like, hey,
you know what?
As soon as he sits down, hey, can you do this?
Can you?
And.
And so the man's like, well, you know what?
I'm just gonna tune it out, right?
And some of you men, you guys don't do this, okay?
I don't, I don't do this either, but maybe someone that I
saw in a movie did one time, you just tune it out, you say, well,
I don't want to hear anything that's negative.
I'm coming home to relax.
I'm coming home.
I'm just gonna shut it down.
I'm actually going to put earplugs in.
I'm just going to listen to the game on my headphones, okay?
Problem with that is, hey, maybe there's good news being told.
Maybe it's, hey, we got a check in the mail for X amount of
dollars, or maybe we've got our favorite meal.
Instead of eating chicken wings, I'm gonna cook you a steak
or something.
I don't know, whatever that might be.
And oftentimes what happens is as Christians, we want to try to
tune.
We think of conviction as a negative thing.
And so we try to tune out the conviction.
And while we're tuning out to conviction, we're missing the comfort
that's there as well.
And so it's a two way street.
I need to hear the difficult things.
And so in this scenario of this hypothetical guy, maybe he does
need to get up and do some chores, okay?
But maybe he's trying to avoid all those stresses that he thinks
that come along with that.
Sometimes there's Christians who want to avoid the Lord telling
them things that they need to do.
Why?
Because it makes them feel uncomfortable, takes them out of
their comfort zone.
But at the same time, God is there giving us the comfort in the
midst of the teaching and in the midst of the conviction.
So we can't just plug our ears because we're going to miss everything.
So what we need to do is be open and sensitive to the conviction
and the teaching.
And then ultimately that brings the comfort.
And with that comfort comes the confidence, right?
We can walk in the confidence of the Lord when the Holy Spirit's
the one guiding us and we're not guiding ourselves.
And so I hope you see that progression is that we're walking
in the Spirit.
He convicts us, he teaches us.
He gets us to a place of comfort and he gets us to a place
of confidence, which eventually leads to a place of conformity.
Not conformity to this world, but conformity to Christ.
And that's where we started with that conformity to Christ, that
spiritual growth.
And so I hope that all of us can get to a place in our life where,
though it might not be an easy thing to hear, but we're open and
ready to hear the Holy Spirit working in our life.
I know for me, some of the hardest things that I've had to do
in my life have centered around going back and apologizing.
I don't know about you guys, but sometimes apologizing is a difficult
thing because we have to swallow our pride.
We have to, we have to do something that doesn't feel good
sometimes.
And that's what the Bible says is the way of the Lord, His Word,
the way of the world is lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride
of life.
So the world tells you, don't apologize for nothing.
Just do you just live your life.
Who cares what people think?
The other side of it is the coin as a Christian is that we don't
have to be paranoid about how we're living.
We don't need to be living in fear of everyone judging us.
But there is a balance between understanding that if God has called
me to spiritually grow, there has to be marked difference in my
life, how I'm dealing with him and how I'm dealing with other people.
And as a mature Christian, because we're going to, we're going
to get to this in this study, as a mature Christian, our focus
should leave the it's all about me, it's all about me and move
to how can I help other Christians?
You know, like Silas isn't.
Sometimes he'll hug his siblings and feel bad when they fall.
But Silas isn't sitting around concerned about everyone else's well
being, right?
He's like, I got my food, I got my entertainment, now I just
want to go do what I want to do.
That's immaturity.
But as a child continues to grow, we would hope that they would
start having some concern for other people and eventually maybe
they have a family, eventually they have a job.
Maybe eventually they have a role within the church and they should
be concerned about the health and well being of other people.
That's the same thing as our Christian walk.
I mean, a newly saved Christian isn't supposed to be going
in and teaching a class.
They should be getting all the nutrients they can as a newborn babe.
But there is a point in our spiritual growth process where we
have to say, look, it's not just all about me.
Now I have to start thinking about How I'm imparting this knowledge
and this wisdom and hopefully the love of Christ to those that
are around me.
So that's what we're going to get to.
Hopefully, this study will start with where we start this path,
this discipleship direction, and where we will get to the end,
where we're ultimately a living sacrifice unto God.
Wholly acceptable as our reasonable service is, and I hope
it'll be beneficial for you.
I know all of you know what spiritual growth is.
I know all of you have spiritually grown.
But I think it's good for all of us to have clear definitions and
know the direction that we're on, because sometimes that path winds.
We.
We were at the wilds and we were hiking, and I thought about
this and.
And I even thought about this as we were driving up the mountain.
Like, why aren't these roads just straight?
Like, why does every road have to turn like this and almost, like,
back on itself?
I know why.
Like, it's the terrain and all that, but sometimes I think that's
how it is with the Christian life.
We're.
We're not always going to be moving in the same direction with
no problems, no issues, no bumps, no turns.
There's going to be times where we do go backwards.
There's going to be times where we do stumble.
There's going to be times where we get stuck.
But ultimately, what we have to understand is that it's the power
of God who's going to pick us up and move us out and move us on
and lead us to a place of understanding.
I think that there was.
We were.
We were driving and the GPS was on.
And I. I know that some of you don't trust gps.
I usually do.
I'm like, man, GPS never failed me yet.
Well, it failed me in North Carolina, actually.
It was South Carolina.
We were driving, and it gave me the weirdest instructions.
What did it say?
It was like, aft, but it said turn left, but it didn't tell me
on a road.
It just said turn left after.
And it said something in another language or something.
It was like a store.
I was like, what.
What road is it?
So I'm looking for a road, and they said, turn left after the store.
And I'm like, it was the weirdest instructions.
And so I think about, in my life, what am I trusting it?
Who's giving me the directions?
Who's giving me the GPS coordinates?
Who's telling me to turn left here?
It was kind of like when you're in the south and they say,
yeah, you Find the tree that's broken down and turn right there
and go another, you know, 10 minutes and turn left.
It's like, what?
Just give me the roads.
Well, there's no names on these roads.
The, the, the idea would be this.
For us, who are we trusting in for our directions?
Because if we're trusting in the world system that Ephesians chapter
two tells us, the world's gonna lead you so far away from where
you need to be that you're gonna get to a place where you never
wanna be.
A false teacher is gonna lead you astray, even yourself.
I mean, some, some people say trust yourself, trust your instincts,
trust your heart.
That's not a biblical thing.
Because, you know, what my heart has told me to do many times
is not what God wants me to do.
My heart and my flesh has told me to do something the opposite of
what the word of God says.
So what do I do?
I go to what God has told me and use him as my GPS in life.
As he's going to tell me to turn left, he's going to tell me
to turn right.
And when there is a roadblock, there's a time and place where I
ask the Lord, Lord, where do you want me to go?
What do you want me to do?
This might seem like a closed door, but I'm not sure what's the
next step.
Will we prayfully consider that?
And oftentimes we're not able to go 75 miles an hour down the road
of the Christian life.
There's going to be times where we're clearly running and there's
going to be times where we need to go at a snail's pace.
But the reality is, is that we're always moving towards that
spiritual growth process to be more and more like Christ.
And so next week we're going to come back and we're going to talk
a little bit more about this process of growing in grace.
The Bible says that we're to add to our faith and we're going
to talk about how we as Christians can add to our Christian
walk certain things that can allow us to reach that spiritual
maturity on a more effective and an empowering way.
And I hope that it'll be a blessing to you as we go through
this study looking at spiritual growth.
I know this is not a typical book study, but I hope that this
topical study on spiritual growth will help you identify areas
in your life where you can spiritually grow and where you can
teach others to spiritually grow.
Really, the main goal for anything that I Teach or anything
that I preach.
I know Pastor Ethan believes the same thing, is that we want you
to be able to take that knowledge and pass that on to somebody
else.
What if I told you no one else can learn unless you're here under
my teaching?
Well, that's a really sad way to live your life.
The goal is, is that you can learn from the Word so that you can
teach others, so that they can teach others and that can pass on.
And that's a wonderful thing to see within the church.
Folks, I want you to understand that it's not about having
a Bible degree.
It's not about having all of the, the Bible study tools and concordances,
even though all those things can help.
It's about having that walk with Jesus Christ and he will reveal
to you the truth and the Holy Spirit will guide you.
And the best thing that you can do is not be an accomplished
theologian.
The best thing that you can do is be a humble servant to the Lord.
Remember how Paul introduces himself?
Because I'm a servant of Jesus Christ, he doesn't say all the things
that he could say.
Paul had a lot of credentials, but what did he say?
He says, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ.
That's how we have to be.
Because that pride can fill our hearts and we can start thinking,
well, look how good I am.
No, look how good God is.
And that's spiritual growth.
That's the starting place for it.
So as we close here this evening, I hope that it can be a
study that we all glean certain elements of truth.
And if there's things that you already know, great, pass it on to
somebody else.
Invite somebody else.
Encourage them to turn on the live stream, encourage them to get
on the podcast, encourage them to get as much intake as they can
of the word of God, because that is what's going to change lives.
Romans chapter 1, verse 16 says, For I'm not ashamed the power
of the gospel, right?
Don't be ashamed of the power of God.
Don't, don't turn your backs to the importance of following His
Word.
You know, I think a lot of times there is this shame in.
Well, you know what?
Maybe, maybe it's narrow minded.
Maybe it's, we're don't follow the ways of the world.
The world wants us to work by their parameters.
Well, don't use the Bible.
Don't, don't use this, right?
Well, of course we're going to use the Bible.
The Bible.
The Bible is everything in our lives when it comes to doctrine.
For, for reproof for correction, for instruction and righteousness,
that a man of God would be thoroughly furnished unto all good
works, man be perfect or mature.
And so the reality for us is that the way that we're going to
spiritually grow is, yes, through the Bible.
It doesn't mean that the Bible is.
If I read the Bible, I'm going to automatically grow.
But if I'm looking at the Bible as the word of God and as my
guide, I'm able to be fueled and equipped for that work.
And we can hide God's word in our hearts and that we can live in
a life of temptation, not with failure, but with.
But a life of victory over those things that are coming up.
And I hope that it'll be something that you can grow in.
So we'll go ahead and close with a word of prayer.
And then after that I'll have a few announcements and then we'll
be dismissed.
Lord, I thank you for this time that you've given us.
I thank you for the love and the grace that you have for us.
Lord.
We're thankful for the fact that we can be on this path to spiritual
growth, Lord, as we're, as we're Christians who oftentimes are
forgetful of who we were before we came to Christ.
Lord, I pray that we're reminded of who we were, but also
reminded of who we are now in you.
And I pray that we can be strengthened and that we can grow
here this summer as we look to you for the answers for all that
we might be facing.
I pray that you be with those who are searching.
I pray that you be with those who are struggling.
I pray that you be with those who are confused.
I pray that you be with those who are in pain now, both physically
and spiritually.
But I pray that they can see you as the answer to all of their
problems.
And we pray that your word, we know it's your word because your
word says that it's inspired by you, Lord, breathed by you to
us so that we can not only use it as a guide, but we can use it
for every need in our life.
And Lord, we just thank you for the grace that you extend to
us through this relationship that we call salvation.
I pray that you keep us safe as we go our separate ways this evening.
We thank you for all that you do for us.
And I pray that you can help us be the salt and light that you
called us to be here this week.
And we ask all those things in Jesus name.
Amen.