Hitting The mark
Sunday sermon
Date: 12/Aug/2018
Topic: Hitting the mark
Objective: getting the church to a place of spiritual maturity
Speaker: Ijeoma
Living stones is our identity in Christ. When we come to Christ, we are no more living a life of our own, It's Christ living in us. We receive the Holy spirit when we accept Jesus as our Lord and saviour.
God has called us to growth, it's in growth that we access the fullness of God. (Eph 4 vs 11-15) (Col 2 vs 6-7) (1 Peter 2 vs 2)
The more we grow, the more responsible we are and the more productive we become. The writer of Hebrew was sad and disappointed with the lack of growth in the Hebrew church (Hebrew 5:11-14). The fact is that salvation is is not enough, It's just the beginning of pursuit for a deep relationship with God. Peter writes that for us to respond to the promises of God that to our faith, we must add virtue, to virtue add knowledge and to knowledge temperance......... (2Peter 1 vs 5-10)
Why should we mature spiritually?
1. So that we are not vulnerable to every of Satan's deceit and that we are not tossed around by every wind of doctrine. That we can rightly divide the word of truth.
2. So that we can enjoy the fullness of God.
3. So that we can triumph over life. 4. So that we can show the life of Christ in us. When we mature in spirit, we walk on earth like Christ, doing all that he did, even much more.
5. So that we can confidently operate in our gifts. The kingdom of God is not in drinking and eating or in owing of houses and cars but in the demonstration of power. The power of God is seen through our gifts.
What then is Spiritual Growth?
It simply means growing in the spirit ( 1 Corinthians 3 vs 2-3). Spiritual Maturity means our spirit triumphing over our flesh. When we grow in the spirit, we respond to God better. We get more attuned to eternal things.
How do we grow in the spirit?
The Holy spirit has the sole responsibility to tend to our spirit. But then it's a collaborative duty. We have a part to play which is to get the word in our hearts. Every thing we do as Christians stem from the word. The word of God birthed us into this new life and it's the same word that sustains us. The holy spirit can only work with the word we've fed our hearts with. As the Holy spirit waters and add manure to the word in our heart, our spirit blossoms in reverence to God which brings about worship and prayer. We begin to pray according to the will of God and also worship God from a place of knowledge because any prayer or worship done outside the word is empty and it's based on emotion. The responsibility of the Holy Spirit is also to prune us. As we read the word the holy Spirit prunes us. This word of God is for teaching, reprove,correction. It is to make us live the spiritual life.( 2Timothy 3:16-17) The fruit of the Spirit is the evidence of our maturity. There is no limit to spiritual growth. The Holy spirit empowers our spirit and when our spirit grows, it invades our whole being. It begins to dictate the tune for the flesh.
But we can frustrate the effort of the Holy spirit by living in unbelief and by living in and out of sin, this can grieve Him. This brings about lack of growth.
Date: 12/Aug/2018
Objective: getting the church to a place of spiritual maturity
Speaker: Ijeoma
Living stones is our identity in Christ. When we come to Christ, we are no more living a life of our own, It's Christ living in us. We receive the Holy spirit when we accept Jesus as our Lord and saviour.
God has called us to growth, it's in growth that we access the fullness of God. (Eph 4 vs 11-15) (Col 2 vs 6-7) (1 Peter 2 vs 2)
The more we grow, the more responsible we are and the more productive we become. The writer of Hebrew was sad and disappointed with the lack of growth in the Hebrew church (Hebrew 5:11-14). The fact is that salvation is is not enough, It's just the beginning of pursuit for a deep relationship with God. Peter writes that for us to respond to the promises of God that to our faith, we must add virtue, to virtue add knowledge and to knowledge temperance......... (2Peter 1 vs 5-10)
Why should we mature spiritually?
1. So that we are not vulnerable to every of Satan's deceit and that we are not tossed around by every wind of doctrine. That we can rightly divide the word of truth.
2. So that we can enjoy the fullness of God.
3. So that we can triumph over life. 4. So that we can show the life of Christ in us. When we mature in spirit, we walk on earth like Christ, doing all that he did, even much more.
5. So that we can confidently operate in our gifts. The kingdom of God is not in drinking and eating or in owing of houses and cars but in the demonstration of power. The power of God is seen through our gifts.
What then is Spiritual Growth?
It simply means growing in the spirit ( 1 Corinthians 3 vs 2-3). Spiritual Maturity means our spirit triumphing over our flesh. When we grow in the spirit, we respond to God better. We get more attuned to eternal things.
How do we grow in the spirit?
The Holy spirit has the sole responsibility to tend to our spirit. But then it's a collaborative duty. We have a part to play which is to get the word in our hearts. Every thing we do as Christians stem from the word. The word of God birthed us into this new life and it's the same word that sustains us. The holy spirit can only work with the word we've fed our hearts with. As the Holy spirit waters and add manure to the word in our heart, our spirit blossoms in reverence to God which brings about worship and prayer. We begin to pray according to the will of God and also worship God from a place of knowledge because any prayer or worship done outside the word is empty and it's based on emotion. The responsibility of the Holy Spirit is also to prune us. As we read the word the holy Spirit prunes us. This word of God is for teaching, reprove,correction. It is to make us live the spiritual life.( 2Timothy 3:16-17) The fruit of the Spirit is the evidence of our maturity. There is no limit to spiritual growth. The Holy spirit empowers our spirit and when our spirit grows, it invades our whole being. It begins to dictate the tune for the flesh.
But we can frustrate the effort of the Holy spirit by living in unbelief and by living in and out of sin, this can grieve Him. This brings about lack of growth.
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