1 Peter 1:25b- 2:3
A Real Church Service 2: Spiritual Growth
I. Introduction
- Ill. Aesop's Fables: The Hunter & the Woodman
1. A hunter was searching for the tracks of a Lion.
2. He asked the a man felling oaks in the forest if he had seen any tracks or the lion's lair.
3. "I'll take you to the lion." said the woodsman.
4. Hunter turned pale & said: "No, thank you. I did not ask for that; it is only the tracks and lair that I am in search of, not the lion."
5. Are you looking for signs that Jesus is here or for where his Spirit abides?
6. Or are you looking for Him?
- What makes a good church service?
- We base our answer on some of the wrong things.
1. It shouldn't matter whether you like the teacher, preacher, song leader, etc.
2. What matters is the object of our Worship.
- But now let's answer that question on your side of the fence.
1. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit.
2. What is your obligation toward a good church service.
II. Scripture
III. Christianity is About Growing
- Our faith is about growing [relationship].
- The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 is about making disciples
1. Disciples = pupils
2. Not just converts or professions.
- He did not commission us to enlarge our finances or our numbers or our programs.
1. Make disciples!
2. Students of the Word who are growing!
IV. Born to Grow (Stage 1)
- In order to grow spiritually you must be born-again!
- 2:3 "...if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good!"
1. Repent of sin & believe in Christ.
2. Spiritual growth w/out spiritual birth is impossible.
- If you're not growing...
1. ...something is wrong!
2. ...you might be dead!
- Those born-again will have a longing to grow.
1. It is in the DNA of a believer
2. v. 2:2 Cultivated Desire
- Long for what?
1. pure milk of the word
2. pure= nothing but milk
3. beware false teachers/ preachers
4. Pure milk sometimes doesn't taste as good as a coke, but it's better for you.
- 2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions."
- The biggest enemy of the church today is not the world, but that which poses as the church!
- Long for...
1. Milk of the Word- Bible. Biblical preaching, biblical songs, biblical discussion, biblical thinking, etc.
2. Sunday School, Wednesday Bible Study, Sunday PM, all focused on God's Word!
- Query: Are you 'lactose' intolerant?
V. Stage 2: Lay Aside Acts of Sin!
- After being Born-Again and God giving you a longing for growth, you will begin conforming more and more of your actions to those of Christ.
- This is where Christians get the cart before the horse.
1. We can't clean them up to get them saved.
2. We are to get them saved so they will get cleaned up!
- As a new Christian you will begin aligning your actions with those of Christ!
- Put aside/ quit sinful acts.
1. alcoholic, get sober & be filled with the Spirit.
2. living together, separate.
3. cheating in business, restitution.
4. lying, tell the truth.
5. abusive, bring healing
6. profane language, holy language.
- Growing involves putting off sinful acts.
1. If you don't, you won't grow
2. If you don't, it will kill you.
VI. Stage 3: Lay Aside Attitudes
- Usually God will deal with your blatant sinful acts and then begin to work on your attitudes.
- Conforming your attitudes to Christ.
- We end growth with outward actions.
1. Those are what people can see.
2. But we don't like to deal with our attitudes.
- At that point we become big babies who don't do bad things, but do have bad attitudes.
- We don't want to grow.
- Hebrews 5:12-13 "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, [13] for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness , since he is a child."
- Some of us have been Christians long enough that you should be in a position of leadership; involved in a ministry.
1. SS teacher, board members,
2. small group leader, etc.
- Ephesians 4:13-14 "Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, [14]so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes."
- Growing will involve taking on the attitudes of Christ.
1. Love, humility, perseverance
2. Putting off envy, pride, greed, malice, hate, etc.
- Ultimately it means you will begin to care more about others than yourself.
VII. Spiritual Leadership
- There are some things in the church that require growth before you can do them.
- If you are a new Christian, we are not going to put you on the board!
1. ...make you a SS teacher.
2. ...make you the preacher.
3. ...put you in charge of a ministry.
- Ill. Simon the Magician
1. Acts 8
2. New Christian, saw the apostles lay hands on believers so that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
3. He wanted to buy that power.
4. He didn't want to grow.
- Johann von Goethe "Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow."
- With leadership & authority comes the responsibility to grow.
- Paul tells Timothy about leadership/overseer:
1. 1 Timothy 3:6 "He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil."
2. 1 Timothy 5: 22 "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure."
- If new to the church the same applies.
1. If left the church & come back same applies.
2. If unfaithful to the church this applies to you.
VIII. What is Spiritual Growth?
- It's not a flash in the pan or a shooting star!
- C. S. Lewis "Mere change is not growth. Growth is the synthesis of change and continuity, and where there is no continuity there is no growth."
- I've seen lots of stuff happen on Sunday and then you wonder what happens the rest of the week!?
1. Or you never see that person again!
2. You're not growing if you're not consistent.
- Old timers use to say: "It's not how high you jump on Sunday, but how straight you walk on Monday."
- Ill. Aesop's Fables: The Tortoise & the Hare
1. A hare challenged a tortoise to a race.
2. The hare took off in the beginning but got a lead so that he could take a nap.
3. The tortoise never stopped, but slowly continued along the path.
4. The tortoise won, b/c he was consistent!
5. Slow but steady wins the race.
6. God is not impressed by all-stars as much as He is consistency.
- Spiritual Growth is not just change.
1. Ellen Glasgow "All change is not growth; all movement is not forward."
- Spiritual growth means you won't be at the same place you were 10 years ago or even one year.
1. Robert N. Coons "If the shoe fits, you're not allowing for growth."
2. Are you stunted in your growth?
3. Are you a spiritual midget?
- Spiritual Growth means you still have more to learn.
1. ...in communicating w/ God.
2. ...in using your spiritual gifts
3. ...in spiritual disciplines.
4. ...in love for God & others.
5. "I'm not a finished product!"
- Spiritual growth means different ppl are at different places.
1. If you are a Christian we have expectations of you!
2. Different for different ppl!
- No matter where you are in your spiritual walk: there is still room to grow.
IX. Conclusion
- Ill. Family driving from Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa, FL.
1. As far as the eye could see: Orange trees!
2. They stopped at a little place in the middle of the orchards for breakfast.
3. Father orderd OJ w/ his eggs.
4. "I'm sorry," the waitress said. "I can't bring you orange juice. Our machine is broken."
5. Leroy Eims said: "They were surrounded by millions of oranges, and I knew they had oranges in the kitchen--orange slices garnished our plates. What was the problem? No juice? Hardly. We were surrounded by thousands of gallons of juice. The problem was they had become dependent on a machine to get it."
- Are you growing? I'm not asking whether...
1. ...our church is growing... I know it is.
2. ...your parents, kids, siblings are growing.
3. I'm asking: Are you growing spiritually?
- Ill. We had company & my wife told me to stop using my 'preacher voice.'
1. Can I cease to be the preacher for a second and just be your pastor.
2. It's time to grow!
3. The oranges are all over the place!
- Don't look for evidence that Jesus has been here; look to Him.
- Discipleship is not optional, it is what God has called us to be.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
A Different Kind of Battle
1 Samuel 17:1-11, 26, 31-40
A Different Kind of Battle: Where is Your Battle Line?
I. Scripture
-Note a few things in the Scripture we read...
1. v. 2 "drew up in line of battle"
2. v. 8 "servants of Saul"
3. v. 11 "dismayed & greatly afraid."
4. v. 26 "armies of the living God."
II. Church is Losing
- We're losing "the battle."
- Ill. Teen Soap Opera "Gossip Girls" ads use borderline pornographic pictures.
1. Even secular critics are appalled by the tv series.
2. The ads use negative critique comments.
- Ill. New studies everyday show how many young adults are abandoning the church.
1. Age 18-22 leave the church, most, never to return.
2. This is not just a ‘phase,' it is Satan coming onto the Church's turf and dragging our children away!
- Ill. The church now looks the other way when it comes to most sin.
1. Everybody does, including the pastor, the leaders, the teachers, etc.
2. Scandal among clergy are common place!
- Ill. Abortion is all but a lost cause for the church.
1. Politicians will no longer stand for Christian values (Dem or Rep)
2. The church is in full retreat in the cultural battle.
- Query: Is the real battle a cultural battle?
III. The Real Battle
- Long before Chapter 17 a major battle was lost by the Israelites.
1. It was the battle for a righteous King.
2. In Ch. 15 "the Lord Rejects Saul" as king.
- If the Lord rejected Saul for his actions, I believe He has rejected our culture for the heinous and blatant sinfulness that we have come to tolerate!
- By Ch. 17 the Israelites were fighting the wrong kind of battle!
1. Against the Philistines
2. But they were not fighting the spiritual battle they should be fighting!
- We are fighting the wrong battle(s) too!
- Ill. "One" campaign to end poverty.
1. Jesus said you will always have the poor!
2. Wrong battle!
- We fight...
1. ...physical, emotional, political, and financial battles.
2. ...for our children, marriage, job, reputation/fame, to make a name for ourselves, etc.
- All wrong battles!
- There is a Goliath in our lives today and we are "dismayed and greatly afraid" of Him!
IV. Battle Lines
- Just as the Israelites drew up battle lines so we have drawn up lines with the world.
- Problem is we cannot win the battle b/c we're fighting it on the world's terms.
- The Gospel is polluted when sinful methods are used to gain holy ends.
1. The holiness of God has been subtracted to make way for our sinfulness when, just the opposite, is what God expects!
2. Disguised Evangelism and the Gospel message.
- Ill. Church bill board ad w/ half naked woman advertising sermon on modesty!?
- Christians too often are fighting the Devil on his terms!
1. We think we are helping God.
2. We are actually subtracting from His Holiness and the significance of the cross.
V. God's Victory
- God gets glory when by earthly standards He does the impossible.
- The reality is that everything is within the realm of the possible with God!
- Example: Healings in Scripture
1. Blind, lame, leprous
2. Lazarus raising from the dead.
- Example: virgin birth
1. Resurrection of Christ
2. Saul => Paul (conversion)
- Is God in control? Or are we?
- Ill. Flipping coins.
1. At best we can theorize and work out equation to calculate the probablity that the coins will turn up a certain way. (Two flips = heads & tails)
2. (If #1 gets heads then...)
3. Probability tells us that #2 will flip and we will get tails.
4. This is an educated, philosophical, guess, but actually a shot in the dark!
- But before the coin was ever created, before you were ever born, before the sun was ever formed in the hands of God, He knew all that would come to pass and that we would be standing here on July 27th [date preached] waiting to see what the coin flip turned out to be.
- It is no surprise to Him, because nothing is impossible to Him!
VI. What Can HE Do?
- Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord."
- 1 Samuel 17:34-36 "But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a sheep from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him... and the uncircumcised Philistine will be like him.'"
1. He had done it with animals and this was no different for God.
2. David is fighting a whole different battle than everyone else!
- Point: Part of our problem is we have failed to identify the real enemy.
- We think the church is ineffective is because...
1. ...it is unpopular to the world (thus our battle is to make it popular).
2. ...we don't have the resources/talents/etc. the world has (battle then is to adopt them).
3. ...we don't have the programs the world has (battle to compete with them).
4. ...we don't have the advertising and publicity the world has (battle to sell ourselves to the world).
5. ...it's not as exciting as the world is (we're boring).
- And we draw up the wrong battle line!
- Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
1. Two enemies identified: the rulers over the sinfulness/ darkness of this world
2. And spiritual forces of evil
VII. Effective Weaponry
- Point: May I propose that the reason the church is ineffective in our world today is because we have failed to pick up the proper weapons available to us!
- As soon as Saul thought he found somebody naive enough to risk his life he saddled him with armor.
1. David wasn't fighting that kind of battle.
2. David said in v. 39 "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them."
3. He knew God would provide, but nothing else would for sure!
- As soon as we think we've found a movie star or a sports star or celebrity of some kind, we parade them around in front of the world like a "sow at the county fair" and say: "See we're getting more famous people on our side."
- What we don't realize is that our own "Christian" singers are running out the back door to the harlot that is called fame and fortune.
1. "I kissed a girl and I like it" Pop hit sung by Katy Perry, previously "Christian artist"
2. Jaci Velasquez acted in a movie in which she posed in only lingerie.
3. Southern Gospel singers = same thing
4. Ill. Paris Hilton's claim of salvation and then attendance at a playboy party!?
5. But we don't care as long as the world has formed a fan club for them.
6. God cares!
- Isaiah 54:14, 16a "In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.[16a] Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose."
- I don't care if you're a millionaire, movie star, famous musician, or just an average person.
- My question is can you get down on your knees and reach heaven with your prayers that will make a difference in eternity to your family and to your neighborhood and to your church?
- Prayer is our weapon!
- I want to know if ... Psalm 40:8 "I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
1. And if...
2. Psalm 119:11 "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."
- God's Word/ Sword is our weapon!
- Salvation is our armor!
1. Faith, Hope, & Love these are our resources!
- Have you tapped into the Holy Spirit.
- The reasons our churches/ Christians today are ineffective is b/c they do not have the Spirit! (We have everything but the Spirit.)
- Acts 6:5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, ...
1. Acts 6:8 "And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people."
- Holiness!
1. God doesn't take out ads in the local paper or on the radio... you are it!
2. God doesn't have a public relations department... you are it.
3. God doesn't have a seat on the UN... you are his ambassador!
4. But only when he has re-created you in His likeness... in holiness!
VIII. Conclusion
- Query: Who/what is our battle against if not all these other things?
- It is NOT...
1. ...a political party, human,
2. ...another church, the world,
3. ...hardship, or even the Devil.
- None of these things can separate us from the love of God. (Rom 8)
- Your Goliath is... (mirror)...you.
- The only solution: kill that person [crucify the self].
1. They have to die out.
2. Then the Spirit can live in the shell.
- All those weapons are to get rid of you to make room for the Spirit.
- The only way God is going to get the glory in your life, is if you fight the right battle.
1. A battle to the death.
2. A battle w/ the self!
- Then the Spirit has all of you!
1. Then the Spirit can completely fill you!
2. Then the Spirit can make you holy through and through!
A Different Kind of Battle: Where is Your Battle Line?
I. Scripture
-Note a few things in the Scripture we read...
1. v. 2 "drew up in line of battle"
2. v. 8 "servants of Saul"
3. v. 11 "dismayed & greatly afraid."
4. v. 26 "armies of the living God."
II. Church is Losing
- We're losing "the battle."
- Ill. Teen Soap Opera "Gossip Girls" ads use borderline pornographic pictures.
1. Even secular critics are appalled by the tv series.
2. The ads use negative critique comments.
- Ill. New studies everyday show how many young adults are abandoning the church.
1. Age 18-22 leave the church, most, never to return.
2. This is not just a ‘phase,' it is Satan coming onto the Church's turf and dragging our children away!
- Ill. The church now looks the other way when it comes to most sin.
1. Everybody does, including the pastor, the leaders, the teachers, etc.
2. Scandal among clergy are common place!
- Ill. Abortion is all but a lost cause for the church.
1. Politicians will no longer stand for Christian values (Dem or Rep)
2. The church is in full retreat in the cultural battle.
- Query: Is the real battle a cultural battle?
III. The Real Battle
- Long before Chapter 17 a major battle was lost by the Israelites.
1. It was the battle for a righteous King.
2. In Ch. 15 "the Lord Rejects Saul" as king.
- If the Lord rejected Saul for his actions, I believe He has rejected our culture for the heinous and blatant sinfulness that we have come to tolerate!
- By Ch. 17 the Israelites were fighting the wrong kind of battle!
1. Against the Philistines
2. But they were not fighting the spiritual battle they should be fighting!
- We are fighting the wrong battle(s) too!
- Ill. "One" campaign to end poverty.
1. Jesus said you will always have the poor!
2. Wrong battle!
- We fight...
1. ...physical, emotional, political, and financial battles.
2. ...for our children, marriage, job, reputation/fame, to make a name for ourselves, etc.
- All wrong battles!
- There is a Goliath in our lives today and we are "dismayed and greatly afraid" of Him!
IV. Battle Lines
- Just as the Israelites drew up battle lines so we have drawn up lines with the world.
- Problem is we cannot win the battle b/c we're fighting it on the world's terms.
- The Gospel is polluted when sinful methods are used to gain holy ends.
1. The holiness of God has been subtracted to make way for our sinfulness when, just the opposite, is what God expects!
2. Disguised Evangelism and the Gospel message.
- Ill. Church bill board ad w/ half naked woman advertising sermon on modesty!?
- Christians too often are fighting the Devil on his terms!
1. We think we are helping God.
2. We are actually subtracting from His Holiness and the significance of the cross.
V. God's Victory
- God gets glory when by earthly standards He does the impossible.
- The reality is that everything is within the realm of the possible with God!
- Example: Healings in Scripture
1. Blind, lame, leprous
2. Lazarus raising from the dead.
- Example: virgin birth
1. Resurrection of Christ
2. Saul => Paul (conversion)
- Is God in control? Or are we?
- Ill. Flipping coins.
1. At best we can theorize and work out equation to calculate the probablity that the coins will turn up a certain way. (Two flips = heads & tails)
2. (If #1 gets heads then...)
3. Probability tells us that #2 will flip and we will get tails.
4. This is an educated, philosophical, guess, but actually a shot in the dark!
- But before the coin was ever created, before you were ever born, before the sun was ever formed in the hands of God, He knew all that would come to pass and that we would be standing here on July 27th [date preached] waiting to see what the coin flip turned out to be.
- It is no surprise to Him, because nothing is impossible to Him!
VI. What Can HE Do?
- Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord."
- 1 Samuel 17:34-36 "But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a sheep from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him... and the uncircumcised Philistine will be like him.'"
1. He had done it with animals and this was no different for God.
2. David is fighting a whole different battle than everyone else!
- Point: Part of our problem is we have failed to identify the real enemy.
- We think the church is ineffective is because...
1. ...it is unpopular to the world (thus our battle is to make it popular).
2. ...we don't have the resources/talents/etc. the world has (battle then is to adopt them).
3. ...we don't have the programs the world has (battle to compete with them).
4. ...we don't have the advertising and publicity the world has (battle to sell ourselves to the world).
5. ...it's not as exciting as the world is (we're boring).
- And we draw up the wrong battle line!
- Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
1. Two enemies identified: the rulers over the sinfulness/ darkness of this world
2. And spiritual forces of evil
VII. Effective Weaponry
- Point: May I propose that the reason the church is ineffective in our world today is because we have failed to pick up the proper weapons available to us!
- As soon as Saul thought he found somebody naive enough to risk his life he saddled him with armor.
1. David wasn't fighting that kind of battle.
2. David said in v. 39 "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them."
3. He knew God would provide, but nothing else would for sure!
- As soon as we think we've found a movie star or a sports star or celebrity of some kind, we parade them around in front of the world like a "sow at the county fair" and say: "See we're getting more famous people on our side."
- What we don't realize is that our own "Christian" singers are running out the back door to the harlot that is called fame and fortune.
1. "I kissed a girl and I like it" Pop hit sung by Katy Perry, previously "Christian artist"
2. Jaci Velasquez acted in a movie in which she posed in only lingerie.
3. Southern Gospel singers = same thing
4. Ill. Paris Hilton's claim of salvation and then attendance at a playboy party!?
5. But we don't care as long as the world has formed a fan club for them.
6. God cares!
- Isaiah 54:14, 16a "In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.[16a] Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose."
- I don't care if you're a millionaire, movie star, famous musician, or just an average person.
- My question is can you get down on your knees and reach heaven with your prayers that will make a difference in eternity to your family and to your neighborhood and to your church?
- Prayer is our weapon!
- I want to know if ... Psalm 40:8 "I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
1. And if...
2. Psalm 119:11 "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."
- God's Word/ Sword is our weapon!
- Salvation is our armor!
1. Faith, Hope, & Love these are our resources!
- Have you tapped into the Holy Spirit.
- The reasons our churches/ Christians today are ineffective is b/c they do not have the Spirit! (We have everything but the Spirit.)
- Acts 6:5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, ...
1. Acts 6:8 "And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people."
- Holiness!
1. God doesn't take out ads in the local paper or on the radio... you are it!
2. God doesn't have a public relations department... you are it.
3. God doesn't have a seat on the UN... you are his ambassador!
4. But only when he has re-created you in His likeness... in holiness!
VIII. Conclusion
- Query: Who/what is our battle against if not all these other things?
- It is NOT...
1. ...a political party, human,
2. ...another church, the world,
3. ...hardship, or even the Devil.
- None of these things can separate us from the love of God. (Rom 8)
- Your Goliath is... (mirror)...you.
- The only solution: kill that person [crucify the self].
1. They have to die out.
2. Then the Spirit can live in the shell.
- All those weapons are to get rid of you to make room for the Spirit.
- The only way God is going to get the glory in your life, is if you fight the right battle.
1. A battle to the death.
2. A battle w/ the self!
- Then the Spirit has all of you!
1. Then the Spirit can completely fill you!
2. Then the Spirit can make you holy through and through!
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