Sermon Notes
The RESET is over. It is time to Posture for Growth.
.
WHAT IS GROWTH?
(Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary)
- To spring up and develop to maturity.
- To increase in size
POSTURE – a conscious mental or outward behavioral attitude
“Walk with an increased capacity for what God is getting ready to do.” – Pastor Billy Johnson
.
HOW DO I POSTURE FOR GROWTH?
Commune With God
You need God’s presence to grow and bear fruit
John 15:4 (NKJV)
4Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
You need God’s word to grow
1 Peter 2:2–3 (NKJV)
2as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
As newborn babies crave milk, so born-again believers should crave (long for) pure spiritual milk that will nourish them and help them grow to maturity[1]
“You cannot grow without the word.” – Pastor Billy Johnson
.
CONNECT WITH PEOPLE
Connect With Somebody Who Will Pray For You
Galatians 4:19 (NKJV)
19My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,
.
Connect With People Who Will Tell You The Truth In Love
Ephesians 4:15 (NKJV)
15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
“The way you are going to grow is not by somebody lying to you.” – Pastor Billy Johnson
“Truth becomes hard if not softened by love; love becomes soft if it is not strengthened by truth. The apostle calls us to hold the two together.”[2] – John R. W. Stott
.
Connect With A Local Church To Grow And Help Others Grow
Ephesians 4:16 (NKJV)
16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
“It’s not just you and Jesus.” – Pastor Billy Johnson
COMMIT TO THE PROCESS
This process of spiritual growth begins by knowing Christ initially in regeneration (cf. John 17:3), and it continues in one’s deepening relationship with Him (Eph. 4:15; Phil. 3:10; 1 Peter 2:2). Both are necessary. Without the initial knowledge, there is no opportunity for growth. But if there is only that initial knowledge, the struggling new believer forgets “that he has been cleansed from his past sins” (2 Peter 1:9).
(Life Application Commentary)
.
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV)
6being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
.
FOUR STAGE PROCESS
Evaluation
- Take an honest assessment of where you are.
- For a GPS to direct you to your destination, you must know where you are.
- Ask questions that will cause you to probe.
.
Elimination
- Eliminate the Barriers to Your Growth
- Eliminate Carefully (some things are like load-bearing walls)
- Eliminate Strategically (Don’t eliminate just to eliminate)
- Eliminate Cleanly (Don’t try to mix the old and the new)
.
Education
- What do you need to LEARN?
- What do you need to UNLEARN?
.
Implementation – Execute – Action – Execution
- Start small
- Reasonable progress in measurable time (L. Scales)
.
“…Give yourself time.” – Pastor Billy Johnson
.
View obstacles as opportunities for GROWTH.
.
[1] Bruce B. Barton, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Jude, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Pub., 1995), 50.
[2] Bruce B. Barton and Philip Wesley Comfort, Ephesians, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1996), 86.
