When you were thrust into this world, God started you out as a baby, then toddler, child, teenager, and finally, a fully grown adult. Growth takes time and is sometimes painful. The same can be said of spiritual growth. There are many comparisons which can be drawn between physical and spiritual growth, but nevertheless, God requires growth in both realms. The question then becomes, how can we grow spiritually? The answer can be found in the Gospels and Epistles, especially. Join Carl now for an exciting journey into spiritual growth, despite some growing pains along the way…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Friend, we’re beginning a new series today on how to grow spiritually. You know, we grow physically by default. We hydrate, we eat food, we sleep. And we go through the growth process from being a child through adolescence into adulthood. But friend, the physical is a type of the spiritual also. God doesn’t want you to stay a spiritual baby. You’re supposed to grow into adolescence and then on into adulthood from a spiritual perspective. This is bearing fruit. It is cooperating with that transformative process of sanctification. Eighteen-year-olds are not supposed to be in diapers still, amen? How comical is that? But listen, friend, God wants you to participate and engage in the spiritual process of growth, okay? This is something that doesn’t happen by default.
We’ve all met carnal and immature Christians who’ve been saved for 5, 10, 15, 20 years. But by this time, there should be some aspect of maturity as we are obedient to Christ’s process in our lives. Join me now live in session. Growing in Christ is so important. It’s something that few people talk about. And there’s actually a lot of scriptural precedent which discusses the topic. And it actually covers the three different types of growth that we encounter in the Word, starting with being born again when our spirit man goes from death into life. Then we begin the transformation process of sanctification which is being conformed to Christ’s image. We are a tripartite being.
We are soul, spirit, and body. When we’re born again, our spirit man goes from death to life. And then the soul is influenced over its lifetime by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, amen? And so this is this process of growth. We start out being born again here. We go into childhood and adolescence and then eventually adulthood. But how many know it’s not cool to be changing diapers at 18 years of age? That’s a little uncouth, amen? We want to get out of the newborn phase. It’s great to be a child, but we want to put away childish things and then we want to move on into adulthood, amen? I’m talking about spiritually. I’m not just talking about physically here. Obviously, we don’t have much choice in the matter.
We grow physically, right? We don’t really engage too much in that process, right? We go to sleep. We wake up, what, five millimeters taller than we did the night before, etc. But spiritual maturity requires our participation, amen? It requires us to engage in that growth process. So what is spiritual growth? How do we define that? Is it important? If it is, who is it important to? Then there’s three stages of spiritual development. And then we ask the question, what is the Father’s passion? It should be ours as well. Just because you’re born again and just because you’re called by God, and even if you’re a pastor, does not mean that you are about the Father’s business.
Some people have ulterior motives in life. Their motivation is elsewhere. They can wear the suit, they can wear the badge, they can do the stuff, but their heart is not aligned with the kingdom, amen? We want to be aligned with the kingdom of God. Can you move in spiritual gifts and still be immature by God’s standards? We’re going to answer that question. I’m sure a lot of you already know that. What does the Scripture mean when it describes the meat and the milk of the Word? What does a spiritually immature person look like? Don’t point fingers, dudes. Just keep it straight tonight, amen? Yes, I know some spiritually immature people, but I didn’t want to raise them, Pastor. I didn’t feel it was the time. Setting your affections.
Right, let’s look at this first. Colossians 3:2 through 3 says, “Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ.” Kind of a strange word in the King James. If you look it up in the Greek, it’s phroneo, which means to exercise the mind, or concentration in the modern vernacular. Where are you setting your concentration on? Are you thinking on the things above? Well, in my everyday life, I don’t really do that, Pastor, and I’ve got stuff to do. I can’t be sitting there dreaming about heaven all day.
I understand the point. But we should be God inside minded. That is something we should always have within ourselves. We should be cognizant of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Who’s ever present to help us in our time of need, amen? If we continue to ignore that still small voice, then we may find that when it comes to an emergency, we haven’t developed that conversational aspect of living with God. So when the cookie crumbles and the fat lady sings and the cows come home, we’re in trouble because we haven’t developed that relationship with God in the times of peace, right? So that when the times of travail come, we’re like, man, I wish I really knew God a little bit better than I do, because I could ask him stuff.
And if you think you talk to God these days, friend, people will think you’re absolutely nuts. If you actually told them, you know, God speaks to me, you’d be like, okay, let’s get the drugs out. Let’s put you in the hospital, et cetera, et cetera. But how many people believe that God speaks to them in this room? You are certified doolally, amen, along with pastor. By the world’s standards, we’re crazy. But by the world’s standards, the cross is foolishness, right? We believe the truth. Set your minds and keep them set on the things which are above, higher, okay? We are dead and our life is hidden with Christ. The more we die, the more we live. That’s the irony. The more we choose to die to the flesh, the more that spirit inside of us can move in our lives. The world is brief and fleeting. The only destination we have is with Christ in heaven, okay? We’re going for 70 years of age, 80 years of age, 90 years of age, whatever your personal goal is.
But the truth is there’s going to come a time when the daisies are going to spring up and it’s time to go home with Jesus, all right? And then we’re going to reflect on what do we do with our lives and why did we do it? How were we motivated on a daily basis? So being kingdom-minded is essential for spiritual growth. We need to have our minds set on His agenda, on His desires, amen? So the Father’s heart, this is Philippians 2:19, and the Apostle Paul is saying, I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy, who is a very young man, to you, “that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state.” He’s saying there are very few people who are going to care for the people, care for the sheep. Very few people who are going to actually put away their own agenda and do something for the kingdom. And Paul was saying, I have no man like-minded like myself. It’s a struggle. But Timothy was one of those, amen? So like I said before, just because you’re born again does not mean you are interested in the passions and desires of the Father. Just because you’re spirit-filled does not mean you’re interested in the Father’s business.
Just because you’re called of God, unquote, does not mean you’re interested in the passion of the Father. What is the main thing, I’m going to put it to you as a question, what is the main thing the Father is concerned about, would you say? Souls of men. Souls of men. Boom, Brenda, you’re on fire tonight. Bringing in the worship, bringing in the answers, amen? The souls of men. The Father’s primary passion is the lost. The lost. It could be contended that most Christians are not interested in the Father’s passion or interests. The desire to touch somebody, to reach out to them and say, you know, have you heard the Lord? Have you met Jesus? You know, oh, I don’t want to do that. I’m afraid of speaking out because I might be persecuted. I understand that. Persecution is a part of it. But that fear of being ridiculed or shamed because of sharing your faith should not be the reason that you stop doing it, right? We talked about that last week. Fear is not an excuse, right? We can feel the fear and do it anyway, right?
So, it’s interesting that Christians can vacillate in the way they think, in the way they serve, in the way they place their allegiance. Look at Peter in this case, in Matthew 16, verses 21 through 23, “From that time forth, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things,” right? So Jesus is saying, I’m going to go to the cross and die. That went against the agenda of the day. The Jewish people, especially the working man, wanted to form an army and get behind Jesus, and let’s take Rome, let’s take out these immediate Sanctarians, and then let’s create a kingdom like David, and then let’s fight those Romans, amen? That was their mindset. Peter took Jesus and began to rebuke Jesus, saying, Be it far from you, Lord, this shall not be. Peter started arguing with Jesus about going to the cross. You’re going to die? Are you kidding me? We’re just set.
We’ve got a lot of followers here. We can really make something happen in the flesh. He turned and he said, Peter, get behind me, Satan. Who is he talking to? Is he talking to Peter or Satan? Well, he is talking to Peter, but Satan is speaking clearly. That’s a strange comment right there. Peter is a mouthpiece of Satan just for a few seconds. Jesus said, You’re an offense to me. You savoir not the things of God, but those that be of men. Friend, this is the question. Are we savoring the things of God or men? When you serve the Lord, he can ask you to do some strange things, but those things are in alignment with his desires and his passions. As far as the world is concerned, that can look very strange. It can look very strange.
Why would Jesus have to die, then go to hell, get resurrected, come back? Well, he’s redeeming mankind, amen? But that’s not a strategy that was known, right? Sometimes after the event, God reveals the strategy and shows that, hey, when I asked you to leave your job or start a business or go to another country or become a missionary or whatever else, there was a purpose behind that, amen? Because he’s been preparing you all along, amen? So we need to be mindful and savoir the things of God. Quite often in my own life, God has spoken to me, and the things he said are quite risky. Take a risk, give a large amount, go to another city. Every time I’ve done that, it’s paid off, friend. Every time I’ve done it, it’s paid off. Now, has it been a little scary along the way? Yeah, it has.
But you know what? He is faithful, amen? But what a sad life to just take no risk and not do what God says and just live that 9 to 5 and be that dog that sits on the porch and never moves because the nail is irritable, but it’s not uncomfortable enough to move. We don’t want to be that person, amen? We want to be bold. We want to take some risks in life. When you take those risks, however, some of your friends could be a mouthpiece for Satan, temporarily, of course. Could it be that your friend or your colleague or your family member could actually speak words that are very hurtful or even against God’s plan just as you’re about to move? Oh, let me tell you, that person, he’s tried it 5 times and they failed every time. Don’t do that. God’s telling me, okay? When you know that you know that you know God is telling you, it doesn’t matter what they say, right? We’re not looking for confirmation from friends. It’s nice to have them. It’s nice to have prophetic words. That’s great. God uses that. But we have to be dogged. We have to be unilateral in the way we pursue God. And sometimes that involves persecution. Sometimes that involves appearing to be silly or stupid or foolish by the world’s standards.
The world says, get all you can, can all you get, and sit on the can, right? It’s all about get, get, get. My 401k, my 401k is now a 201k, maybe it’s a 101k. It keeps shrinking, but, you know, we’re always putting stuff like, oh, I’ve got this backup plan. I was always, because I’m an engineer, so I plan stuff. Yeah, well, if God doesn’t come through, I’ve got this little deposit here and I’ll take care of that if he doesn’t do this. And it’s like every time I thought like that, it’s like God kept taking away my safety net. He kept taking away option B. It was like, man, this better, I’m putting all my eggs in one basket. And it’s like, well, they may be crushed. It looks like they might be right now.
But the point is God wants you to put all your eggs in that basket because that basket is being firmly held by him, amen? That basket is being carried and nurtured and covered like a father would. So we need to be mindful of what drives us, okay? What is driving you? Are you a driven person? Question mark. What is driving you? Are you being driven by the world’s standards? Are you being driven to succeed? Why are you driven to succeed? By whose standards? Is the driven life tiring, okay? Some people are just driven and they’re tired but they’ve got to reach that goal and then they ask themselves, why am I doing this in the first place? Whose goal is this, okay? Jesus leads from the front. He’s the gentle shepherd. Satan is a driver. He’s a prodder. He’s a poker. He’s a subjugator, okay? He’s a usurper. He’s going to coerce. He’s going to manipulate. He’s going to intimidate. He’s going to dominate to try and get you to do stuff. Friend, we’ll pick it up tomorrow for part two. Until tomorrow, good night, God bless, and remember to spread the good news.
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/trusting-god-for-his-best-part-3-live/
https://holysojourners.com/how-to-know-if-you-are-growing-spiritually/
Title: How to Grow Spiritually: Part 1 (LIVE)
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