{"id":12360,"date":"2016-08-17T01:35:01","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/spiritual-growth\/"},"modified":"2016-08-17T01:35:01","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:35:01","slug":"spiritual-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/spiritual-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"SPIRITUAL GROWTH"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>1 CORINTHIANS 14:20\u201325<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>(1 Cor. 14:20 niv)<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>The road to spiritual maturity is long and difficult; many snares and detours lie in wait along the way. Yet God has promised to bring all His children to glory. All who have been justified will be glorified\u2014the tough part is the journey in between, the road of sanctification that is less traveled than the broad way that leads to destruction.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>While the path to spiritual maturity is difficult, we must not deter from trying to attain \u201cthe whole measure of the fullness of Christ\u201d (Eph. 4:15). Too many people in the church want to be like the thief on the cross who died with little knowledge or growth. Few people are taken from the battle field the minute they step onto it. Most face a long climb from infancy to maturity.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>The Scriptures tell us that Christians are to have a child-like faith, one that trusts in the Father implicitly, but they are not to remain in infancy. \u201cWhen I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things\u201d (1 Cor. 13:11). You can only grow into an adult by eating solid spiritual food: \u201cBut solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil\u201d (Heb. 5:14). The mature Christian has studied the Word and has communed with God to such a degree as to distinguish good from evil. They have increased their knowledge and practice to be able to discern what is right (Phil. 1:9\u201311).They have enlarged the harvest of their righteousness (2 Cor. 9:10), growing in conformity to Christ. The tools necessary for such a development are constant prayer, Bible study, worship, fellowship with believers (especially mature believers), and service in the kingdom. If you are a newborn believer, \u201ccrave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation\u201d (1 Peter 2:2). If you have walked with the Lord for a long time, put away childish things, leaving the \u201celementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity\u201d (Heb. 6:1). Continue to persevere and \u201cgrow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever\u201d (2 Peter 3:18).<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Jeremiah 23\u201324<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>2 Timothy 2<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Jeremiah 25\u201328<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>2 Timothy 3\u20134<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:   18.0pt;line-height:normal'>How much time do you spend in prayer, Bible study,   worship, fellowship, and service? Is growing in spiritual maturity a goal of   yours? God has commanded you to grow in knowledge and grace\u2014this means action   and effort. Pray for perseverance and commitment to growing up in the faith   in one of these areas.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:   normal'><i>For   further study. 1 Cor. 3 \u2022 Eph. 4 \u2022 Gal. 4 \u2022 1 Thess. 3:12 \u2022 Heb. 6<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 CORINTHIANS 14:20\u201325 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults (1 Cor. 14:20 niv). The road to spiritual maturity is long and difficult; many snares and detours lie in wait along the way. Yet God has promised to bring all His children to glory. All &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/spiritual-growth\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;SPIRITUAL GROWTH&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}