Nobody can grow spiritually for you. This is your personal responsibility before the Lord. Those leading and teaching in church are called to equip you to be able to explore the pursuit of spiritual maturity. It is easier to gather and grow, but growing a crowd isn’t the same as maturing the church.
Colossians 1:9-12 “…we have not stopped praying for you, asking [specifically] that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom [with insight into His purposes], and in understanding [of spiritual things], 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord [displaying admirable character, moral courage, and personal integrity], to [fully] please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing in the knowledge of God [with deeper faith, clearer insight and fervent love for His precepts]; 11 [we pray that you may be] strengthened and invigorated with all power, according to His glorious might, to attain every kind of endurance and patience with joy. (Amplified)
Colossians 1:28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. NIV
As church leaders we have a responsibility to present each one of you as spiritually mature. What is that? We are Outrageously Loving people who Passionately Pursue the Lord with Outrageously Giving lifestyles as we Consistently Submit to God’s desires and Effectively Disciple others to do the same. This is why we have introduced core practices this year in our pursuit to help everyone understand the pathway of growing deeper.
Nobody can grow spiritually for you.
You alone are responsible to motivate yourself to pursue the heart of Jesus. It is my responsibility to present a vibrant, inspired me to the world around me. You are the leader of your home and lack passion in your pursuit of God it will be contagious. But, if you stir yourself up to take hold of God it is contagious! Even carnal King Saul prophesied in the right spiritual atmosphere. Imagine what can be awakened in your home, in your workplace and in your world if you make the jump from merely attending church to truly being church everywhere you go bringing God’s presence to real life!
The Critical Journey is a book that describes 6 stages on our journey of faith.
Salvation or a spiritual awakening
A basic introduction to ways disciples seek God in prayer and reading plans.
The productive Christian life where you begin to lead something somewhere.
The Journey Inward speaking of a deep communion with God.
The Journey Outward speaking of a deep communion with God in community with others.
The Life of Love speaking of deep communion with God in sacrifice and suffering as we leave the world a better place.
The Bible is clear that God wants us to gather to worship and something deeply significant takes place within us in this atmosphere. But there is more! This is not the deepest experience of your communion with God, community, and sacrifice.
Worship, sermons and prayer teams can’t take you into these deeper places. Leading worship, preaching sermons and leading the prayer team cannot take you into these deeper places. Leadership itself doesn’t develop you, it exposes you. God desires for you to explore deep wells He has planned for you possess and this is up to you. We will be introducing this very strategically this weekend.
Exodus 6:8 I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel); and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD … (Amplified)
In Joshua 1, Moses has died and God is giving the promised land as a possession to God’s people. You will not possess what you do not pursue. If found it extremely interesting in my morning reading to see the progression of God’s conversation with Joshua in giving the land to the Israelites to possess.
“I am giving to them.”
“I have given to you.”
“You will give to them.”
Then they will go in and possess it!
As we step into this next season we will take ten weeks to explore the Book of Psalms together. If you read approximately two chapters a day you’ll read all 150 chapters over the course of these ten weeks. Let’s grow in a greater understanding of what it means to be like a tree planted by streams of living water, meditating on God’s Word day and night.
Psalms 1:1-3 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. ESV
GP2RL: Develop a plan to pursue God sacrificially this week and stick to the plan! Tell someone about it who will ask you about it later.
The Spiritually Mature
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Click here for a downloadable PDF of this guide.
UNDERSTANDING THE SEASON: In a fallen world, we continue to look to our Risen King no matter what the circumstances may be. There are people who judge their God by their circumstances and people who judge their circumstances by their God. God is good all the time even when we are suffering disappointment and discouragement. Being honest with God about your pain is an important part of walking with God authentically.
As we journey through 2024 year together, our desire is to become more spiritually AWAKE and more fully ENGAGED in the practices we see modeled in the life of Christ. As we are awakened to the principles of God’s Kingdom, we must choose to become more engaged in the practices. Our practices reveal our priorities.
It is God’s plan for us to develop the rhythm of drawing close to His heart and hearing His voice together as a spiritual family. This explains the first question we start with in our groups:
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: to help develop a context for a greater understanding of the verses for today.
2. What does spiritual maturity look like? Name someone you believe to be spiritually ma- ture and explain what makes you think that about them.
3. What purpose does authentic community serve in developing spiritual maturity? Share one of your first memories of experiencing life-giving community with others.
Colossians 1:9-12 “…we have not stopped praying for you, asking [specifically] that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom [with insight into His purposes], and in understanding [of spiritual things], 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord [displaying admirable character, moral courage, and personal integrity], to [fully] please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing in the knowledge of God [with deeper faith, clearer insight and fervent love for His precepts]; 11 [we pray that you may be] strengthened and invigorated with all power, according to His glorious might, to attain every kind of endurance and patience with joy. (Amplified)
4. What stands out to you about these verses?
5. How will you apply our action point this week?
Everywhere we go, we bring...
GP2RL: Develop a plan to pursue God sacrificially this week and stick to the plan! Tell someone about it who will ask you about it later.