Grow in Every Way

We finished our 21 days of fasting. It was such a powerful time. We saw many miracles happening among us, spiritual and physical miracles. Praised be God’s name!

I know it: When the church prays and fasts, supernatural things happen! We are Jesus’ church! We belong to His Church!

Jesus said in Mathew 16:18

“On this rock (Jesus is the rock), I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

We are at the right time to grow! We prayed, we repented from our sins and now we are seeking Jesus, we are expecting for more of God. It’s the right time to Grow!

Are you ready to grow? To grow in every way?

Luke 2:52 says: And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

We need to grow like Jesus! In wisdom, stature and favour!

Today we’re gonna talk about: Growing in every way!

Growing up is a process. No one is born fully grown. Everyone comes into the world as an infant and progresses through different developmental stages until they reach adulthood. The same is true when you are born again. It doesn’t matter how old you are physically. When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, you are a spiritual baby in Christ, and you must learn to grow in the things of God. Today we’re gonna learn How to grow in faith, as a part of the church and how to grow as a person! It’s time to grow!

Ephesians 4:11-16

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Did you notice in verse 15, Paul tells the Christians in Ephesus to “. . . grow? Like grow to become Jesus in all things . . .”? Of course, Paul didn’t think that the Church at Ephesus had grown yet. He also said in verse 13, “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of God and become MATURE, A PERFECT MAN . . . .”

Throughout the New Testament, we see a striking similarity between spiritual and physical development.

Even though a person can be a born-again Christian for many years, he can still be in either the infancy or childhood stage of development in certain areas of his life. As we take a look at each stage of spiritual development, you may see where you need to grow in certain areas.

We need to grow! Look,

In 1 Peter 2:2 says: Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.

Like newborn babies…

Newborn babies require a lot of work. They don’t do much except eat and sleep. You have to do everything for them; you have to dress them, feed them, change their diapers, and so forth. And they can’t eat solid food. They can only digest their mother’s milk or baby formula.

They are not self sufficient. They depend on others to take care of them.

In the same way, you can’t expect young Christians to do everything for themselves. You need to follow up with them after they first come to church and encourage them to return, or at least to get involved in another good church. They don’t understand much about the things of God, so you have to spend a lot of time teaching and counselling them.

They’ll come crying on your shoulder about this, that, or something else . They don’t have a lot of confidence in their own prayers, so they’ll ask everyone they see to pray for the same matter over and over again. You’ll have to carry them, so to speak, because they don’t know how to walk in the ways of God by themselves.

Now there comes a day in all babies’ lives when they have to be weaned from their mother’s milk. On the day that Isaac was weaned, the Bible says that Abraham made a great feast

Look in Gen. 21:8

The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.

Similarly, there comes a time in every Christian’s life when they have to learn how to do things by themselves. David said, in Psalms 131:2

2 But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.

But how many of you know that the day a child is weaned from his bottle is not always a happy occasion. I have heard many children scream as if they were dying, just to get their bottle! Unfortunately, the same thing can happen with Christians. There are plenty of babies in the Church who need to be weaned but are screaming to “high heavens” to keep their bottles, so to speak.

In Brazil, Some years ago, I met a boy, son of a Pastor, and every Sunday this kid made a lot of mess during the Sermon. His Father was preaching and he was laughing, jumping, running up and down in the church.

This child was 5 years, and he had a lot of energy and his mother always took him to the toilet and gave him a wee spanking while his father was preaching.

One day, The Pastor was preaching and the boy was all over the place again, and just as He saw his mother getting up to get him and take him to the toilet to teach him a lesson, He shouted to the church: Brothers and sisters, pray for me! I’m in trouble! The sermon stopped, and the whole church laughed a lot!

Now, isn’t this a child who needs to grow up?!

Christians ought to grow enough so that they don’t always need someone to visit them, lift them up, pray for them, and feed them. They ought to grow up so they can help others too.

Jesus provides the resources to help us grow in our faith.

Unfortunately, some people profess faith in Jesus but never really grow much in their Christian faith. They worship God occasionally and say a prayer when a crisis occurs in their lives but they have not really allowed God to help them change their habits, relationships, attitudes, or their use of time and money.

They don’t have a relationship with God, They don’t read their bible, They don’t get involved in serving Christ and his church isn’t a priority in their lives. They need to grow up!

Imagine having a baby who grows up to become a child who’ll keep breastfeeding for another 8-9 years! Though you try very hard, you cannot seem to get your child to start eating solid food. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it, breast feeding a child who’s still in primary school?! Have you grown and matured in your Christian experience or do you still act like an infant with no discernible changes or growth in your life??

– Vs 11 and 12 says: Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equipe his people for works service to the body of Christ built up.

Grow up in faith and in the church

You have to know who you are in Christ’s body. We have a list here that what you can do or be to help build up the church and grow with your brothers and sisters!

Who are you in Christ’s body? Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, a teacher?