Cultivating Spiritual Growth

- Intro

Good morning, so good to be back here with you all today. would you join me as we pray for this mornings study.

- There was a man who wanted a beautiful garden. He bought seeds, rich soil, and shiny tools. He even watched YouTube videos on how to grow tomatoes and read a book about roses.

- But there was a problem, He never actually planted anything.

- He left the seeds in their packets on the porch, and the tools stayed brand new in the shed. Yet, every morning he walked outside to look at his garden, and scratched his head wondering, “why isn’t anything growing”.

- The neighbors, confused, would ask, “have you watered the soil? “No, replied the man”. “Have you planted the seeds?” “Not yet”. “Have you pulled the weeds?” “I’m waiting for a sign, replied the man”.

- And after a few months, his yard looked the same- dry, full of weeds, and empty while other yards around him blossomed.

- See we can hear this story and laugh at this man’s delusional plan. The desire of wanting to have a great garden without doing anything to cultivate that garden. We can all agree that it is a foolish plan that will never work.

- But I’d like us to consider our own spiritual lives, I fear that too many of us can at times treat our spiritual lives the same way this man treated his garden. We own bibles, we listen to sermons, we go to church, we even post scriptures online……

- But the seed of God’s Word does not grow unless it is planted in our hearts, unless it is watered through prayer and nurtured through obedience and repentance. There has to be an active action of cultivating spiritual growth in my life.

Phillip Brooks

“We will never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so”.

Transition

- If you have your bible, turn with me to Eph. 4:11-16, this will be the passage we spring board from.

- this passage is telling us that God’s heart for every believer , is for them to  continually grow and develop, that we would grow in maturity. That as a result of becoming spiritually mature, we would not be deceived by false doctrine, that we would be more Christ like in our conduct, that we would exercise the spiritual gifts that God has given us for the building up of others.

-  God’s heart is for us to continue to growth and develop, to growth in spiritual maturity.

- Think about a baby , there is a continual growth and development that takes place from the time of birth until the day of death. In every person, there are physical signs of growth and internal signs of growth. The ability to eat solid food, to walk, to talk, the ability to reason and make decisions are all based on the growth of the organs which are not visible; the stomach, lungs, brain, nervous systems, muscles. You also have the physical growth of a person in height, weight, range of motion of the body, the strength of the body.

- In both of areas of the growth and development of a child; the visible and invisible  ; ……..the development  or lack of development will eventually be expressed in a way that will be evident to those around the child.

- We even have ways to tell if a child is developing at the proper rate by their ability to do certain things at certain ages. If you have a child, you understand having doctor visits and exams when your baby is young. The doctors are monitoring the visible and invisible signs of proper growth in a child.

- When a child gets to a certain age where he/she should be able to do certain things, but when they cannot do these things, like walk or talk, …..the doctors will normally perform more tests. The doctors will look for areas that have not properly developed in the child.  These inabilities, and defects that were not visible at first, have now been made visible with time.

Transition

- Spiritually speaking this is the same principle in our lives. From the moment we give our lives over to the Lord, we begin this new life in Christ, we are a new creation. And just like a new born baby, God’s heart for every believer is their spiritual growth and development.

- Now many misunderstand  and believe that God’s only plan for them is to save them from going to hell, which is true but it is not the only plan that God has for us,

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- Phil. 1:6

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

- This verse gives us insight that God is working in use from the moment we are born until the moment we go home to be with Him. God is continually working in our lives, to bring us into a saving knowledge of Him first, then to sanctify us and to bring us into maturity in Christ. To be more and more Christ like.

- That is what should be happening in our lives daily, there should be a forward progression in our walk with God that is not just visible to myself, but also visible to those around me.

- And here is the truth, our lack of spiritual maturity and growth will eventually be evident to those around me. There will be things that should be visible in my life, things that should be happening in my life, things that should be a part of my character, and new nature……. That aren’t there.

- And just like a baby, when these things are not evident, it raises concerns with those who are around you. They can see that something is wrong.  I can assure you that Pastor Gil has such a heart for you,  a love for you , and a desire to see you all growth spiritually in the lord and when he sees a lack of maturity, it grieves his heart just like it does to any pastor.

- You see the writer of the book of Hebrews have this same pastoral heart for the readers.

Heb. 5:11-12

11 Concerning [g]him we have much to say, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become [h]poor listeners. 12 For though [i]by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the [j]elementary principles of the actual words of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

- You see here that simply by the timeframe of these believers walking with the Lord, there should have been a natural spiritual growth and development that took place yet, they were still in an infant state. The writer makes that illustration here that they are like little babies who are undeveloped and need milk and need someone to teach them the basic things …. When they should be mature and able to teach others.

- my goal today is that through this study, we may be able to examine our own hearts to see where we are in the Lord, and to help us get back on track to spiritual maturity.

- Because for many of us, we may have started out well and on fire for God, pursuing the things of Him, pursuing to be like Him, pursing the worship Him, pursuing to serve Him, and over time ….. we may have slowed down, we may have stopped growing spiritually and are completely content in our current spiritual state.

- Something has happened, we have been hurt, we have been burned out, we have busied ourselves with other things, we have prioritized the service for God rather than prioritized being with God, we have placed something else on the throne of our hearts, and all of a sudden……. We have stopped growing and stopped being who God has called us to be.

Transition

- see as we talk about God’s heart for our spiritual growth, it is interesting that throughout the scriptures you have this picture of the God’s people often referred to as a tree, as vines ,  as branches.

- And the same principles you see in the lives of these trees are the same spiritual principles in our lives. And so today, we are going to look at the importance of “Cultivating Spiritual Growth”,by looking at these principles through the eyes of a farmer, if you will.

- Ezekiel 17 , we have this parable of the great eagle and this Vine and branches, which describes events related to the exile of King Jehoiachin and the fate of Judah during the time of the Babylonian exile.

- But in the parable, you see God use this picture of His people as the vine and branches, and within the passage you see these important principles that are found  throughout scripture of what is necessary for a healthy spiritual life.

He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside abundant waters; he set it like a willow. Then it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine with its branches turned toward him, but its roots remained under it. So it became a vine and yielded shoots and sent out branches.

Ez. 17:5-6

- You have the importance of the seed, the fertile soil, the water, the roots and the fruit it produces.

- There are 3 main things that a tree needs in order to be healthy and to grow. These are the same things that will be important for our lives to grow spiritually.

- The first thing a tree needs is good soil.

I. A  Tree Needs Good Soil ( Mt. 13:3-23)

Turn you bible to Matthew 13:3–8

A. What is the Soil? ( the heart of Man)

- Now in this passage we have the seed that is planted in different types of soil. And the type of soil that each seed was scattered on would determine its outcome.

- Now a few verses below, Jesus explains what this parable means. The seed is in reference to the word of God that is scattered, and the soil is in reference to the heart of man.

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- You have the seed that was scattered by the wayside, or the road way. A place where many travelled on. The seed was not able to take root and instead, the birds of the air came and took it away. The parallel with us is those who hear the word of God but it is not making its home in their heart, maybe even in a setting like this but they are tuned out. They are thinking of other things, and just like a bird, the word of God is taken from their hearts and doesn’t take root.  

- You have the seed that was scattered on the stoney area, on the rocks. These were able to grow some roots but were not able to go deep, sine they were on the rocks. When the hot sun came out, these small plants were dried up because they did not have deep roots.  Think of the little weeds that grow in your driveway, there is enough soil in the cracks for them to sprout up but not enough for a tree to grow out of it.

- This is the heart that is shallow in its understanding. The heart that has not gone deep with the Lord, they have not taken the word of God serious in their lives. They can quote it, maybe know it, but it is not real to them,  and you can tell who this is, because when the storms of life come, the fall apart in the heat of the trials.

- Then you had the seed that was scattered among the thorns, it sprung up with the thorns but eventually, the thorns choked out the plant. We are told these are the ones that receive the seed and begin to grow, but they grow among the thorns and the cares of this world, choke them out. In other words, the things of this world become more important to them, these worldly things choke out the life of the word in their heart and do not allow for it to grow.

- Then you also have the seed that was cast on good soil, this seed was able to grow deep roots and was able to bear much fruit. In verse 23, we see that the good soil are the ones that hear the word of God and understand it.

Transition

- See Gods word is scattered on our hearts when we hear it, when we read the bible. And God’s heart is for that word to take root in our heart and to begin to grow and produce.

- Pastor Gil spoke about the New Covenant that was promised in the old testament last week in Jer. 31:33

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people- Jer. 31:33

- You see the promise of God’s word being written on the hearts of His people. That seed of God’s word is scattered on our hearts but depending on what the soil of our heart is, will depend on weather that seed will grow or not.

- Good soil is required for that seed to grow. And depending on which person you are in our parable today, we might need to do some gardening today in our own lives when we get home today.  

B. Good Soil requires

- Now when we talk about good soil being required, there are a few things that are necessary to have good soil.

- I remember having issues with my grass at my house. I had issues with the sprinklers so the grass in my backyard died on me. Well, I didn’t want to pay to get new grass, so what I decided to do was to plant new seeds of Grass.

- But in order to plant the new seeds, I needed remove the old dried up grass, and in some areas, the dirt had dried up so much that it was like concrete. I took out a pick and shovel and began to not only remove the old dried up grass but I had to break up the hard ground, to turn it over.

- It was only after I removed the old grass and rocks, and broke up the hard ground, that I was then able to plant the new seeds, and the grass looks good today.

- This is the same spiritual principle in our lives….. for many of us, we have allowed soil of our hearts to be harden by sin, hardened by lack of the water of word and the Holy Spirit….. we have let our hearts become so full of junk, of worldly things, of sin…..of hurt, and bitterness….. that we have choked out the word of God.

- Can I tell you, in order for God’s word to grow in our hearts, there are seasons of life where we need to do the hard work of removing any obstructions in the soil of our hearts.

- There are things in our hearts today, that should just not be there, there are things that we are holing on to that are not only obstacles to what God wants to do in me, but for some…… these things we are holding on to have made may heart hard towards God, and hard towards the people of God.

- A person hurt you, the ministry hurt you, a family member hurt you…. and I am not saying that these hurts aren’t real or not valid, but if we are not careful…. We can hold on to these hurts and they harden our hearts and make us bitter.  What many of us might need today, is to let go of the things we are holding on to, because they are hindering  our spiritual growth.

- Now a tree not only needs good soil to thrive in, but it also needs strong roots.

II. A Tree Needs Strong Roots ( Col. 2:6-7) ( This is the Purpose)

- When you look at a tree or a plant, there are 3 main purposes for their root system.

1. Roots help to anchor the plant

- The roots hold the plant firmly in the soil, preventing it from blowing over with the wind or storms or from being washed away. They also help to stabilize the soil itself, reducing the erosion of the soil.

2. Roots help to absorb water and nutrients

- Roots are responsible for taking up water and dissolved minerals from the soil. The nutrients are then transported to the rest of the plant for growth

3. Roots help to store food reserves

- Some roots, like carrots and beets can store carbohydrates and other nutrients for later use. This storage allows plants to survive periods when resources are scares.

- The importance of having deep, healthy roots is not only for trees and plants, but also for us as believers.

Col. 2:6-7

“Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude”.

- Paul tells us the importance of being like a tree that has deep roots, which digs its roots deep into the soil, as believers we are called to dig our roots deep into Christ. And the purpose of having deep roots is very similar to a plant.

A. The Purpose of Strong Roots

1. Gives us the ability to Stand firm against the winds ( 1 Cor. 15:58, Eph. 6:11, Phil. 4:1)

- Part of the purpose of roots is to secure the plant in the midst of a storm, to keep it from falling over or being washed away.

- This is the same principle for us. We are called to stand firm in the midst of the storms of life, in the midst of a culture that pushes against the bible and against anything Godly, to stand firm against the attacks of the enemy, against the false teachings

1 Cor. 15:58

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Eph. 6:11

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

Phil. 4:1

4 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, [a]whom I long to see, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

- You see the exhortation for us to stand firm, to not be shaken and moved by the winds and storms of this life. And the only way that we will be able to stand firm, is by having strong roots.

- Listen we are living in crazy times. You see the riots in LA and in other cities. Whatever your take on the matter, you see so much disorder and lawlessness in the actions of these people, and many of them are young people.

- Many don’t even have an idea of what they are protesting but they are following the trends of the culture and there is this pressure to follow this movement. The same goes for transgender issues in our school sports, with abortion. The current culture of the world is going in a certain direction and the world wants to pressure us believers to sympathize with them and to follow their thinking.

- We are called to stand firm against  a culture that is contrary to biblical truths.

Transition

- in 1992 , Hurricane Andrew hit South Miami – Dade County and had record winds of 165 MPH.

- Now during this hurricane there were many different types of palm trees that were affected by the storm.

- The Sabal Palms, Areca Palm, and Alexander palms proved to have high wind resistance, this is because they have a deep root system. They bent in the storms wind but they did not fall over or get uprooted.

- Other palm trees like the royal palm, queen palm, and coconut palms, were more susceptible to damage and uprooting, their root system was not as deep as the ones who held up.

- We are living in a time where we are seeing record winds all around us, the pressures of life and the culture are extremely dangerous. And we do not want to be those who appeared to be stable, but did not take the time to dig deep roots into Christ. We want to be able to bend, but not break.

- Having strong roots……..

2. Gives us the ability to have Growth (2 Pt. 3:18)

- The root system also works to bring nutrients to the whole plant in order to produce growth. This is true as a christian as well. As I dig my life deeper and deeper into the Lord and into His word, it brings nutrients to my life and allows for me to growth spiritually. God’s heart for us is to continue to grow.

2 Pt. 3:18

18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

I read this quote

“There is nothing more important to learn about Christian growth than this, Growing in grace means becoming like Christ.”

Gods heart is for us to grow not only in our knowledge of Him but also in our Christlikeness........interesting that the more you personally know the Lord intimately, the more you will be Christ like in your character and conduct.

3. Gives us the ability to Bear Fuit ( John 15:16, Col. 1:10, Gal. 5:22-23)

- The root system is the essential part of bringing nutrients to the plant in order for it to blossom, in order for it to bear fruit.

- A deep and healthy root system in our lives is what will allow us to bear fruit for the Lord. After all, this is what he has called us to do.

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John 15:16

16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

Col. 1:10

10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, [a]to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and [b]increasing in the [c]knowledge of God;

Gal. 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

- You see that when my life is rooted and grounded in Christ, I am able to bear fruit, to produce a life that honors and pleases God.

- A life that is loving towards others, that is joyful, that is patient, that is kind towards others, that is faithful, that is gentle, that is self-controlled. A life that is reaching outside of myself to bless others and to bless the kingdom of God. A life that is Christ like.

Transition

- To bear is what God has commanded us to do and  what pleases Him.

- And there are two main areas that we are called to bear fruit and glorify God with our lives in.

1. Outside of the 4 walls of the church

Matt. 5:16

Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

- In other words, we are called to live in such a way around the non believers, that we shine a light to them, where we are pointing them to Jesus. Where we are building platforms with them, and bear fruit in our witness to a lost world.

- Think of your job, your kids sports teams, your neighbors, your family.. We are called to bear fruit and shine as a light among them. I love how pastor Gil is a chaplin for the Sheriffs department, he gets to be a light to a dark world, and gets opportunities to build platforms and to minister the gospel to men and women in need. He is bearing fruit outside of the 4 walls of the church.

2. Inside of the Church walls

- Now we are also called to exercise our spiritual gifts within the church body in order for the other believers to grow .

Ephesians 4:11–16 “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from 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.”

- 1 Cor. 12 also speaks about the different gifts to be exercised in conjunction with the body as a whole. Interesting that all the spiritual gifts with exception of evangelist, are meant to be used within the church body to produce growth of the body,

- The family of God is like a body, with many different moving parts, the head, the feet, the hands…. But they all have their purpose to function within the body so that the body would function properly and would grow.

- Many Christians miss this part. They assume that God’s plan for them is simply to stay out of hell, or to go to church to hear a bible study to help them be better Christians, and that is true…….but we misunderstand the other part.

- That God has given us each a gift to be used within the church body, in order to help not only us Grow but also to help others grow around us.

- I’ve been serving in ministry now over 25 years in many different roles. And I can tell you that the times in my life that I have grown the most, were the times that I committed myself to help out the church in some sort of ministry. I was stretched, I was humbled, I was pushed, and I was blessed. There is no greater feeling than exercising your spiritual gifts as God has designed you to.

- One of the spiritual gifts that the Lord has given me is the gift of teaching. And I can tell you that when I get the opportunities to teach God’s word, there is no greater feeling…. In that moment….. I am doing exactly what God has designed me to do.

- Some of my closest and best friends are those that met while serving with them. See the gifts and service to God in the church is much more than me just doing something for someone…… it is me surrendering myself to God’s plan for my life and as a result there is growth that is produced in my life as I step out in faith, there is growth that takes place as I exercise my gift……. There is an overall bearing of fruit that takes place, and that pleases God.

- Do not be content to simply come to church and listen to a sermon. Pray about how God can use your gifts in your church, and how you could bear fruit for his glory…. But also have the mind of bearing fruit among the lost world. That fruit you bear might be life giving to someone in need.

Question : How do I get Deep Roots?

- Point number 3….

III. A Tree Needs Nutrients  to Grow ( Ps. 1, John 15) (This is the How)

A. Where does the Nutrients come from?

- The plant mainly receives its nutrients from 2 places……

1. The soil

2. The water

- Now as we looked at the illustrations in the parable of the sower and the seed, the seed is the word of God and  the soil where it is planted, is our hearts.

- So what we see is that there are nutrients that are required to be brought into the soil of our hearts to feed the seed of God’s word in order for it to Grow…..growth is what will produce deep roots and produce fruit.

-  in the scriptures we see the word of God describes as the “water of the word”, Eph. 5:26 speaks of this.

- We also see the Holy Spirit  mentioned as “the living water”in John 7:37-39

- So there is a need to be bringing the water of the word and the living water of the Holy Spirit into our lives to nourish that seed in our hearts.

1. The Water of the Word

- Lets look at the water of the word.

Psalm 1:1–3 “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”

- You see here in this illustration the psalmist gives, that the word of God in the life of a person is like a tree that is planted by the water. In other words, when a person meditates on the word of God day and night, he is nourished just like a tree whose roots are next to a river. The natural outcome is it bears fruit, he also has longevity, he does not wither.

- In the book of Josh, 1; Joshua is chosen to lead the people of God after the death of Moses. We see the Lord speaks to Joshua and gives him this command.

Josh. 1:8

8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may [a]be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will [b]achieve success.

- So God gives Joshua a recipe for success as a leader. He tells him to….

1. Speak God’s law

2. Meditate on God’s law

3. Obey God’s law

- If Joshua did these things, he would be successful. I want to tell you today, that this principal is the same. The success of our spiritual lives, the success of our marriages, of our business life, of our ministry life….. will all be connected to the word of God.

- We are to bring the water of the word into our lives, to continually speak the word of God into our lives, to speak it to our children, to speak it to our co-workers and friends.

- We are to meditate on God’s word. That is to read it, but to go back in our minds and think about it again. To keep on thinking about it. I tell people that when you read the bible or when you sit in a bible study like this, you should take notes.

- Write down 1 or 2 things that stand out to you. If you could do this, it helps you retain what you were reading or listening to but it also helps to meditate and really consider the word and what God is trying to say to you.

- The most important thing we are to do is to obey God’s word. It does us no good to simply read the bible, to hear a bible study and never apply any of it. The word of God has to be nurtured in my heart thru obedience. It is nurtured by me obeying it, and by me surrendering myself to its authority. .

- The more I surrender myself to obey God’s word, the more that word comes alive in me, the more I understand that word, the more I believe in that word, the more I trust that word, the more that word grows in me. That enables the roots to grow deep.

Oswald Chambers

“Spiritual maturity is not reached by the passing of the years, but by obedience to the will of God. Some people mature into an understanding of God’s will more quickly than others because they obey more readily; they more readily sacrifice the life of nature to the will of God”.

- This is how the water of God’s word will help me to dig deep roots into Christ and to grow in spiritual maturity.

2. The Living Water of the Holy Spirit

- In Eph. 5: 18-20

18 And do not get drunk with wine, [m]in which there is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to [n]one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your hearts to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and Father;

- Paul tells us that it is our responsibility to be filled with the Spirit of God. And he tells us how, by…..

- Singing songs of worship

- By giving of thanks  to the Lord

- Both of these things are fulfilled in the presence of God.

- When we worship God, we are drawn into the throne of God and we offer our sacrifice of praise

- When we give thanks to God, we are drawn into throne room of God and we offer our sacrifice of prayers like incense.

- As we spend time with God daily in His word, in prayer, in worship…… we are entering His presence, we are drawing near to the source of Life and allow Him to fill us with His spirit.

John 15:1-5

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He [a]prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already [b]clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in Me, [c]and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit [d]of itself [e]but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him [f]bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing

- You see this picture in this passage in John. The branches cannot sustain life, they cannot produce life unless they are closely connected to the source of life, the main vine.

- This is true in our lives, we cannot sustain life, we cannot produce life if we ourselves are not closely connected to God’s presence. It is in His presence that we are nurtured, that we are filled with His spirit.

Conclusion

Personal Growth

- With all that we have looked at, we need to apply this to our lives. What are our responsibilities if we want to cultivate spiritual growth?

1. Keep the Soil of our Hearts Good

- Our hearts can grow hard by seasons of neglect, by sin, by bitterness….We are to .

- Remove any obstacles in our hearts

&

- Break up the hardground

- Its time to let go of that sin, to let go of that hurt, to let go of that bitterness, time to press in to the Lord and allow Him to break that hard ground in my heart.

2. Keep Growing Strong Roots

- Our root system is going to be key to our growth. Keep pursuing God in His word, and keep spending time in God’s presence. His word and His presence is what will nurish our dry souls. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you.

- Being that it is fathers day, I also want us to consider what our responsibility is with our kids.

Family

1. We are to Create good soil in the hearts of our kids where the seed of God’s word can grow.

A. Set an example for them.

- By going to church

- Reading the bible so they can see you

- Reading the bible with them

- Serving God

- Praying together

- Walking in obedience to God’s word

- By not compromising

B. Helping them remove obstacles

- Those rocks and sinful habits that naturally grow in their hearts. We need to help them see those things and help to remove those things from their lives.

C. Create soft soil in their hearts towards God

- Sometimes in our zeal to see our kids walk with God, we can actually push them away with our actions and our words. We can make them hardened towards God and towards the church. We are to be wise in how we lead them and how we exhort them.

2. We are to Help our kids dig deep Roots into Christ

- By introducing the water of the word to them. We need to pour into our kids the word of God. Spend time with them going over scripture as a family. This is the most important thing we could do.

- We need to introduce them to the Lord. They don’t just need to memorize scripture or know the bible, they need to know the Lord. They need to know him personally, they need to know how to talk to him, how to listen for him, how to trust in Him. This is our responsibility as parents.

- At the end of the day our kids will make their own choices, but we are to do everything in our power to train them and to cultivate a desire and understanding of God as Prov. 22:6 says, praying that when they get older, they will remember those things and draw near the Lord.

- I pray that you may have been encouraged and challenged. I pray that there might have been some things that stood out to you personally and will move in you to act, to draw near to God, to remove things in your life. Whatever is necessary to bring us into the place where we can grow spiritually.

Jim George

“Spiritual maturity is a lifelong pursuit. We grow in spiritual maturity moment by moment, day by day year by year”.