Untitled Sermon (40)

Walking By the Spirit (Part 1)

Romans 8

Teaching t07944

Introduction

Paul is discussing spiritual growth/sanctification/how to serve God. In 6:14 and 7:6, he describes two different ways we can approach this: under law/in the oldness of the letter vs. under grace/in the newness of the Spirit.

Serving God under law, as we saw last week, means trying to serve God by your own power. What could make more sense than to focus on God's commandments and try as hard as you can to keep them? But as Paul shares from his own attempt to serve God this way, it leads to failure. Despite his best intentions, he experienced the defeat he described in 7:21-23 (read). He learned what many of us have learned--that this is a blind alley! But there is another way. Read 7:24,25a. You can take the counter-intuitive approach--look outside your own resources to Jesus Christ to set you free from this bondage. This is serving God under grace/in the newness of the Spirit. In chapter 8, he describes some very different results (read 8:1-8): Read 8:2. Although the "law of sin and death" is more powerful than our moral will-power, the "law of the Spirit of life" more powerful than the "law of sin and death." It has the power to liberate us. Read 8:4. Although serving God by our own power only results in increased (or at least increased awareness of) violations of God's moral Law, God's Spirit will gradually fulfill the requirement of God's Law in us (loving God and loving people). Read 8:6. Although serving God by our own power only results in failure and defeat ("death"), serving by God's Spirit results in life and peace.

Who wouldn’t want this? You can have it! The key, according to Paul, is to "walk according/by to the Spirit." This is what we want to learn how to do over the next two weeks. Today we'll learn the first of three key elements in walking by the Spirit.

Walking by the Spirit involves setting your mind on the things of the Spirit.

What does it mean to walk by the Spirit?

Many think this is primarily a subjective experience--trying to sense intuitively God's presence and guidance. Now, there is a subjective dimension involved in walking by the Spirit, and we will discuss this next week. But this is not what Paul focuses on here. Others think this is primarily about behavioral change. Now, walking according to the Spirit will produce behavioral change. But if we equate walking by the Spirit with behavioral change, we're back to serving God under the law. Re-read 8:5-7. According to Paul, the primary element in walking according to the Spirit is "setting our minds on the things of the Spirit." To set your mind on something involves rational reflection, what you think about and the perspective from which you view the different facets of your life. Spiritual growth begins not with our behavior (what we do) or with our experiences (what we feel)--but with our minds (how we think). That's why he says 12:2 (read)--behavioral and experiential transformation flow from mental renewal!! As we learn to set our minds on what God wants them set on, the power of the Holy Spirit is unleashed to gradually transform our characters and behavior ("the requirement of the law fulfilled . . . life") and also grant us increasing experience of God's peace.

What are the "things of the Spirit?" Some Christian preachers say the "things of the Spirit" refer to messages given to us through heavenly voices or visions or dreams. This is not what Paul means.

Read 1 Cor. 2:12,13. The "things of the Spirit" are the truths concerning what God has freely given us through Christ--truths which have been revealed through the apostles and recorded in their writings. In other words, the "things of the Spirit" refer primarily to the New Testament teaching on God's grace. That's why Paul call this serving God "under grace" (6:14). "Setting your mind on the things of the Spirit" is choosing to look at every major area of your life in the light of God's grace. The more we learn about what Christ has given us, and the more we consciously view every area of our lives from this perspective, the more God's Spirit will transform our lives. Paul contrasts this mind-set to a mind-set on the "things of the flesh." This refers to the perspective we adopt on things apart from and contradictory to God's revealed grace. This is our mental "default setting"--which is why we must choose to "set our minds on" God's perspective. NOTE: This is why we emphasize biblical content (and especially what it teaches about God's grace) so much: going to Bible studies, taking courses, discussing scripture with one another, evaluating your thought-life and the messages coming at you from the world in light of what God says. And this is why we emphasize New Testament more than Old Testament--because it teaches God's grace more clearly and fully.

Key mind-set areas

Let's get practical. Let's think about some of the major areas of our spiritual lives, and contrast what it looks like to think about them "according to flesh" versus "according to the Spirit."

YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD: How you view God and how you think God views you are the most foundational and important spiritual things we can think about. According to the flesh: We naturally assume that God's acceptance and approval of me is contingent to my performance. We tend to view God primarily as a strict parent/principal/supervisor--ready to pounce on every mistake we make. This is why we will tend to avoid God--especially when we think our performance has been poor--or (worse) become dishonest with ourselves and God. According to the Spirit: But what does God say? Read 8:1--God will never condemn me (KJV error). Read 8:15-17--God does not want me to relate to him as a slave in fear of his rejection, but as a son and heir who is confident of his love. Read 8:38,39--nothing (including my own sins) can separate me from God's love. To the extent that we set our minds on this great truth, we will tend to relate to God more frequently and more honestly. And thanksgiving will become a big part of our communication with God. In fact, the New Testament indicates that this is a key feature of the Spirit-empowered life (Eph. 5:18,20). YOUR DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES: It is inevitable and proper that we think about our circumstances--where we work, our state of health, our finances, etc. And because we live in a fallen world, sometimes these things are quite painful and negative. According to the flesh: If we have a legalistic relationship with God, we will tend to interpret bad circumstances as God's punishment. If we view our happiness and security as contingent upon our circumstances, we will tend to spend an inordinate amount of time and energy worrying about them, or trying to change things we can't change, or blaming our unhappiness on them. According to the Spirit: We will feel the impact of negative circumstances, and we will often try to improve them when possible. But, more fundamentally, we will remember two crucial biblical truths: Read 8:18,23-25. My negative circumstances are only temporary, to be removed in the next life and replaced by glory. When we view our negative circumstances in this light, God grants us resilience and hope. Read 8:28,29. God is sovereignly involved even through my negative circumstances for his glory and my growth. In other words, nothing can prevent God from accomplishing the most important goal in my life. This frees us from victimhood to thankful, creative cooperation. Our prayers will change from "Get me out of this!" to "What do you want me to learn from this?" YOUR CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS: Most of us think a lot about the other people in our lives--especially lovers or spouses, children, parents, friends, work associates, etc. According to the flesh: Left to our own perspective, we will tend to believe that we will be happy when they love us the way we want to be loved. In other words, we look to these people to give us security, meaning, and identity. But this will always disappoint us sooner or later, because they are finite and fallen--only God can provide these things. So we will become disappointed, outraged, try to manipulate, reject them, etc. After years of this, many get cynical about relationships and just use people where possible and avoid them otherwise. According to the Spirit: As we draw our lives from God and his love for us, we discover a reliable and inexhaustible source of security, meaning, and identity. On this basis, we can approach relationships with others in a very different way. We are grateful to receive love from them--but we don’t have to demand it because we know God will be there. In fact, we see their love ultimately as an expression of God's love for us. When they hurt us, we can extend forgiveness--because we're so aware and appreciative of how much God's forgives us. More importantly, we begin to be able to give love to others sacrificially and without strings--because we are secure in God's love, and because we experience the joy of God when we do so. This other-centered perspective is both a result of spiritual growth and a cause of further growth.

VIDEO TESTIMONY: Sean and Rebecca illustrate how relating to God under grace can revolutionize a marriage relationship.

Before you can walk by the Spirit, you must be indwelt by the Spirit.

Before we conclude this morning, I need to point out one more thing that may the most important point for some of you. We've been talking about walking by the Spirit this morning--but before you can walk by the Spirit, you must be indwelt by the Spirit.

Read 8:9. Notice that not everybody is indwelt by the Holy Spirit--only those who belong to Christ. This is what Jesus himself said in Jn. 7:37,38 (read). We are not born with God's Spirit--rather, we receive him when we admit our spiritual thirst and personally believe in/receive Jesus. So before you can grow spiritually, you must be born spiritually. Just as a human being cannot grow to maturity until it is born, so we cannot grow and mature spiritually in our relationship with God until we are born spiritually by establish a relationship with Christ and receiving his Spirit. Am I saying that you cannot experience anything genuinely spiritual before you receive Christ? No! We normally experience a process of spiritual awakening ("thirst" - gradually becoming aware of our need for God and of Christ's offer), and we experience a process of growth into spiritual maturity. But the point that connects these two processes is our decision to receive Christ. Some of you are at the end of the first process, and are interested in the second process--but you need to take the step that lies between them.

Walking By the Spirit (Part 2)

Romans 8

Teaching t07945

Introduction

We began a miniseries on walking by the Spirit. This is God's alternative to relating to/serving him by simply focusing on his commandments and trying to keep them by our own moral will-power. As we walk by the Spirit, he gradually transforms our lives and empowers us to serve God effectively (Rom. 8:4b,6; Gal. 5:22,23).

What does it look like to walk by the Spirit? In physical walking, there are three important elements: balance, locomotion, and direction. In walking by the Spirit, there are also three important elements.

Last time, we learned the first element--"setting your mind on the things of the Spirit" (read Rom. 8:5,6). We discovered that this means to choose to think about every major area of your life from the perspective of God's grace (EXAMPLES?). Now, we will learn the second element, which is found in the parallel passage in Gal. 5-6. Next, we will learn the third element . . . 

Walking by the Spirit involves "keeping in step with the Spirit."

You can see that this is a parallel passage. The subject is the same (read Gal. 5:16). The results of walking by the Spirit are the same, only described in more detail (read 5:22,23).

Notice what Paul says in 5:25 (read). Here, the NIV is a better translation: "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." The verb (stoichew) is different than the general verb "walk" (peripatew) in 5:16. It means to "walk in a line, to proceed under another's direction."1 It was sometimes used to describe soldiers who marched in response to the directions of their commanding officer. So to "keep in step with the Spirit" means to be alert and responsive to the Spirit's personal guidance in your life.

The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal Force that you learn to tap into and use to accomplish your agenda for your life. The Holy Spirit is a Person who personally guides you into God's will and then empowers you to accomplish this as you choose to respond to his guidance. God does not simply throw you the rules and expect you to learn them and carry them out in an impersonal, mechanical way ("I'LL WORK ON RULES 1-5 TODAY, 6-10 TOMORROW . . ."). He gives you his Spirit to apply his will to your life in a very personal way (RIJKSMUSEUM: brochure vs. personal guide). Just as Jesus did this when he was with his disciples (EXAMPLES?), he promised that when he left he would send "another Counselor" to render the same help (Jn. 14:16).

Avoiding 2 dangerous extremes

This whole area is messy because it is personal and subjective--there's no way to get around it. Because of this, Christians tend to polarize into two extreme camps.

Some Christians use this as an excuse to avoid using their minds and common sense. They claim that the Holy Spirit guides them about what clothes to wear, what route to take to work, what food to order from the menu, etc. They claim that God talks to them this way virtually all the time, that his voice is unmistakable, and that you must be unspiritual unless you can claim the same thing. This is the danger of superstition--the need to find supernatural explanations for everything that happens. It becomes an excuse for laziness, anti-intellectualism, and even rebellion against God that soils his reputation ("The Holy Spirit is leading me to divorce my wife and marry my secretary." "God led me to spend two hours sharing Christ with my co-worker instead of doing my job."). Others, usually more cerebral by temperament, feel uncomfortable with any subjective or unpredictable feature of Christianity. They want demand irrefutable proof that a personal guidance was from God--and since this is not possible, they view the whole subject as a waste of time. They use the excesses as an excuse to reject the whole area. This is the danger of deism--affirming God's existence but denying that he is personally involved in our lives in ways that we can recognize and cooperate with. Reducing spirituality to a recipe of Bible verses and safe formulae. This leads to a Christianity that is safe, predictable, boring--and (sometimes) autonomous from God (EXAMPLES: no room for spontaneity in meetings; no risk-taking in evangelism).

Since God wants us to "keep in step with the Spirit," there must be a way to recognize his guidance and avoid both of these extremes . . . 

Recognizing the Spirit's guidance

God's Spirit will never guide in a direction that contradicts God's Word, because the same Spirit who guides us also authored God's Word. He will always guide you consistently with the two biblical priorities for your life: moral integrity and serving love. The following context of Gal. 5:25 speaks of the Spirit's guidance in both of these areas.

Read 5:26. This is moral correction. If you keep in step with the Spirit, he will guide you away from attitudes and behaviors that are destructive to you and God's reputation--like boasting and envy. He will speak to your conscience--directly, through the Word or another Christian--sensitizing it and arresting your attention on different issues at different times. We sometimes call this "the conviction of the Spirit." Sometimes, this is very issue-specific: PERSONAL EXAMPLES Sometimes, this is more general awareness of attitudes God wants to change: PERSONAL EXAMPLES WARNING: Be sure to view this activity of the Spirit from the perspective of God's grace, or you will fall prey to satanic accusation. God corrects you because he loves you, not to reject you. His correction is redemptive (to urge you to move forward with him) rather than retributive ("Look how horrible you are! You might as well give up walking with God."). Read Heb. 12:6,10. Read 6:1,2. This is servant direction. If you keep in step with the Spirit, he will guide you into attitudes and behaviors that serve other people--like restoring fallen Christians and bearing one another's crushing burdens. Sometimes, this can be very specific: PHILIP IN ACTS 8 >> PERSONAL EXAMPLES Sometimes, this is a growing passion for a certain area of service: ME WITH TEACHING IN 1972; WORKING WITH SINGLES IN 1990 This doesn't mean that we should only serve people when we get such guidance. We should adopt and cultivate a lifestyle of servanthood--and know that as we do so, God's Spirit will guide us personally into deeds and areas of service for which we are uniquely suited. "You can't steer a ship that's not moving."

Check-list if you lack the Spirit's guidance

I am not suggesting that you should experience dramatic guidance from the Spirit every day. Sometimes God just wants us to follow him in the ways we know and trust him. But I don’t think it is normal or healthy to chronically lack the Spirit's guidance. If this is where you are at, it is very correctable. Consider these possible reasons.

Have you received the Spirit? If this sounds completely foreign to you, it may be because you are a stranger to the Holy Spirit. Paul says that the things of God are foolishness to those who do not have his Spirit (1 Cor. 2:14). This is very easy to remedy. All you need to do is ask Christ to forgive you and give you the gift of his Spirit (Jn. 7:37-39). Do you ask for the Spirit's guidance? James says that many times we do not receive from God simply because we do not ask him (Jas. 4:2). In my experience, this has been the case with the Spirit's guidance. I tend to want to put it on "auto-pilot"--selecting the moral areas I want to work on and service I want to do--and just staying on familiar ground. It's so much more productive and exciting to present myself to God each day/situation and ask him for his guidance. Do you want to submit to the Spirit's guidance? We may receive little guidance from the Spirit (even when we ask) because we are unwilling in a fundamental way to entrust our lives to God's agenda. Sometimes this is because we don’t understand God's grace and unconditional love. When this is the case, we will tend to view the idea of responding to God's guidance as a confining, crushing duty/burden. If you understand grace, however, it will be an invitation to experience more of God's goodness and faithfulness and wisdom. There have been times in my Christian life (even after understanding grace) when I wanted God to be a consultant rather than the ruler of my life. "I'm wondering what I want to do in this area. Why don’t you let me know your opinion--and I'll take that into consideration as I decide my course of action." When we ask with this attitude, God is likely to reply "Save your breath. Let me know when you're ready to obey by guidance even before you know what it is." This is the precious lesson David learned from God. David made many, many mistakes--but he knew that God was good and he entrusted his life to him (read Ps. 32:8-10). "Don’t be a moral mule! When I convict about an issue, listen to me! Don’t make me take greater measures to convince you to make a course correction." One sign of spiritual growth is that we don't always have to be beat over the head by others or consequences. We begin to respond to the Lord's initial, gentle conviction. Are you responding to the guidance you have already received? Of course, none of us ever does this perfectly or all the time. If that was the condition for receiving continued guidance, none of us would ever receive any. But there is a general connection here. I once talked to a brother who was complaining that God would not give him any guidance about what area of ministry he should concentrate on. As we talked, it became apparent that he had no interest in really being involved with people, and he was rationalizing a sexually immoral relationship with his girlfriend. I suggested to him that there was a connection between his refusal to respond to God's guidance in these obvious, foundational areas and God's silence about a more fine-tuning issue.

NEXT: Sowing to the Spirit

Footnote

1 J. I. Packer, Keeping In Step With the Spirit (Old Tappan, N. J.: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1984), p. 11.

Walking By the Spirit (Part 3)

Romans 8

Teaching t07946

Introduction

We have been studying Paul's letter to the Romans, and have come to the section that focuses on spiritual growth. Paul says we can approach spiritual growth in one of two ways.

We can approach it under Law, which means focusing on God's commandments and trying to keep them by our own moral will-power. Although this makes intuitive sense, it is actually counter-productive (EXPLAIN). Or we can approach it under grace, which means trusting the power of God's Spirit to gradually transform our lives to love God and others. Paul calls this second way "walking by the Spirit."

What does it look like to walk by the Spirit? Two weeks ago, we began a miniseries on this subject, studying Rom. 8:1-11 and the parallel passage in Gal. 5:16-6:9. In physical walking, there are three important elements: balance, locomotion, and direction. In walking by the Spirit, there are also three important elements.

Two weeks ago, we learned the first element--"setting your mind on the things of the Spirit" (read Rom. 8:5,6). We discovered that this means to choose to think about every major area of your life from the perspective of God's grace. Last week, we learned the second element--"keeping in step with the Spirit" (read Gal. 5:25). We discovered that this means to be responsive to the Spirit's personal guidance in your life. If you weren't here for these two teachings, I urge you to get the tapes, because you need to understand all three elements for a balanced understanding of this crucial subject. This week, we will learn the third element, which is found in Gal. 6 . . . 

Walking by the Spirit involves "sowing to the Spirit."

Paul began using an agricultural metaphor toward the end of chapter 5, describing the results of walking by the Spirit as the "fruit of the Spirit."  After explaining how to "keep in step with the Spirit" in 5:25-6:5, he returns to the agricultural metaphor in 6:7-9 (read). His point is obvious--you reap what you sow. This is not Paul's version of karmic law (what goes around comes around), but rather a basic principle of cause and effect in spiritual growth.

If you sow to your own fallen nature, you will reap "corruption"--which is not damnation, but the lifestyle described in 5:19-21a as the "deeds of the flesh" (read). If you sow to the Spirit, you will reap "eternal life"--which refers not to heaven, but to the "fruit of the Spirit" as described 5:22,23 (read). If you want to reap a good spiritual harvest in your life, you must sow consistently to the Spirit. The key principle here is that the results don't show up immediately, but later--but they always show up. You may choose to get involved in a porn habit because it provides immediate pleasure and escape--but you will reap an eventual harvest of corruption (dissatisfaction with marital sex; bondage to sexual lust; arrested relational development). Or you may choose get involved in a spiritual habit like Bible memorization. It will not be immediately pleasurable--but you will reap an eventual harvest of spiritual health (Ps. 1 RESULTS).

"Sowing to the Spirit" is participating regularly in the "means of growth."

So what does it look like to "sow to the Spirit?" It means to consistently participate in those activities that the Bible says will eventually result in spiritual growth. Theologians often call these activities the "means of grace." We like to call them the "means of growth." Here's what John Stott, one of the greatest Bible teachers of the 20th century, says about this passage:

"(If Paul) speaks in Galatians 5:22 of the harvest of the Spirit, he writes in 6:8 that we are to sow to the Spirit, and then we reap what we sow. Whether we reap the fruit of the Spirit depends on whether we sow to the Spirit. The seeds we sow to the Spirit that produce this harvest are . . . a disciplined use of the means of grace. That is, daily prayer and meditation on the Scriptures, . . . reading Christian books, making Christian friends, and getting engaged in Christian service. It is by a disciplined use of these means of grace that we grow in grace, and the Holy Spirit within us is able to produce the beauty of holiness."1

If you want passage that captures most of these means of growth, look at Acts 2:42. 3000 people have just begun a relationship with God by receiving Christ and being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In 2:43-47, Luke describes the dynamic spiritual vitality and fruitfulness of these people. In 2:42, he describes how they "sowed to the Spirit" (read).

Notice what they sowed: "The apostles' teaching" - This refers to learning the Bible, especially the New Testament's teaching about God's grace. "Fellowship" - This refers to sharing God's truth and love with one another in the context of Christian community and personal relationships. "Prayer" - This refers to both individual, private communication with God--and also corporate prayer (see Acts 4,12). NOTE: "The breaking of bread" is a little ambiguous. It may refer to the Lord's Supper, which then connects it to prayer and emphasizes thanksgiving. Or it may refer to having meals together (2:46), which then connects it with fellowship. To these I will add a fourth means of growth--that of serving love. Love is not only a fruit of the Spirit; it is also a dynamic that produces fruit. You can see that Paul includes this in "sowing to the Spirit," because after enunciating this principle in 6:7-9, he says 6:10 (read). We should do good to all people--not just Christians, but also those who don’t know Christ. As we give ourselves away in love to serve others for Christ's sake, the Holy Spirit vitalizes us spiritually and gradually transforms our lives. And this would include sharing Christ through word and deed. Notice how they sowed: "They were continuously devoting themselves to . . ." Luke goes out of his way to emphasize that they initiated this sowing ("devoted themselves to") and they did this consistently ("continually"). This is the open secret to their vitality and fruitfulness.

SUMMARY: "Sowing to the Spirit" means building a lifestyle that centers around these means of growth. This is also the context in which you will get more personal guidance from the Spirit (ELEMENT #2). In my experience, the most common cause of spiritual stagnation and sickness is neglect of the means of growth (MY DAUGHTERS WITH EATING). We like to think our spiritual problems have obscure, exotic causes--but this is always the first place to look.

Practical tips concerning the means of growth

Be sure you approach the means of growth under grace. Two weeks ago, we saw that the first element of walking by the Spirit was viewing every major area of your life from the perspective of God's grace, rather than apart from grace. Here is another key area.

What does it look like to view these apart from grace? As a young person, I was familiar with these practices--but I viewed them in a superficial, formalistic, impersonal way. God expected me to go to church, hear Bible readings, and recite some memorize some prayers. I assumed that I had to perform these arbitrary religious practices to get or keep God's acceptance. They had no personal relevance to my life. Not surprisingly, I hated them, and ran from them as soon as I was old enough to say "No" to my parents. It's amazing how my perspective changed once I personally received Christ. Now I knew that God had permanently accepted me. Now I had God's Spirit indwelling me and introducing me to a personal relationship with God that I could enjoy anywhere and any time. Now I viewed the means of growth as avenues through which I could relate personally with God and receive his life-changing power. Maybe that's what you need to do today. Before you profit from sowing to the Spirit, you need to receive God's forgiveness and his Spirit as a free gift (GOSPEL). It is possible to be a true Christian and still approach the means of growth apart from grace. To the extent that you participate in them simply out of mindless habit, or so you can be socially acceptable to your Christian friends, you are doing this and they will become dry and lifeless. But this is so easy to turn around . . . 

You will probably need to cultivate a taste for some (or all) of the means of growth. This point tempers the first point with some needed realism.

I started running about 21 years ago because I was starting to gain weight and I knew I needed to get in cardiovascular shape. I found out that I could get the biggest bang for my buck by maintaining my target heart rate for 20 minutes, three times a week. The cheapest way to do this was jogging. It was (to say the least) not that enjoyable to begin with. I was out of shape, my stride was poor, and all I thought about the whole time was how much my muscles hurt and how much farther I had to go. But after a while, as I began to experience less stress, better sleep, more vigor, etc., I came to enjoy it more and even increase my running distance. Today it is one of the most enjoyable activities in my life. I run even in weather like this, and I genuinely miss it when I can't run. If you understand what I am saying about physical exercise, the same principle applies to the means of growth--only with much greater benefits (read 1 Tim. 4:7b,8). For a variety of reasons (newness, fleshly aversion), it is normal to initially find these activities uncomfortable and intimidating. But as you stick with them by faith, you experience the good results and develop increasing enjoyment of them. WORD: Especially personal study seems confusing at first. This is why teaching helps so much. After you get the picture, its gets clearer and more exciting (SAURAT PAINTING). PRAYER: Especially prayer with may feel strange to begin with--but it will help you to learn how to pray and it can become a wonderful way to relate to God and your Christians friends simultaneously. You will also learn how to pray much more quickly.

Remember that you need all of the means of growth. Because of the previous point, the temptation is to specialize in those means of growth that you find easiest and most enjoyable, while neglecting the ones that are more difficult for you. You may be tempted to believe that your specialization in some will compensate for your neglect of others. This is a serious error.

The means of growth are like FOOD GROUPS. You need a balanced diet for healthy growth. Neglect of any one can eventually result in a complete breakdown in spiritual growth. The means of growth are also interconnected, so that genuine progress in any one requires involvement in all (EXAMPLES).

Do you want one practical step that will give you the biggest bang for your buck in learning how to "sow to the Spirit?" Get involved in a home group. Why do I say this?

You will automatically get exposure to all of the means of growth through a home group in a way that will never happen in a meeting like this. You get access to people who can help you learn how to pray, study God's Word, build Christ-centered friendships, and share your faith. You don't have to take my word on this--listen to the folks on this video, and notice how the means of growth are interwoven through their testimonies. For some of you, this is the next step that God’s Spirit is prompting you to take . . .  

Next: one more means of growth

Footnotes

1 John R. W. Stott, "The Unforbidden Fruit," Christianity Today, August 17, 1992, p. 36.