Goals - Week 5

INTRO VIDEO

INTRODUCTION

4 MINUTES

I want to start today by thinking back on this past week. How did you spend your time? Think about where you went. Think about how much time you spent at school, at home, or doing after school activities. Think about how much time you spent on your phone or on social media. Think about who you hung out with and what you talked about when you were with them. Try and picture what you did with the majority of your time this week. Got it?

Now, think about this: Of all the things you did with your time, what did you do to grow? I’m not talking about growing physically! I’m talking about growing as a person—becoming a better version of who you are. Of all the time you spent this week, how much of it was dedicated to things that were growing you into the kind of person you want to be?

Maybe you want to grow into a good friend. So you spent time this week trying to be a better friend. Maybe you said something really kind to someone else this week. Or maybe you offered some encouragement to a friend who was having a rough day.

Maybe you want to grow into someone who is giving or unselfish. So you spent time this week trying to be generous with your time, or your stuff, or your money. Maybe you gave a friend part of your lunch, or donated some money to a charity you love, or let your little brother or sister hang out with you in your room for a while.

Maybe you want to grow into a better teammate. So you spent time this week thanking your coach, or showing up early to practice, or even telling your teammates what a great job they’re doing on the field.

PERSONAL STORY

· When I was your age, I wanted to grow as a basketball player. I seem to be stuck on the bench and I wanted more playing time, so I did what anyone would do to increase their skills.

· I bought some amazing shoes. I started out with the Rebook Pumps. I just know that these shoes would Pump, Pump, Pump my game Up! I played a little better, but by the time that next season rolled around, I knew it was time to do something else.

· So… I bought some different shoes… The Jordan IV. The Pumps were backed by Dennis Rodman and Domonique Wilkins, both great players, but come on.. they were no Michal Jordan. So if I really want to grow my game, then I had to have Jordan’s shoes. There was some improvement, but I still wanted to grow. That meant I had to do something else.

· So… I bought some different shoes… The Jordan V. To this day, these are still my favorite shoes. I would love to have another pair of them. But while the shoes were amazing, they did not make me play like Jordan.. even when I stuck my tongue out. If I wanted to grow as a basketball player, I needed to rethink this whole process.

· So… I bought some different shoes… The Strength Shoes. These shoes forced you to walk on the balls of your feet and were supposed to help strengthen your quick twitch muscles that would give you faster response and higher hops. After using them for a month, I winded up hurting my ankle in them so I just gave up and went back to just practicing.

· Come to find out… that actually is the best way to grow as a basketball player.

TENSION

5 MINUTES

At this point, you may be sitting here wondering why we’re talking about all this growth stuff. I mean, don’t we all want to be better people? We get it, right?

Well, sort of. Sure, I think we all want to be better people. I think we’d say that even as students we all want to grow into the kind of friends, or family members, or team members, or even followers of God that we hope to be. But I also think that very few of us are actually giving the time, energy, or focus into actually becoming those people.

Instead, most of us are filling our lives with everyday things and actions that take up all of our time, but don’t grow us at all. We wake up, go to school, go to practice, go home, do our homework, spend a million hours on our phones, and then go to bed only to wake up and repeat the next day.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with any of that! But when we’re going through the motions of our days and weeks without giving them much thought, chances are we’re probably not going to grow. And before we realize it, our lives are full of things that really didn’t help us grow at all.

Here’s why that’s troubling: Because if you’re not making a decision to grow into the person you want to be, you’re at risk for becoming someone you don’t want to be.

You see, whether we realize it or not, we’re all moving in one direction or the other. When it comes to becoming the kind of people we want to be, we’re all either moving in the direction we want to go, or we’re moving away from it. Now that may sound hard to believe for some of you because it doesn’t feel true of your life. Maybe this week you didn’t actively make any choices to try and be a better friend, but you also didn’t wake up and suddenly become a terrible friend, did you? Of course not! Growth, in either direction, takes time. And while one week may not make the difference in who you are as a person, small decisions not to grow in the direction you want to will over time.

It’s kind of like floating in the ocean. You swim out and relax. You aren’t thinking about where you’re going, and you probably don’t even realize you’re moving much as the waves come and go. The drifting just sort of happens. But after 20 minutes of floating on the water, you look up toward the beach and realize you have no idea where your family is! Slowly and without you even noticing it, you’ve moved in a completely different direction and ended up somewhere you didn’t intend to be.

The same is true with growth. One bad decision may not ruin our lives. One week without spending time improving ourselves won’t change the direction of our lives. But over time, we will drift. And eventually, we’ll realize that we have no idea how we got so far from where we wanted to be.

Why does this matter? Well, I think it matters for a lot of reasons, but the main one is that we all want to grow. We all want to be the kind of people who are joyful, or generous, or kind, or patient. After all, those are the kinds of people we want to be around, right? Would you rather spend time with the friend who is rude or gossips about you or the friend who is kind and encouraging with their words? Would you rather have the teacher who screams and is impatient with your class or the teacher who speaks gently and shows you grace as you go? Would you rather have an older sibling who slams the door in your face and won’t share their stuff with you or the sibling who is generous with their time or stuff?

We’d all rather spend our time with people who are growing—people who are kind, loving, encouraging, joyful, and patient—rather than people who simply aren’t. And honestly, I think we’d all like to be those kinds of people, too. That’s what makes this conversation about growth so important! If we see the kind of people we want to be, we’ve got to make sure that, in big and small ways, we’re taking steps toward growing into those people.

In other words, the goal is to grow. I think we can all agree on that! But how do we actually do that? How do we work toward meeting that goal? Well, just like we’ve done every week in this series, we’re going to look back to a book in the Bible that gives us some insight into how we can live out our goals.

TRUTH

4 MINUTES

In his letter to the church in Galatia, The Apostle Paul, who was a leader in the early Christian faith, talked specifically about this idea of growth. That letter is now found in the Bible and is called the book of Galatians.

Now some of the language Paul used to illustrate his point in the letter may sound a little strange, so let’s break it down before we jump in. Paul told the Galatians that in their lives and decisions they were either “gratifying the flesh” or “living by the Spirit.” So what exactly does that mean? Basically that they were living for themselves—making choices that weren’t really growing them in the right direction—or they were living for God and following His Spirit inside of them—making choices that moved them closer to being the people He called them to be.

And the same is true for us! When we live for ourselves, or our flesh as Paul said, we’re not growing into the kind of people who are living for and led by God and His Spirit. Instead, we’re filling our lives with things that aren’t really moving us in the right direction.

Paul wanted the Galatians to be sure they were living by the Spirit. In other words, he wanted to make sure they were growing in their faith. And in order to help them do that, Paul gave them a great picture of what a life that’s growing by the Spirit looks like. He said:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV).

The kind of growth Paul was talking about wasn’t just random stuff. Here’s what growth looks like lived out according to Paul: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If that doesn’t sound like a list of qualities we all hope to have, I don’t know what does! Do I want to grow into someone who is more loving? Yes! A peaceful person? For sure! Patient and kind to the people around me? Definitely! Good and loyal? Of course! Someone who is gentle and practices self-control? Absolutely!

And as Paul said, we can actually be those people if we’re living and walking with God and His Spirit. Those traits are like fruit in our lives. Have you ever seen a tree that produces fruit? For a tree to grow good, healthy fruit, it first has to be healthy itself. An unhealthy tree can’t produce healthy fruit. It has to be planted, cared for, and given time to grow so that it can, in turn, grow fruit that is good and healthy for people to eat.

In the same way you can tell a lot about a tree based on the fruit it produces, you can also tell a lot about a person based on the kind of fruit, or qualities, their life produces. And as Paul said, we can tell if a person is growing in the right direction by looking for the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. We can look for things like love, and joy, and peace, and patience, and all those other qualities that Paul listed in his letter. And we can look for those things growing in ourselves!

Remember, the goal is to grow. That’s what God wants for our lives and that’s what Paul was encouraging people back then to focus on: growth. So how do we make sure we’re growing the right things?

Well, look back at what Paul said here:

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25 ESV).

In other words, we can’t grow these things by ourselves. We can’t do it without the help of God’s Spirit. So if we want to grow in the right direction, we have to make sure we’re walking with God. What does that mean? Well, to simply spend time with God, to ask Him to help us, to learn and believe what He says is true. The goal is to grow, and God is the only One who can help us meet that goal.

APPLICATION

2 MINUTES

So here’s what I’d love for you to do this week. Look back at this list Paul gave us and ask yourself, “Which of these things do I want to grow more of in my own life?” Which quality do you want people to see growing in you? Pick just one! Focus on just one of the qualities of the fruit of God’s Spirit that you want to have more of in your life, in your friendships, in your home, and in your family. Then, ask God to help grow more of that in you. Remember, the goal is to grow, but you can’t do it without God. Let Him lead you to grow into the kind of person you want to be!

LANDING

1 MINUTE

So as we head out today, I want you to think about this question: What’s one thing I want to grow more of in my life?

Let’s pray.