THE BRIDGE ACADEMY GROWING MY FAITH AND WALK WITH THE LORD PART 2: A Holy Spirit Cultivated Life

I. UNDERSTANDING OF THE NECESSITY OF SPIRITUAL CULTIVATION:

A. Starts with a Passion to See A Changing and Transforming Life.

(a tree: Last week talked about vision of you)

1. This Involves the Following Personal Assessment

a. Knowing where you are on the continuum of maturity

b. Knowing who you want to be

B. Demands Action Consistent with the Passion

a. Plant character specific seeds

(areas you want to grow in)

b. Provide Life specific nurture

(your life is different like soils are diff and demand diff strategies

(my pool illustration)

C. Demands the Knowledge that You Cannot Become Godly Without the Lord

(Phil 1:6; 2:12,13)

Philippians 1:6 ESV

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.

Philippians 2:12 ESV

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

Philippians 2:13 ESV

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

HENCE – CULTIVATE THIS SPIRITUAL “WORKING” RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

WE NEED TO STOP BELIEVING THAT WE SHOULD NOT AND CANNOT BE EXAMPLES OF GODLINESS - IMITATE ME AS I IMITATE CHRIST; PAUL WANTED TO KNOW CHRIST IN SUCH A WAY THAT SEEING HIM AND SEEING CHRIST (THEIR DEVOTION TO THE LORD) YOU WOULD BE LOOKING AS IF AT IDENTICAL TWINS)

II. TWO SPIRITUAL KEYS TO GROWING AS A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST

Luke 6:46–47 ESV

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:

Luke 6:48 ESV

he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

Luke 6:49 ESV

But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

A. The Tale of Two Professing Disciples

1. The disciples are the same in the following ways: they bothcome to the Lord and they both hear the word of the Lord.

2. The disciples differ in this: what they do when they hear the Word.

a. The first disciple obeys the Word. This obedience to the Word is exemplified by the man Digging Deep and Laying a Foundation on the Rock. He obeys, proving that he is not spiritually lazy and wants to grow

b. The second disciple does disobeys the Word. This disobedience is exemplified by the man not digging deep or laying a foundation on the rock. His disobeys proving that he is spiritually lazy and is disinterested in growth.

PRINCIPLE: Discipleship is the consistent act of obedience that produces two realities within the soul: 1) obedience digs deep roots of the Word and 2) obedience fortifies the soul against the future winds, storms (spiritual challenges) that are certain to come; and they MUST come (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)

Deuteronomy 8:2 ESV

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

§ Many people cannot stand when the challenges come because they do not have a history of digging a foundation by their obedience to the Word they hear.

Obedience develops an intimacy with the Lord – a communion – that is not easily fractured or broken. But when we are not obedient to the Word when we hear it, we are like the second man – we are not fortifying our souls against attack.

B. The Power of Obedience and Transformation

1. SO POWERFUL IS OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD THAT THE DEVIL USES EVERY AVENUE HE CAN TO HINDER IT (MATTHEW 13:18-23)

a. The devil comes, himself, hinder obedience by snatching the Word sown in the heart. (Matthew 13:19)

Matthew 13:19 ESV

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

b. The devil seeks to hinder our obedience by persecution on account of the Word (Matthew 13:20-21)

Matthew 13:20–21 ESV

As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

c. The devil seeks to hinder our obedience by deceiving us into longing for and organizing our lives to gain this world (Matthew 13:22)

Matthew 13:22 ESV

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

o We are claiming the Lord and becaisr ofg this out claims will be tesed. But if we have not been obedine t our souls are not ready to withstand the futire winds, stor,s (spiritual challenges) that are certain to come. They must come (Deut 8:2-3)

C. Therefore, Growing As a Disciple Involves Two realities:

1. Instruction In Obedience: Being taught and shown how to dig a deep foundation

2. Disciplined Obedience: Staying consistent in three things:

a. Getting into the environment of the Word

b. Knowing the strategy of the enemy that is the kryptonite to your passion for Jesus

c. Develop a personal strategy for growth

III. DEVELOPING A STRATEGY TO HABITUATE GOD-LINESS

A. Habituate: the discipline of ordering my life where the Lord and my tranformation in the Lord are my ultimate priorities.

B. Habituating the Lord means creating space and time for the Spirit to bring about the ongoing transformation of your inner life.

a. Space: make Room in your day(s)/ life

b. Time: Transformation is progress but not instant progress

C. How Habituation Leads to Transformation (2nd Corinthians 3:18)

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

1. How Does this Transformation Happen?

a. It happens in community : “But we all….”

i. Study said that “Social disconnection a greater risk factor for early death than smoking 15 cigarettes daily.

ii. Community is to be understood as that group of people and individuals whose lives, witness and accountability lead you to love and live for the Lord.

- So it’s not about the fact of community but it’s a how of community and The Who of community”

iii. Biblical community always involves and include the following concentric circles that are always at work in my life

- The crowds (the global church)

- The seventy (the local church)

- The twelve (small group)

- The three (friends group)

- The one (yoke-fellow)

b. It happens in authenticity - “with unveiled face…”

Veil was a visible sign that separated Holy Place from Sinful humanity. Now taken away in Christ

i. Authenticity means being my actual self before the Lord

ii. It means continuously bringing my brokenness before the Lord

c. It happens in the presence of the Lord I: “Beholding…the glory of the Lord”

i. To behold the glory of the Lord means

making Christ the purpose of our every moment

seeing Christ with clarity

ii. Beholding the Lord is so powerful that the enemy makes it his business to blind unbelievers from it’s transforming power

2 Corinthians 4:3 ESV

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

d. It happens in process : “we are being transformed…glory to glory.”

i. From glory to glory demonstrates transformation and growth is a process

ii. It also means that we must have the courage to continue to mature

e. It happens in the Spirit of the Lord: and this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit