Growth – God strengthens

Series – core values

Growth – God strengthens his people

As never before Christ-followers like you and me need to be strong

This is a map from the Open Door watch list of the 50 countries where persecution is most severe

In these countries ordinary people like you and me are hounded for their faith – many to the point of being expelled from their homes or threatened with death

These people are being persecuted for doing the very things I’m encouraging us to do this morning.

  • Of taking God’s word – and feeding on it.
  • Of engaging in prayer – and allowing our spirits – to tune into God’s spirit.
  • Of worshipping – and doing it with passion and integrity.

And above all, of making these things regular patterns of daily life. – Habits

Habits are things we repeatedly do

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit” Aristotle

Can I rephrase that? “We are what we repeatedly do. Growing as a Christ-follower, then, is not an act but a habit” White

I was talking to a friend on Friday

  • he conducted a survey, unscientific, but large enough to be meaningful – it included 3 diagnostic questions
  • “Are you interested in discovering more about religion? – very few“
  • “Are you interested in discovering more about spirituality? – a healthy number, less than a quarter
  • “Are you interested in discovering more about the supernatural? – huge (about 2/3)

Unscientific, yes, but it tells us there is a huge appetite for discovering more about the supernatural.

And that is precisely what following Christ is about. Through the cross of Christ we are connected to the supernatural, not because we deserve it, but because a loving, generous heavenly Father wants us to know the full extent of his love – and for us to connect with him.

Mankind was made with a hunger for the ultimate reality that exists outside of himself – a hunger for a personal, living and grace-filled God

And what I’m going to share with you this morning is how to connect.

At one level it is very basic – it’s Key-stage 1 Christ-following.

At another it’s very profound and wonderful – because this is how we touch the supernatural.

Although as protestant believers we don’t attach much significance to buildings and places – be careful we don’t lose something here.

These walls have been soaked with prayer and worship and teaching of the word for decades. That makes it a special place. A revered place.

At a third level it is very dangerous. What I’m going to share with you this morning is the reason why many Christ-followers around the world are hounded and persecuted.

I am going to share with you this morning how – to connect – with the supernatural – because that is how we grow in Christ.

The cross of Christ >>>

I want to show you a shirt clip

I want to show you what happens in Pinyang province in China. The Christians there have had a church for many years, all they have been doing is preaching the word, worshipping from the ehart and praying in the spirit.

But that activity is seen as a threat by the authorities.

Their church was surrounded by police so the destruction of the building could begin.

You will hear the singing and weeping as the cross was brought to the ground.

These Christians had done nothing more than I’m going to urge you to do this morning.

the words of the song

In the cross, in the cross,

be my glory ever,

till my raptured soul shall find

rest beyond the river.

Growing Christians have made these three activites habits

  • regular meaningful activities that connect us with God
  • not every time will they result in life-changing experiences but that’s not the point.

John Dryden “We first make our habits and then our habits make us.”

  • A cynic once said ‘I’ve gone off sermons – They’re like dinners I can’t remember a single one’ to which he friend retorted “I agree, preaching is like sunday dinner. I may not remember every one, but I’ve been nourished by them all”

What habits characterise growing Christians – here are three

Also it is the inner attitude that matters as much as the outward action

>>>

The crucial part of the armour

Ephesians 6 – the Christian’s armour

I can imagine Paul searching for an illustration for his readers about how to be strong in Christ

Sees a Roman soldier – that’s it

He attaches different aspects of the armour to different aspects of being a Christ follower

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

And I’m encouraging you today to be strong.

11 Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

i.e. it’s supernatural, not natural

13 Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

(so what does this armour look like.

14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,

with the breastplate of righteousness in its correct place,

15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

17 Take the helmet of salvation

and the sword of the Spirit, (and in case you wonder what the attack weapon looks like) which is the word of God.

18 AND (in addition to) (we have this and – and – and pattern throughout these verses)

The grammar of the paragraph indicates he is talking about another part of the Christians armour, even though he doesn’t identify a piece of the physical armour his soldier was wearing. (maybe Paul ran out!)

So what is this final – and crucial – piece of the armour?

pray in the Spirit

‘In the spirit’ – enigmatic – my spirit or God’s spirit –

both!

on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

Notice all, all, all >>>

With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

As we do this, God strengthens us – we connect with the supernatural

The worship God seeks

Context >>>

John 4:17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

a classic diversionary tactic

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

And then Jesus turns it back on her ..

23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.

“My dear – you have just shown me a massive lack of integrity by being economical with the truth about your marital status!

The Father seeks people with integrity!

Spirit and truth

  • not God’s spirit and the truth of the word – grammar doesn’t allow it.
  • Its the person’s spirit – in the deepest part of our being – the place where we connect with the supernatural!
  • It’s the person’s truth – no hiding things from the Father – worshipping with integrity.
24 God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

That is why our Chinese brothers and sisters had their church demolished – because they refused to bow the knee to the authorities. Jesus Christ is their Lord!

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Can I urge you to worship in spirit and in truth >>>

worship is not singing – that’s only one mode of it.

Worship is the

Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His Beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose – and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin”.

As we do this, God strengthens us – we connect with the supernatural

The optimal place for God’s word

Colossians 3: 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom

Feeding on God’s word means opening my soul to its message.

  • V easy to put up barriers.

Feeding on God’s word means letting it speak to my life today

  • sometimes almost uncanny – actually its supernatural.

Paul expands on how that might happen

through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

If I asked you to do a personal audit on your prayer life, on your feeding on God’s word, on your worship, what would you see.

As we do this, God strengthens us – we connect with the supernatural

I want to read a quote that I read last Sunday, but only to the Reflections service

JB Phillips – introduction to Acts “called the young church in action”

We cannot help feeling disturbed as well as moved, for this surely is the church as it was meant to be. It is vigorous and flexible, for these were the days before it ever became fat an short of breath through prosperity, or muscle-bound by over-organisation. These men did not make “acts of faith” they believed; They did not “say their prayers”, they really prayed. They did not hold conferences on psychosomatic medicine, they simply healed the sick. But if they were uncomplicated and naive by modern standards we have to ruefully admit that they were open on the God-ward side in a way that is almost unknown today.

How desperately we need a renewal of the same God-ward openness

  • It is significant that every major renewal by the Holy Spirit has brought back something that had been lost since the early days of the church.
  • My prayer for you is that the Holy Spirit will recover here, in us something that He had in those early believers that we may have sadly lost touch with!