Choose Spiritual Growth or Spiritual Death!!!!

THEME: SPIRITUAL GROWTH SPIRITUAL DEATH

OPENING HYMN: ≠≠ 625 Higher Ground

SCRIPTURE READING : (2 Peter 1:3-8)

PRAYER:            

WELCOME:         

Good morning students-- welcome to Sabbath School.  

 I want to say it is a pleasure to see you here on this special day, a day that God has set apart for us to meet with Him and worship his Holy Name. I pray that your day will be filled with joy and gladness and that our worship today will be uplifting.

I want to extend a hearty welcome to those who are visiting with us today. May you have a blessed day.

POEM: GROW

Grow in faith today, 

Plant a seed in love.

Water it with promises,

Then reap them from above.

Grow in trust today,

Step out and just believe.

Walk the path of hope,

And watch what you’ll receive.

Grow in wisdom today,

And read a verse or two.

Cultivate them in your heart

And see what He will do.

Grow in praise today,                                                

Grow in God today,

Lift up your hands and shout.                                    

Give Him your entire life.

Then get on your knees                                 

Trust, believe, praise and grow

And look for joy to sprout.                                        

And you will have less strife.

OPENING REMARKS:          

WHAT IS SPIRITUAL GROWTH?

Spiritual growth is the process of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit begins the process of making us more like Him, conforming us to His image. Spiritual growth is perhaps best described in 2 Peter 1:3-8, which tells us that by God’s power, “we have everything we need” to live lives of godliness, which is the goal of spiritual growth. Notice that what we need comes “through our knowledge of Him,” which is the key to obtaining everything we need. Our knowledge of Him comes from the word given to us for our edification and growth.       

So, in a nutshell, spiritual growth includes:

1. increase your knowledge and understanding of God’s word 

2. decreasing in your frequency and severity of sin

3. increasing in your practice of Christ-like qualities

4. increase your faith and trust in God

Paul says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of what it truly means to be spiritual.

SPECIAL MUSIC: ♯ 623 I will follow Thee

 MISSION STORY:       

SUPERINTENDANT REMARKS:                    

SPIRITUAL GROWTH—HOW IS IT DONE?

For spiritual growth to occur, you first need to make sure you possess an authentic spiritual life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Spiritual growth is a life long journey that occurs as you read and apply God’s word to your life.  

As stated in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, we must be taught, rebuked, corrected and trained by God’s word. Then we will be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  

This is the essence of spiritual growth. Another key to Christian growth is walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit is allowing Jesus to fill you, control you, and guide you. This is brought about by consciously choosing by faith to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you in thought, word, and deed. (Romans 6: 11-14) Failure to rely on the Holy Spirit’s guidance will result in a believer not living up to the calling and standing that salvation provides. 

Ephesians 4:1 says, “ I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”   

LESSON STUDY

CLOSING REMARKS:            

SPIRITUAL GROWTH—WHAT ARE THE RESULTS?

Spiritual growth is a life- long process of manifesting the acts of the flesh less and less and producing the fruit of the Spirit more and more. Notice that it is the Holy Spirit who produces the fruit in us. We must submit ourselves to the Spirit’s leading, but it is the Spirit who produces the fruit of spiritual growth in our lives.

God works on different people individually. Some people grow rapidly, while others grow slowly, but steadily. Our focus should not be on comparing ourselves with others, but on comparing ourselves with God’s word.  

The scripture is the mirror to show us what we are like spiritually and to shine a light on the areas that need to experience and learn spiritual growth. If you are becoming more loving, more joyful, more kind, more self-controlled, then you can rest assured that spiritual growth is genuinely occurring in your life.

If we want to be physically fit, don’t we engage in physical exercise and eat a healthy diet? So the same concept can be applied to spiritual growth.

Let’s examine three kinds of daily activities that can help us to grow spiritually fit.

Diet is the first activity of growth. Paul warns you to avoid the junk foods of “godless legends,” which have no nutritional value, but instead, to feed yourself spiritually on the words of faith and of the true teaching which you have followed.

This means more than mere Bible reading. It must be consumed and digested.

You can feed on it --- take it in and live it out. Spiritual growth begins with feasting your soul on the strong meat of God’s word. Beware of substituting the junk food of worldly philosophy.

Exercise is the second activity of growth. As crucial as tennis, cricket, jogging, and aerobics, maybe, there is something more important. Just as the lack of physical exercise produces flabby muscles, the lack of spiritual exercise produces flabby faith. Hard times are the Christian’s calisthenics. They are designed not to punish us but to strengthen us.

Hope is the third activity of growth. Paul says” we struggle and work hard because we have placed our hope in the living God.”(1 Timothy 4:10) All natural growth ends in decay, but Christian growth ends in glory and immortality.  

“My dear friends, we are now God’s children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become, but we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him.”( 1 John 3:2)

Paul agrees: “We shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God: we shall become mature people reaching to the very height of Christ’s stature.”

Brethren, that’s growth beyond imagination! You have incredible growth potential. Let’s keep hope and faith growing!!

CLOSING HYMN:         

311 I Would Be Like Jesus

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