Here I Grow Again - Bro. Levell Kensey

good morning family good morning how's everybody doing this morning it's a blessing to be here amen amen all right let the spirit of the lord rise among us let the spirit of the lord rise among us let the praises of our king rise among us let it rise it rise and let the spirit let the spirit of the lord rise among us let the spirit of the lord rise among us let the praises of our king rise among us let it rise [Laughter] let it rise and let the love let the love of the lord let it rise among us let the love of the lord let it rise among us let the praises of our king let it rise among us let it rise [Music] let it rise and let the joy let the joy of the lord let it rise among us let the joy of the lord let it rise among us let the praises of our king let it rise among us let it [Music] rise oh let it rise and let the peace let the peace of the lord let it rise among us let the peace of the lord let it rise among us let the praises of our king let it rise among us let it rise [Music] [Laughter] let it rise and let the grace let the grace of the lord let it rise among us let the grace of the lord let it rise among us let the praises of our king let it rise among us let it rise [Laughter] [Laughter] let it rise and let the spirit let the spirit of the lord let it rise among us let the spirit of the lord let it rise among us let the praises of our king let it rise among us let it rise [Laughter] let it rise good morning lansing good morning it is so great to be in the house of the lord amen amen on this day let's go to our heavenly father as we bow in prayer dear god hi heavenly father we come to you at this time we're by our heads and the humbled hearts and we're thanking you for all the blessings that you bestowed upon each and every one of us individually and collectively lord we thank you for so many things we thank you that we're covered in your blood and that you see us but lord there are so many that are not covered in your blood and you don't see them lord we are living in a time right now where the world needs you lord we need to see a miracle lord the babies are dying in our community the kids are killing each other in our community that's a sign lord that we need you the world needs you especially us in our community so we have work to do well put it touch us put it in our heart give us what we need to make this change so that the world will know who and what you are forgive us of all of our sins and our shortcomings lord just bless us and help us let us be receptive to the message that you put on our minister's heart this morning that it would be uh spiritual field for our souls and once again thank you for your son jesus who came and died so that we may have a right to the tree of life we ask this and all of our prayers in your son jesus name let us all say amen as we ready our hearts and minds for communion we're going to sing awesome today amen amen my god is awesome he can move mountains keep me in the valley hide me from the rain my god is awesome heals me when i'm broken strength where i've been weakened forever he will reign my god is awesome [Music] oh [Music] [Music] my god is all some savior of the whole world giver of salvation my god is awesome today i am forgiven his grace is why i'm living praise his holy name my god is also my god is also [Music] he's great a deliverer [Music] a provider [Music] [Music] my god is awesome heals me when i'm broken strength where i've been weakened praises holy [Applause] did not come to the part of the service and will chew eat the bread and drink of the cup in remembrance of our lord and savior jesus christ today's scripture reference be taken from matthew 26 chapter beginning at the 26th verse and it reads as they were eaten jesus took bread blessed and broken and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shared for many remissions of sins but i say to you i will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on to that day when i drink it new with you in my father's kingdom and when they had sung in him they went out to the mount of olives we'll now get thanks for the lord's body and blood a heavenly father we thank you for this cup which is our son's blood and we thank you for this bread which is our son's body we pray to everyone take this and examine themselves take them clean hands and pure hearts in jesus name we pray amen amen that will conclude communion service as we move on communion from communion we have another portion or component of our worship service that we should really be happy for and for thankful for because you couldn't ask for better than given time thank god that we are able to give thank you jesus thank you jesus that we are able to give if you look in the book of second corinthians 2 2nd corinthians 9 and 7 it says that the lord loves a cheerful giver and that's why we clap that's why we praise that's what we're thankful because he could have taken this money from us at any time at the lansing church of christ we have three ways to give the first is quick pay with zell using the following email address clarisse underscore whitaker and lansing coc.com that's c-l-a-r-i-c-e underscore w h i t a k e r at l a n s i n g c o c dot com second method of payment is to use your online donation service typing in the following address www.lansingcoc dot com that's w www dot l a n s i n g c o c dot com and the next method is to use the u s postal service that will be to the lansing church of christ p.o box 606 lansing illinois 604-38 lansing church of christ p.o box 606 lansing illinois 604-38 let's go to the lord our father in prayer heavenly father we thank thee for this day but thank you to the time thank you for the effort thank you for the strength the resources that you've given us to be able to give in the first place we realize oh lord that you can take this view given to us from us at any time so we humbly thank you for it we thank the lord for allowing us to be good stewards of the money that you provided for us in the first place we thank thee for the ways and the means that you've given us to be able to give back a portion that is rightfully yours in the first place lord you pray we pray that you prick our hearts that we go to a level given that we thought we couldn't reach because we know lord that we are extending and doing the lord's will and extending thy kingdom we thank you for being able to give we [Music] god is good all the time and all the time god is good and there has never been a time that god has not been good it's just good to be here it's good to be able to wake up and know who you are and i know god has been good to all of us i want you to stand on your feet right now right where you are stand on your feet right now and i want you to repeat after me oh give thanks to the lord for he is good for his mercy endures forever oh give thanks to the lord for he is good for his mercy endures forever you may take your seats today i want to talk about here i grow again i want to bring something to your attention today god's children continue to grow in him because they live for him we never stop living for christ so that means that we never stop growing and as long as we continue to live for christ we will continue to grow but the moment that we stop living for christ that's the moment that we're going to stop growing now i want to bring a concept to you i want to tell you something that the devil did not want you to know i want to talk about uh theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge there is a thing called theoretical knowledge and there is something called practical knowledge and both of these are important now theoretical knowledge can give one a deeper understanding of a concept through seeing it in the context of understanding the why behind something theory teaches about the experiences of others but practical knowledge it makes one capable of knowing how things happen in the real world practical knowledge can often lead to a deeper understanding of a concept through the act of personal experience are you still with me so theoretical learning is what the knowledge is about and the practical application is how the knowledge learn needs to be implemented in real life situations again we need both theoretical and practical knowledge and we also need understanding so what i want to do today is i want to have a bible study like we always do about this time i want us to open our bibles to the book of hebrews the book of hebrews and we're going to look at chapter number five hebrews chapter number five and we're going to look at verse number eight hebrews five and eight and we're going to read uh verse nine as well brother dion you got me yes sir let's go though he was the son now the bible is talking about jesus here it says though he was a son keep going yet he learned obedience he learned obedience by the things which he by the things which he suffered keep going and having been perfected and having been perfected he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him now even though jesus was the son of god he learned obedience from the things that he suffered are you still with me amen his experience in heaven was different from the one that he had on earth so the man jesus we're talking about the man jesus the man jesus grew through earthly experiences and sufferings by his experiences he became the perfect savior for the world that means that he illumined the path of salvation through him and because of him we are saved now i want you to go back to verse number nine because i do not want you to be confused the bible says and haven't been perfected we know that jesus has always been perfect but because if of his sacrifice because god sent him to this earth he became the perfect savior of the world in other words had not he left heaven to come here on earth had not he died on the cross that would have made a difference but because he did that in obedience to his father that made him become the perfect savior of the world that's why there is no other way to be saved unless we go through jesus jesus is the only way to salvation are you still there with me amen so by these two experiences or by these two verses what we experience in these two verses we can conclude that growth comes from earthly experience obedience and sufferings let me say that again growth comes from earthly experience obedience and sufferings you know over the years since i've been in the church since i've been a shorty i have heard people say i ain't growing i don't grow there or i need to grow and often times the preacher or other folk receive the blame for people's lack of growth you may have heard that before yourself i have put together a chart for you you know i like visuals toshiba if you don't mind i would like for you to flip the chart up so that my virtual audience can see the chart i'm going to start on uh the first page and we talked about uh this uh a little bit i'm just gonna go just a little bit deeper you got the uh handout now you'll notice that page number one the title is knowledge and you would notice that there are two columns one says theoretical one says practical next to theoretical you will see know about it next to practical you will see be about it there's one thing it's one thing to know about something and it's another thing to be about something are you still with me now under the column of theoretical knowledge what does that mean it teaches the reasoning and techniques is gained by reading and studying one understands the fundamental concepts this is all under theoretical knowledge but practical knowledge when i'm being about it that knowledge is acquired by day-to-day hands-on experience in other words living life so it comes down to doing it versus simply knowing how to do it are y'all still with me so uh theoretical knowledge is good to have and practical knowledge is good to have so we need both of them but i want to show you what growth really means in the body of christ now uh you will see on page number two we're gonna flip through these pretty fast you see a cinder and receiver we know that if the receiver is not understanding the message then the sender is no good to the receiver are you with me so far so they have to work together so you see a little picture of the preacher behind the pulpit and then you see the box in the middle and then you see the uh receiver on the end that's the little smiley face with with the hand you see that right well while we are in worship we have to overcome distractions there may be times that we just don't understand what's going on there may be times that we're not paying attention somebody right now may be thinking about did they turn their greens off before they left the house then sometimes people are just uninterested but the point is when we are in an open assembly an open forum there are a lot of dynamics going on but we must move beyond only being present so in other words my presence in the house of god is great but it's not good enough if i want to grow i have to listen i have to come in here with the spirit of god i have to come in here with the right spirit with the right attitude i have to come in here empty ready to be filled are you with me so far now just look just right beneath that you see my little worker with the little hard head on well that's us now we are ready to work but when we're ready to work we may find that distractions are pulling us in the world those are the things that you and i love to hate and hate to love those are the things that we don't want to deal with but we continue to deal with those things so distractions may come then we may learn that while we are trying to be obedient we're going to go through some pain and some suffering then we may become impatient because things are not coming together exactly like we want them to come together we've been praying we've been doing the things that we're supposed to do but still things are not coming together like we may want them to come together or at the rate that we want them to come together and then sometimes that make us stay under construction you hear people say all the time i'm better but i'm a work in progress okay you know where i am now there's nothing wrong with being a work in progress but we need to keep progressing are you understanding what i'm saying now we must be willing to experience the difference this is a phrase that i had coined a long time ago what does that mean that means while i'm in the world i can't let things distract me if i want to grow i can't worry about the pain and the suffering that i'm going through although i know i'm being obedient to god i have to continue to go through that obedience and don't worry about the effect that it has on me in terms of my suffering i have to know that i need patience i need a better character i need to do things that are that's going to make me uh be a better person be a better father a be a better son be a better preacher uh just be a better person all around in general even you you don't have to be a preacher to become a better person too many times people look and say well i'm not a preacher you don't have to be a preacher to grow you don't have to be a preacher to obey god you just have to be a christian are you following me so i realize that we are all under construction we all are a work in progress but you know when you go to the doctor you're going there to get well and i know that the church is a spiritual hospital but we're not just here because we're sick we are here to help us stay well as well that means that we need to feast on the medicine that jesus gives us through the word of god are you still with me amen now i want you to flip to the third page we're moving at the top you'll see theoretical and practical knowledge now let me explain this chart this is not a chart that i got from some super duper smart person this is not an all inclusive chart this is my chart this is my view this is lovell's view so i'm not here to to argue with uh scientists or psychologists or anybody like that i'm just telling you the way that i see things as it pertains to theoretical and practical knowledge now i want you to look under the column the first column i want you to see source do you see that you're going to notice that under the first column it says god slash word of god god slash word of god that will always be our source if you want to grow that's where you need to stay you can't grow looking at all these other books because we know that those books were written by man we know that the bible the word of god we know that that it is the inspired word of god those those things are written in the bible that means that those were the things that were on the mind of god no book in the world is like the bible i know there have been books that have been written that may seem to be good i am not against good books but what i'm telling you is there is no book like the bible so if you want to grow we're not talking about just growing in just any type of knowledge today we're talking about growing in the knowledge of god that means that your source should always be the word of god and of course i put god there because it's god who gives the increase if you don't have god in the mix you can't grow now look under resource well what are the resources the preacher and i put sunday morning because sometimes sunday morning is the extent of an individual study so we got the preacher and under that you see the word you because although there is a preacher you have to be involved because there is a sender and there is a receiver if i'm not receiving what the sender is sending i'm not growing are you understanding that is it plain are you understanding that look under growth here are the areas of growth when you listen to the word of god your foundation becomes more solid you learn the fundamentals your faith increases and you get to participate in the fellowship so it's the foundation the fundamentals the faith and the fellowship and i attribute that to about 25 of our growth now here's some possible risk a risk is some folk depend totally on the preacher amen amen that's it let me give you an example some people want to come into the house of god stretch out their arm and ask the preacher to put an iv in their arm infuse me with the word of god help me help me know a lot of things just just put the iv in me i don't want to work i don't want to suffer i don't want to read i don't understand what i'm reading so just put the iv in me but that doesn't work it doesn't work like that so for some people the preacher is the one stop shop they are only going to know as much as he knows they're only going to read what he reads the second line are you still with me again god the word of god is our source the resource teacher bible study and i just put weekly because and i'm thinking about uh how congregations uh unite uh weekly uh regardless of what day it is just to have a fellowship and bible study with one another like for example ours is on wednesday evenings and then you also have another study you see the word you self-study that's the time that you and god get intimate that's the time you're studying the word for your that's the time you're studying so that you can be thoroughly equipped so that you can be approved unto god are you understanding what i'm saying amen now what does that do it gives us a deeper understanding bible study is a little different although i call sunday mornings bible study and we do go through the bible uh it's not as deep as wednesdays because on wednesdays we have a little bit more time that we go through it's more of an open forum it's more of a dialogue a back and forth but anyway when you study with a group or with yourself you get a deeper understanding then you start to develop scripture recall then you learn how to relate the scripture to life see if you can't make this bible pop and become alive then you're just reading a novel is this making sense now i attribute this to another 25 of our growth but here are some possible risks arrogancy and pride sometimes when we start getting a deeper understanding start uh learning where scriptures are and we can quote them and recall them sometimes people look down on others who don't seem to get it amen amen sometimes people don't even want to attend bible study because they believe they are the sharpest one in the building sometimes people don't even have patience with other folks who don't understand amen why is that sister asking that dumb question that we all should know the answer to why does that brother keep holding on to this question well the reason why they're holding on to it is because they're trying to get an understanding amen amen say it brother so we can develop an arrogant attitude and we can be prideful what does that mean somebody taught us something and we thought that we understood the scripture correctly so sometimes when we are studying and we're not studying with the right spirit we will refuse to accept the scripture or the truth sometimes because i've been believing this way for 28 years when you show me the right way i have so much pride i can't say i was wrong i would tell you this if i ever made a mistake biblically in the pulpit and i misinterpreted something something that that is just not right i want to get up and say i'm sorry here's the right way to look at this and as a child of god as children of god it's your job to forgive me are y'all understanding is this making sense now let's just go a little further what about this false security some people develop false security because they can quote scripture you know some people they're so good you can say you know my foot was hurting today you know that was a boy in the bible around second kings chapter four whose foot was hurting i'm telling you there's some folk that are really good like that and that's great to be like that but that doesn't mean that they're going to be saved so some people develop false security because they know a lot about the scripture or they know a lot of scriptures and then this hypocrisy you know that's when people know the bible but they ain't living it you know it's very easy for me to come and step down out of the pulpit and point at everyone in here and tell you why you're not right that's so easy but how easy is it for me to look in the mirror and all i see is me to tell me i'm not right see some folk because they know a lot they don't want to be honest with themselves and they show nothing to be honest with other folk they're going to make you believe that every sunday morning they just finished having breakfast with jesus and then self-righteousness some folk study just to disprove other folk instead of studying to be approved by god and another thing was self-righteousness some people devise untruths from the bible truths what does that mean they can take a true verse spin it and make it false the way they interpret the verse is not the right interpretation so in other words they can read a couple of verses and they try to exert power to make folk believe that what they are saying is correct and they take those verses and put their own spin on it and if people don't know the truth it sounds very very convincing it will convince the average person so that's self-righteousness now sometimes uh arrogancy pride self-righteousness false security hypocrisy all of them come together but i want to show you something here these are just different ways of growth but have you noticed we're only at 50 percent are you follow me i want you to go to the third row of course the source is god the word of god is there again that's always going to be our source i'm not saying that you can't read other books but what i am saying is this i believe god do you all understand that i believe god now some other books that kind of give a good backdrop good history and all that stuff maybe they are true but i would never hang my hat on a book that a person that's imperfect wrote are y'all understanding what i'm saying so resource you and life what does life teach us it teaches us how to live through our experiences it gives us a deeper understanding and revelation of the scripture through life's experiences and application you know sometimes we read the bible and we read it and read it there are a lot of scriptures that you and i have gone over together and we know those verses we can quote them but it's different when we have to walk them when we have to live them the other thing it does it gives us joy and contentment you know when you read the bible and you understand who god is you will come to the profound conclusion that it is what it is and that way you can find joy and contentment there are a lot of folk right now looking for something to make them feel content when the only thing they really have to do is invite jesus into their lives and then life when we apply the word of god it gives us a positive outlook it changes the way we think am i we don't think as negatively as we used to why because we're letting god work in our lives amen so if faith comes by hearing the word of god then spiritual growth comes by living it let me say that one more time if faith comes by hearing the word of god then spiritual growth comes by living it if it ain't showing you ain't growing faith without works is dead our spiritual growth should be evidenced by the life that we live the preacher teacher studying the word of god and self-study are things that we need they are absolutely necessary but real growth is shown through the way we live through our behavior the way we approach things the way we handle things our relationship with the lord you know a lot of times uh people will say well i'm gonna jump churches or i'm gonna switch congregations and there's nothing wrong with that but what i'm saying is if you ever get to a point that you feel like you're not growing before you look at the preacher look at your life being present for worship every sunday does not make a person spiritual but it gets them closer to becoming spiritual if they are not spiritual but if they are spiritual it helps them to maintain their spirituality what am i saying i need to say this and i'm so glad that i have an open forum and platform to talk about this because so many people i ain't growing i need hey now that person over there whoa they can preach it doesn't matter how good a person can preach if you are not receiving it and if you are not living it then you are not growing see the devil got church folk thinking that because they can quote 50 scriptures today it could only quote 10 scriptures last year whoa i have grown by 40 scriptures good for you but how are you living has your life changed are you still the same person that you used to be when you only knew 10 verses you know to quote verses you don't need god you need a good memory y'all ain't ready for this all y'all the point is the devil wants us to believe that nobody can teach you the right way nobody can preach to you the right way you just on the island all by yourself and you just ain't growing because it ain't coming right i mean i i need something else i need something else i'ma tell you what folk need they need to live right so one way to study the word of god and to grow from it is to live it somebody looking at me like what are you talking about well let me tell you if you want to study the word of god and you want to grow in the word of god then live like you read that is the best teacher you know nobody can break a scripture down better than your experience in other words when you look at your life you have to ask yourself am i growing and if i'm not growing why now are you still on the last page the theoretical and practical knowledge page i i i gave you a cheat sheet look at that sheet tell me what is the common denominator so the source is one common denominator you're correct what is the other common denominator you so if you ain't growing you are the problem listen if the common denominators are god the word of god and you well god is gonna be god the word of god is true the weakest link are y'all getting this now you're starting to get this so now you're starting to understand why i feel compelled to talk about this subject because the devil got folk there are some folk have been jumping churches since they've been in the church and they don't feel like they're growing but what i want to let folk know today it may not be because the word is not being preached it's because you ain't living right let me give you an example studying to be a great surgeon is different from performing a surgery just like it's one thing to know not to lie but it's another thing to live in truth you know when i was in school um we had a lot of theory and i saw a lot of resistors capacitors chips microprocessors and i studied all of that stuff and i even had lab where i would breadboard these things and put them up and make lights come on and all that stuff it was it was real fancy real nice but my experience taught me things that i didn't quite learn in school i learned the theory of electronics but when it came to practical application i found out some things that i didn't know see it was a difference when i popped the board from this big old frame and i see 25 chips and 100 uh capacitors and 300 resistors and the board is dead school book ain't going to get you where you need to be now you got to start using some things that's why when you go to get a surgery you want to know um how many of these surgeries have you performed come on y'all with me experience so when you want to grow in god don't blame nobody else blame the life you're living because if you're living the life that you're reading about you will grow dion i want you to go to first peta first peter dion then you get that fancy gadget i really like it first peter chapter two yeah first two verses what they say for me dion what do you say first peter chapter two first two verses what does it say therefore therefore laying aside all malice laying aside all malice all deceased all deceit hypocrites hypocrisy envy envy and all evil get rid of that stuff once and for all that's what the bible say stop talking about folk stop being a hypocrite stop being a jealous of folk just just stop it stop trying to set folk up before we can grow we need to get rid of some things amen folks say i i'm not growing yeah but you're still lying y'all didn't come here to hit us did you if you want to grow you got to stop doing the things that keep you from growing i don't care how good a preacher is he can't stop you from lying as a matter of fact some folks lie so much they'll leave church and lie on the preacher what does it say brother dion get me out of here as newborn babies as newborn babes desire the pure milk desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby now i want to look at this verse we've read it before but i want to look at it again so that you will understand what the bible is saying it doesn't say that we are supposed to be babies and only drink milk it's saying that like a baby has a desire for milk we should have that desire for the word amen amen brother sean it doesn't matter what type of teacher you get he cannot put that hunger and thirst in you that's a relationship that you have to have with god so it's so it doesn't matter you know it's sort of like the new club that opened up y'all remember i know some of you you're saved now you don't remember the club but but anyway when that new club opened up it was the hot spot everybody was at the club they had a line around the building to get in but after it stayed open a little while it became regular and that's what happens in our spiritual life may have somebody in your life they own and they own point they on the money but after a while they will eventually become regular that hunger and thirst is not going to stay within you because somebody is giving you the word like you think you need to receive it that hunger and thirst is going to stay in you because of the relationship that you develop with god because of the word of god are y'all still with me amen now so we should crave spiritual milk to grow but again we shouldn't stay on milk forever amen it's one thing to understand these things uh and the way they are but it's another thing to live them again understanding not to steal is great but not stealing is better is this making sunshine yes yes dion get for me hebrews chapter number five i'm trying to get out of here let's do it hebrews chapter number five we're gonna get somewhere we're gonna get somewhere and while returning that don't don't don't mistake my message i'm not saying that if you are somewhere that you that you're not receiving the word that you need to stay there i'm not saying that what i'm saying is quit blaming everybody but yourself you're the common denominator it's just like um and those of us know that if you've been to college you know that some professors are better than others when it comes to explaining things amen however the professor does not need to adjust the way he or she conveys the message we need to adjust to the way the professor teaches are y'all understanding amen we have to make the adjustment so what am i saying everybody has to make an adjustment don't come to church with your sleeve rolled up in your vein all poked out just waiting for the preacher to put an iv in your arm it's not going to work that way and even if the preacher could put it in your arm if you don't live it like you read it there's no growth so how do i measure my growth it's not by the amount of scriptures i know it's not the amount of scriptures i can quote it's about how i'm living for god hebrews chapter number 5 verse number 12 the bible says what for though by this time but though by this time you ought to be teachers you ought to be teachers you need someone to teach you again you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of god keep going and you have come to need milk and not solid food this is a person who's not growing do you see that the bible says for though by this time you ought to be teachers just this is uh written to the hebrews uh many theologians touch a degree that it's is jewish christians uh they said for though by this time you ought to be teachers you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of god and you have come to need milk and not solid food in other words this is the description of a individual who is not growing what y'all talk about jesus well what about jesus he's good it got to be deeper than that so when you hear a message you take notes you write it down but you go home and you review those notes you study those notes you you look up some words you know you become an active participant again the reason why i'm saying this is because the devil has some people believing can't nobody teach them but that's not true sometimes it's not the teacher sometimes it's the student are y'all still with me amen read brother dm what does it say for everyone who protects only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness for he is a babe keep going but solid food belongs to those solid food belongs to those who are of full age keep going that is that is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised those who have been trained to discern both good and evil well how are you trained to discern both good and evil through your life experiences at one time somebody said something to you it takes you off and you cussed them out you told them where to go what stopped to make on the way there and what to do when they arrived but through your study of the word of god and through your experiences knowing that folk are going to be folk they're going to talk they're going to put down they're going to talk negative once you understood that concept maybe the next time or the next the 10th time someone came to you you learned and instead of cussing you shut up see a preacher can teach you to do that but they can't make you do that that's growth that comes from you y'all gotta excuse me cause he made me mad and he made me talk about his mama i never would have said nothing about her nobody made you do anything the reason why we snap and go off and say things is because we have not yet grown past that foolishness see when you grow see you know some folk some folk you say something sean they'll tell you well let me tell you something about the word of god say this and this isn't this and the bible says this and this and they still will cuss you out in their mind that's not what i'm talking about and i'm not even talking about as soon as someone says something you pick up the bible and quote them a scripture i'm saying that the scriptures should have all of us in check but how do you know if you're growing by the experience that you have in other words when god allows things to come into your life and the way you react to them the way you behave that's how you know that you're growing not the fact that you can run and grab a scripture i knew somebody in the bible who had a big mouth like yours let me show you in the that's that's not what i'm talking about how do you deal with that individual because as long as people are alive mess will always be here on earth where we at dion where we at we just finished we going to first peter i want to go to first peter chapter four dion about to get me out of here first peter chapter four i want to show you what growth looks like in the bible all right first peter chapter number four brother dion start at the first verse the bible says what therefore therefore since christ suffered for all for us in the flesh arm yourselves also with the same mind for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin now watch this i'm going to just give you a little a a a nugget for your bucket now therefore since christ suffered for us in the flesh arm yourselves prepare yourself how with the same mind what how do you know what mind that is because you're reading you're studying that's how you know what type of mindset christ had that brings you into knowledge that's theoretical knowledge are you understanding that to know what jesus did that's theoretical knowledge to you it's not practical knowledge but it's theoretical knowledge but what the bible is letting us know in verse number one is letting us know move away from just being theoretical into being practical amen you don't see that did you let me show it to you look again you got your glasses on therefore since christ suffered for us in the flesh that's an experience that someone else had we're learning from their experience not ours but theirs that's called theoretical knowledge now the bible wants us to put this theoretical knowledge into a practical application it wants us to implement it are you still looking so it says what arm yourselves that's practical that means live like this arm yourselves also with the same mind for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin keep going that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men but for the will of god when you grow your desire to live for man diminishes amen amen and your desire to live for god it increases now don't get me wrong it's a good thing you say well you know what i've been attending church more this year than i did all my life that's good and the devil wants you to believe you have arrived but i'm gonna tell you the truth is good but it's not good enough you need to grow your life needs to change but you can't blame nobody for that but yourself then am i making sense to you yes crystal clear if it's making sense to dion i know i'm on point so the bible says that he no longer shall live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lust of men but for the will of god that means i may have to cry sometimes it doesn't mean that i'm never going to have the desire to go back to where i came from but it means i ain't going back that's growth now yes a form of groin is being able to quote extra scriptures or being able to to know where things are in the bible that is a form of growth but let me tell you something god is not going to judge us based upon how many verses we know he's going to judge us based upon the life that we lived is this making sense y'all yes that's growth so that takes everybody out of it but guess who us keep reading brother dale you're doing a great job for we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the gentiles we have kicked it enough that's what the bible is saying when you come to the conclusion that you don't want to live for man but you want to live for the will of god when you come to the profound conclusion that you have kicked it enough some of us have kicked it enough that if we never kick it again it's still too much amen i ain't going to get into that but you know what i'm talking about but get who is this passage too if you're reading it it's to you where's the pastor at where's the elder at where's the deacon at notice how now it's individualized you know why because this is practical application amen right brother then it says for we have spent enough of our past lifetime and doing the will of the gentiles keep going when we walked in lewdness keep going lust keep going drunkenness kick on reverie keep going drinking party keep going an abominable idolatry we don't did enough we did it we're still alive we can ask for forgiveness god will accept us but we have to grow from where we were now think about it man now that i have shared this verse with you you know where is at but does that mean that you have practically grown pass this verse let me ask it again you know this verse now you know where it is but does it mean that you've grown past it does it it does not just because you know something it doesn't mean that you have grown to the full potential that you need to be it's one thing to know it but it's another thing to live it now watch this one more uh brother dion one more verse for me in regard to these in regard to these they think it's strange people are gonna think it's strange when you start to really change not that it matters what folk think but when you really change when you really grow folk are gonna notice it what they're gonna say deon that you do not run with them in the floor in the same flood of precipitation speaking evil of you they going to think something wrong with you you funny acting you are you you don't like to kick it no more huh mm-hmm you look stuck up not huh amen they may attribute it to the job that you just got to the car that you just bought to the house that you're building ain't got nothing to do with that i just got jesus in my life amen amen so when you start to grow you start to live out the scripture it becomes practical to you it becomes a way of life so i wanted to put this message out because so many people are putting too too much of their soul salvation on a pastor it's not the pastor's fault it's your fault if you're not growing it's because something is not right in your life because the real way to grow is by living it you know some people can't find the right person for their life because they are not spiritually mature enough they are looking for the wrong things i could hear a mouse pee on cotton if i listen let me explain what i'm talking about see if you haven't grown past that wild stage in your life you may pass up a godsend shalom i you know what i'm saying see some of us we're looking for a mate but we're not looking for a made according to the word of god we're looking for that mate to satisfy the freaking us i'ma go ahead and leave that for another message some of us we're not even ready to date because we haven't moved beyond fornication we can't date nobody right now because everybody we win we won't have relations with them right sean we talking about growth man it's a it's a difference right now you no no you know what the bible says about fornication but does that mean that you have grown past that a difference it's one thing to say i know i'm supposed to be celibate and it's another thing to say i am celibate oh that's different that's growth well folks think well i can tell you about fornication i can show you fornications mentioned x amount of times in the bible i can show you 20 of them okay but have you grown my amen is like getting less and less now let me let me i'm gonna even put it this way some people are not ready for marriage because they are now ready to submit to god anyone who has trouble submitting to god will more than likely have trouble submitting to one another some people cannot overcome or get past certain things because of the lack of spiritual maturity they need to grow that's why folk won't forgive that's why folk have their mouths stuck out like they got rocks in their jaws they can't forgive because they have not grown past being angry harboring bad thoughts saying evil things growth shows in a person's life i don't want you to allow the devil to deceive you into believing that you are growing because you read your bible and you know some verses by memory yeah that is a form of growth but growth is way more than that it's performing what we know just not reciting it whatever you are experiencing today as a child of god instead of receiving it negatively i want you to say here i grow again so when something happens in your life that you don't like it may even bring you to your knees it may even bring you to tears let god grow you don't take it like god is doing something to you your whole life is being tossed upside down things are all bad you know sometimes we see the dust of the dirt flying around we thinking god is destroying our lives if you ever see that it's not that god is destroying your life he's destroying the things around you that you don't need amen amen so when things happen say here i grow again because when i live my life like it's written in the word of god then i will grow you don't have to listen to certain people to grow you just have to listen to the lord does that make sense sean amen amen amen [Applause] amen the devil don't want you to know that and let me tell you something every last person in here including your preacher has room to grow we all do we all can be better but i wanted you to see this and i wanted you to have a handout because sometimes when you have something tangible that you can look at it just make it click a little bit better if you're here today and you're not a child of god you come by hearing the word of god believing that jesus christ is the son of god repenting of your sins confessing the greatest name known unto man which is jesus christ and being buried with him in a watery grave of baptism yeah you will come in and you don't know a whole bunch about the bible but let me tell you something now dion i want you to remember this if a person wants to give their life to christ they don't need to know about adam and eve they don't even need to know about noah and the ark they don't even need to know what paul said you know back in acts what they need to know is that jesus christ is the son of god amen amen amen and he died for their sins and he rose to die no more amen amen that's pretty basic ain't it sean now that's the foundation now that we know who jesus is we know who his father is we know that what he did for our lives we know that he gave his life so that we could live we know that by his stripes we are healed we know that it's the blood of jesus that cleanses us from all unrighteousness when we know that then we can build upon that foundation but while we're building we need to keep living it learn it but live it sean you got a song you want to sing you do all right so i'm gonna sing a song and uh the invitation is extended ain't god good y'all any good all the time i told you i like taking small concepts and blowing them up so that we can all see and sometimes you're not in the space that you thought that you were growth again is the life that you live so if you come to me and say brother kenzie i'm not growing or how do i know i'm growing i'm gonna shoot something back right at you and i'm gonna say how are you living how is your life your life is a direct reflection on your growth in god give me some sean i actually was thinking about what he was saying and how we have the power to control us but nothing else and a lot of times we try to control outside of what we can control and i think that's very parallel to what he's talking about and it just hit me and i mean because we get trouble all of the time gotta cry sometimes cause i [Applause] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] awake at [Music] trouble in my church [Music] that's all right that's all right cause i know that jesus yes i know that jesus said i know that but jesus he fixed it after a while trouble in my way gotta cry sometimes shed trouble in my way gotta cry sometimes will i lay awake at night well that's all right that's all right cause i know that jesus said i know that but jesus yes i know that in jesus he will face he fix it afterwards [Applause] and sean

Channel: Light&Salt Gospel Media Ministries

Views: 445

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: church of christ, church of christ preaching, coc preaching, churches of christ, God, jesus, holy spirit

Id: XL1ksjX7ySA

Length: 80min 35sec (4835 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021