Assisted Suicide: Caring for the Infirm

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1 Cor 6:19-20

5 pm potluck with Rose Anderson and introduction to Lifeway ministries 

Six Stages of Spiritual Growth

“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” 2 Peter 1:5-7

I find from my study of the Bible, six stages of spiritual growth and everyone is at one of the stages. Knowing the stages can help you grow personally, help others develop in their maturity, and assist churches in creating a strategic plan for discipleship. Below is a brief description of each stage.

One way of looking at the spiritual journey is to view it as a journey of six stages. However, the number is not the important thing because God will not be put in a box or given just one path bring you to maturity.

The First Stage of Spiritual Growth is Seeking that leads to Awakening.

Actually, it is God who has been seeking you all your life, but at some point, you wake up to the reality of God. You hear His voice. You open your eyes to the sunlight of His love. You begin to recognize that you have sinned against God and that only Jesus Christ can save you. If you find yourself alone, you need a community of people who can extend God’s grace and love to you. Through their ministry, you find courage and direction to embrace God’s love in Christ and move forward toward the experiencing the fullness of God. Here is where unbelief and the need for faith in Christ is recognized.

The Second Stage of Spiritual Growth is Learning to Believe and Belong.

At this stage you not only realize your need for Christ to save you from your sin and make you His child, but you trust Him as your Savior. Here you begin to connect to a community where you can learn the essential teachings of the Bible. There is a catch, however. Some people become so interested in doctrine that they don't move on to the next stage of serving and leading. You might come to the place where you love your small group or circle of friends so much that the warmth you experience becomes not only a source of comfort, but a way to exclude others and keep yourself from growth. Most of us don’t like change and so, once we know what we think we need to know and have Christian friends we enjoy, we simply stop growing. But Christian growth requires discomfort. In order to grow you need to do something with what you believe in order to let the Holy Spirit teach you more. In order to grow, you need to step out of your comfortable circle and serve among others and find the Holy Spirit growing you through challenging experiences and relationships.

If you do, you will move into stage three: Serving and Leading. This will open up to you a whole new experience in your spiritual journey into the fullness of Jesus Christ.

The Third Stage of Christian Growth is Serving that Moves you to Leading.

The third stage of spiritual growth is getting involved in the real work of God's kingdom at deeper and deeper levels. Many people get stuck here because they think they don't know enough to do much for God. When you do serve, you become highly involved in ministries of compassion or administration, evangelism and discipleship. You might be on a serving committee, in choir, teaching, or engaged in mission for Christ. It is here that many sense a real vibrancy to your growth. However, don't mistake service for a deep relationship with Christ. If that happens, many get worn out in the work and quit. God wants to keep doing a work of grace in your life.

The Fourth Stage is Coming to an Abandonment of Self... a Deeper Spiritual Awakening.

Serving and leading is not the pinnacle of the Christian life. Instead, it is the door to discovering God and His power and presence all over again. You often come to the place that you just can't serve anymore because you have spent too many hours serving in the flesh. It is wonderful if you can learn surrender early in your service, but there are usually times in most Christian's lives that they realize they need more abandonment to God to carry on. If you are in stage four, you need an awareness that there is something beyond serving and leading, because without an injection of God's grace and power you’ll think something’s gone terribly wrong. Here is where a deep spiritual mentor can help a lot. A sure sign that you’re moving through this stage is the presence of an expanding sense of love, for love is the only thing that can lead you along these later stages of spiritual growth.

If you have hit the wall, you certainly are ready for stage four to kick-in. Just let God take over every aspect of your faith and service. Facing the wall with God means that you now know how to face the hardest tests when they come. It means that you are learning to rest in the Lord and wait on the Lord and draw from the presence of the Lord. You learn advanced techniques of spiritually breathing out hatred, anger, doubt and fear and breathing in the fruit of love, joy, peace and all of God's gracious gifts.

The Fifth Stage of Spiritual Growth is Moving Outward Again.

In Stage Five, you are now moved by the Spirit outward again in love, a love that compels you into an experience of abundance you’ve not known up to this point. In the past, it was mostly your head that directed you–”shoulds” and “oughts” kept you moving forward, caring for others, keeping your practices. But now, in Stage Five, God's heart directs your heart like a "stream of living water welling up inside you” (John 7.38). You sense God’s greater purpose for you, but what exactly that means may not be clear to you.

You will still suffer in this stage as much (or even more) that you did before. However, now you draw strength from the limitless resources of the Spirit, and from your deep experience of ongoing union with Christ. You can even have a sense of “unceasing prayer” (1 Thessalonians 5.17) beginning to form in your heart. It is a deep sense of communion with God that grows in your heart without your effort.

Most people tend to want to climb these spiritual steps quickly, like Jacob climbed the ladder toward heaven. You may be trying to climb the steps upward, exerting yourself spiritually in an effort to find the fullness of God. On the other hand, you may not be trying at all because it sounds like too much work or you resist what appears to be some kind of spiritual pride. However, at this stage, everything you do is for God's glory and not for you.

The Sixth Stage in Spiritual Growth is Abiding in Love.

There are dangers in viewing the spiritual life as an ascent. In our world, people tend to scratch and claw over each other to get to the top of the corporate ladder, or look down with a sense of superiority over those below them. Spiritual growth does require discipline and courage, but exertion and effort and self-will nearly always end in spiritual disaster. Remember, the effort to reach the heavens with the Tower of Babel was a huge mistake by Nimrod and the people of Babel (Genesis 11).

If Christ teaches us anything, it’s that the way up is down, the way to greatness is through humility, the way to possess all is to let go of everything. When you arrive at the next stage, you realize that you’ve not been traveling up but you've been going deeper; you’ve been traveling down, into personal humility. You’ve become a whole person in Christ. You are sold out to God. You know why God put you on earth. You know the lasting legacy you are supposed to leave behind. You do more for God in stage six than all the first five stages put together. This is the abundant life.

Now, where are you? Most Christians are struggling between stages one and three. What joy it would be for you to move into the next step!! Everything you are looking for in life is found in your progress in spiritual growth. In each stage, you will need to connect with others who are in other stages, people who have shared your experiences and who can serve as companions as you journey deeper into the fullness of Christ.

Seven Helpful Steps to Spiritual Growth

1. Daily Bible reading with understanding and application. The Word (Christ) must become flesh, take root in good ground in our lives to be effective and productive.

2. Meditation and pondering on the Scriptures

3. Daily quiet time of prayer and listening for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and inspiration. Pray in faith.

4. Absolute surrender! Take up our cross, deny our self (our flesh). and follow Him.

5. Lead the lost to Christ.

6. Make spiritual growth a commitment and priority.

7. Minister to the needs of others. First to God's family, then to the lost.

Pray with me: "Lord, we commit ourselves to spiritual pilgrimage on our path to being all You want us to be. Give us the courage to make it to the next level.... by your grace. Amen."

Come grow with us, step by step in God's love,

Pastor Ken

This Sunday at Faith Fellowship 

Sunday School 9 AM

Worship: 10 AM

Pastor Ken Mettler, 715-475-7666

Weekly Schedule @ Faith Fellowship: 

Wed. at 7 PM is prayer meeting / Fri. at 7 PM is prayer for the nation,

Sat. at 7 AM is Men’s Bible & Breakfast

Sun. 9 AM is Sunday School / 10 AM is Worship 

March 29: Palm Sunday 5th Sun offering for church savings & potluck following service

April 2, 7 pm: Maundy Thurs service / April 5, 8:30 Easter Breakfast / 10 AM Resurrection Worship

April 12, 2 pm Barbershop Gospel Concert @ luck

Faith Fellowship -Our Forever Family, 2597 State Hwy 35, Luck, WI

Ken Mettler, Pastor (715) 475-7666