Growing Spiritually Part 1

All around the world, men and women, people of all ages, have witnessed the awesome manifestation of God's presence, power and His love rendered in words, words beyond the written pages.
Why are we preaching like this?
Why do we travel all around the world, preaching the gospel?
Because Jesus is coming again.
and He left us with a message to tell the on-tones.
A message for the whole world.
This message of faith in God and His unfailing word has brought about change in the lives of millions around the world, an improvement that brings many more to such meetings with the Man of God, knowing that their lives will never be the same again.
Today, we bring you excerpts from a special meeting with our Man of God, Pastor Chris.
Pastor Chris, we're hearing.

The Christian life is not just for worshipping and then just learning the Bible like, you know, a storybook.
No, it's a life given to us to live.
See, it's a life given to us to live 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
All right, that's what we're supposed to do.
Living a Christian life.
It's not a religious life.
It's the divine life.
It's the life and nature of God in a human being.
That's what Christianity is.
Those who don't know what it is, call it a religion.
They say, oh, the Christian religion.
But Christianity, by its very nature and definition, is not a religion at all.
There is a religion in Christianity.
But Christianity is not a religion.

That's very important, very, very important.
Most people don't know that.
A lot of Christians live their whole life without ever coming across those facts in the Word of God because they don't study the Bible.
And yet Jesus told us to search the Scriptures.
He didn't tell somebody to check.
Check your box for something if you don't know there's something in there.
You tell us to search because you know there's something in there.
You can find it except you search for it.
So he says, search the scriptures, the apostles said study, study, study, not just read, study, study, study, study the word.
There's a whole lot in there you will never find without studying.
There's a whole lot in there you will never find without studying.
And let me explain something to you.
Why it is so important you've got to study the word God.
See, you came from the Word.
You are what you eat.
How many of you ever heard that term?
You are what you eat.
Your body
is made up of what you eat.
Think about it.
Imagine that you're 40 years old or you're 70 years old.
It means you've been eating food for 70 years.
Where did it all go?
Oh, you say you passed.
Oh, you only passed out the waste that your body didn't need.
So all of the others, where'd they go?
Your body?
Your physical body is the result of what you've been eating.
It is even more true with your spirit.
It is even more true with your spirit.
Your spirit came from God's Word.
Your spirit came from God's Word.
You are the offspring of God's Word.
When you were born again, the life and nature of God was imparted to your spirit.
And you came alive to God.
You are weakened to the Fatherhood of God.
He became your Father, not just your Creator, but your Father.
Your life is one with Him now.
So the development of your spirit is based on the increase of the word in you.
The more of God's word that you receive into your spirit, the more you are built spiritually.
If you don't get the word into your spirit, you are not built spiritually.
So what happens is your physical body is growing because of the physical food you've been eating, but your spirit will not grow.
Your spirit will not grow.
You can't know the things of God without studying the Word.
You've got to hear the Word.
You've got to meditate on the Word of God to grow spiritually.
And spiritual growth is of utmost necessity.
You've got to get it.
You've got to get it.
Otherwise, you can't develop in your relationship with your Heavenly Father.
And then you can't put to work spiritual realities.
And worse, more, you can't live the spiritual life, even though you're a spirit being.
It's like an ego that's brought up among chickens.
Never learned to fly.
Never learned to fly.
He'll never know he's an eagle.
He'll move along with chickens and live the life of chickens.
But he's an eagle, with powerful wings to fly, but never seen another eagle.
Fly, even when he sees them fly, he doesn't know how, because he was never trained to fly.
Never trained to use his wings.
Running on the ground, jumping up a little like all the other chickens.
Sad life.
But do you realize that's the way many Christians live?
They don't know that they have power over sickness.
Sickness is natural to them.
It's normal to them.
Headex, colds and fever, they're normal to them.
Because all the people that grew up with had colds, malaria, fever, headaches.
So it's normal in their home.
It's normal.
Everybody knows what to take when the head starts kinking.
So they know what to take.
Everybody's just grown up that way.
It's just their normal life.
It's so normal to them they think it's from God.
Because that's the way that we brought up.
Their mother was doctoring the home.
So they've grown up like that.
And then they told them, well, you know, when you get 60, you're going to have a arthritis, because mama had arthritis, grandma had arthritis.
Daddy had heart trouble, or even stroke.
So when they start getting close to that age, they know what's coming.
Doctors said so, because doctors even experienced the same thing.
The doctors drinking them has arthritis too.

So that's the normal life, the living.
And they're Christians.
They've been Christians many years.
So if you said, sickness is not normal, there's, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Don't get fanatical.
Don't get fanatical.
Everybody gets sick because they've never studied the Bible.
That's what they learned.
That's what they learned.
They don't know what Jesus did for them.
You say, what Jesus do for you?
And they say, well, he died for my sins.
But that's no, a thousand times no.
That's what he did for the world.
What did you do for Christians?
Listen, listen and listen hard.
The sin problem that Jesus came to get rid of was for a purpose.
He saved you from sin for a purpose.
In the Old Testament, Moses said to the children of Israel, the Lord's your God brought you out of bondage that He may bring you in to your inheritance.
He brought you out to bring you in.
He just brings you out for some people, you know, I'm saying, you know, back in those days, when we were in that church, where we grew up,
Who's the single song?
We could sing it half an hour.
And all of a sudden, I am happy.
I am safe.
I am safe.
I am safe.
I am happy.
I am safe.
Hallelujah.
And we'll just sing that song again and again.
And everybody's dancing and shouting.
And you know, that you're so excited.
They didn't know why they were saved.
Saved for what?
They had no idea.
I asked people,
Do you believe in Jesus?
They say, yes.
Then I say, when you believed in Jesus, what did you get?
They're startled.
They didn't think they were supposed to get anything.
They say, pardon me?
I say, when you believed in Jesus, what did you get for believing?
They say, they don't understand my question.
They're surprised I would even ask, because they don't know they were supposed to get something.
Then I said, what Jesus said, he that believe it in me has everlasting life.
Oh, they say, oh, yes, I know that.
Oh, yes, yes, yes, I have everlasting life.
So I said, what's everlasting life?
They have no idea.
There's a life, life that continues to go on and on and on and on.
And then when we go into heaven, it just continues on and on and on and on.
Then I said, what does that mean for you?
They have no idea.
because they never studied the Word of God.
They were never taught the Scriptures.
They were never taught.
Now, take coming to church seriously.
Now, because if you keep coming, you're going to learn so much, you'll be amazed.
Our member, a gentleman said to me, he had been attending our church.
This was about his second year.
And then he said to me, he said, Pastor Chris, this was a very educated gentleman.
You know, widely traveled.
He said to me, Pastor Chris, I never knew.
I would discover so much in my life.
I never knew.
Yes.
I said, there's still so much more.
Still so much more.
Still so much more.
You'd be amazed at what you'd learn if you're consistent.
Consistent.
You know, if you come to church today, then you don't come next time.
And then suddenly you remember and then you come again.
It's like a school.
It's like a school.
If you go to school like that, you fail.
There has to be a consistency in your life for growth.
See?
The many things that we have to do in building our lives, building, building, building.
How do we worship God?
How do we worship Him?
Somebody said, God wants us to worship Him.
Jesus said, God is His Spirit.
And those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
For the Father seek at such to worship Him.
That means it's so important that Father wants them.
Doesn't that mean we've got to find out what it means to worship God in spirit and in truth?
What does that mean?
Such things you learn.
You learn from the Word of God.
Hallelujah.
and then you'll be amazed at your growth, at your wisdom, at the way you relate with others, and the things happening in your life.
You will be amazed.
You will know you're growing.
You'd see your life going upward and forward.
You'd see it.
And there are a lot of people, so many Christians, who are looking for somebody to pray for them.
They got this problem.
They got the other challenge.
They got this.
And oh, if they could only get somebody to counsel them.
Oh, if they could only get somebody to pray with them.
You would move out of that class because you would have the knowledge of the Word of God.
You would know what to do.
The biggest problem that a lot of people have is not really what the problem itself is.
It is that they don't know what to do about their problem.
That's bigger than the problem itself.
When you face a crisis and you don't know what to do, it's not the big mess of the problem because it might just be solved in a very simple way.
But because you don't know what to do, you're like, oh God, I need a miracle.
And maybe you don't need a miracle.
You just need to know what to do.

Glory to God.
All right.
Now, I want to read something you would like it.
First Peter and chapter number one.
Wow.
I'm just going to take the overview and then
I hope in the next sentence would be able to look at it in details.
All right.
I'm going to read from verse one, chapter one, first Peter, chapter one, from verse one.
You ready?
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout paunches, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia.
Elet, according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, onto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied.
Verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
According to his abornant mercy had begotten us again unto King James is a lively hope.
It means a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
To one in the heret times, incorruptible and on the fire.
And that faded not away reserved in heaven for you.
Look at that, isn't that wonderful?
A living hope.
to an inheritance incorruptible.
Reserve Jesus, in heaven for you.
But let's go to the second Peter and see.
This one is reserved in heaven.
But what about the one that's not reserved in heaven, the one that's here and now?
All right?
Second Peter.

And we will begin with verse one, chapter one.
Simon Peter, a servant in an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained the light precious faith with us through the righteousness of God in our Savior Jesus Christ.
I love this.
Look at what he says.
He says, to them that have obtained light precious faith.
How did they obtain the faith, these precious faith?
How did they get it?
In Romans chapter 12 and verse 3, read it for me.
Romans chapter 12, verse number 3.

For I say, to the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, but

according as God had dared to every man.
God dared to every man, the measure of faith.
That means he gave to every one of us the same amount of faith, the same seed of faith, like precious faith.
This is every one of us who obtained like precious faith.
Hallelujah.
Okay, so go back to second Peter chapter one.
We are in verse two.
He says, Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through prayer.
Father, give me grace.
Father, give me grace.
Father, give me grace.
Give me peace.
Oh, I need peace in my home, in my life, in my hand, in my leg, in my body.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you.
How?
through the knowledge of God and of Jesus and Lord, through the knowledge of God.
How do you know God?
What kind of knowledge is he talking about?
In a New Testament, the English translation of the New Testament was gotten from the Greek version.
In the Greek,
They are written differently than you would see in English because the English words are not good enough.
They are over generic in their nature.
For example, where you have the word knowledge, every time we find the word knowledge, it's not the same thing in the Greek from where it's translated.
We're using the same word all the time.
When you find the word love, we use love as one word in English, but in the Greek version, it's not the same word.
They used about four different words for love so that you can tell what kind of love is talking about.
Like when you say, you love your spouse, it's a different word.
From when you say, I love my country.
Another word in Greek.
And then when you say, I love football, it's another word in Greek.
They're not the same.
But in English, it's all love, love, love.
So you don't know the difference between, I love my wife and I love my cats.
See, they're just like the same.
So, here, what it says is, through the knowledge of God, He is not dealing with the knowledge of sciences, the knowledge that you gain by just finding out about something.
No.
It's a different type of knowledge.
Glory to God.
Okay.
There He is dealing with absolute knowledge, absolute knowledge.
that comes through revelation and relationship.
It's called epignosis.
Okay, now, this is grace and peace been multiplied onto you.
So if I would multiply grace and peace in my life, I've got to know more about God and Jesus Christ.
And this type of knowledge is not just the knowledge that I read in history books.
It comes to revelation.
And part of it is already given to you in the Word of God.
See, the rest of it is through your relationship with Him in fellowship through the Holy Spirit.
Wonderful, amazing.
According, as He's divine power, have given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
This is so powerful.
God has given us, but He's divine power.
His divinability is given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
All things.
Imagine that you didn't have money for your school fees, and you found out about this.
Imagine that you were down and out financially, you needed money to start a business and you found out about this.
What happened to you?
Imagine that you were confused about what to do about your finances.
So broke, you know what to do and you found out about this.
according to this divine power, hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
Everything that I require for life.
When I found out about this, I knew forever I would never be broke.
I was a young man in my teenage years when I found out about this.
And I'll come home, you know, sharing the same thing with the rest of the family.
My dad then, you know, because I came from a Christian family.
You understand?
Everybody went to church.
But then they got surprised about some of these things I was finding in the Word of God, because they weren't used to studying the Bible like that.
They read through.
See, my dad would say, well, why are you getting those things from?
See, I saw the cat here.
because I believe they told me the Bible was the Word of God.
If it's the Word of God, then it didn't lie to us.
And God's given us all things that pretend the life and Godliness.
Listen, we'll be gathered in house.
My dad's sharing, once in a while he'll tell me to say something, or else I raise my hand and that's something to say.
Then I'll share little bits.
often got amazed at what I was saying.
But I didn't say nothing new.
He was in the book all the time.
And when I see something like this, according to this divine power had given under us all things that pertain the life and godliness, we got it made.
We got it made.
Glory to God.
That's all I needed through the knowledge of Him.
Oh God, how powerful this is.
How?
How did he give it to us?
He says through the knowledge of him that had called us to glory and virtue.
He's called us to glory and virtue.
That means to glory and excellence.
He's called us to glory and excellence.
How could I be poor anymore?
Never.
That'll never happen.
See what I mean?
Doesn't matter which country.
How could I be sickly?
No, never.
You see?
He's called us to glory and virtue.

whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these he might be partakers of the divine nature.
Oh God, I decided to do a little bit of a study on that.
Partakers, calling on us.
Coin on us.
That means one that is an associate.
Parteca here does not mean that I partook of the food with you.
You know, we were eating together.
No, no, no, no, no.
That's metallambano.
Metallambano means partaking together in something, partaking, sharing, like we're sharing food.
We can share food.
Doesn't mean we're fellowshiping.
That's metallambano.
But when it's occurring on us, you're dealing with association, comradeship, a fellowship, a communion, a moving together, in oneness, one heart, one man.
Then it says, plan, take us of the divine nature.
Divine nature is not even correctly rendered.
It is the asfusios, meaning,
Oh dear.
The God kind.
Not divine nature.
It means God kind.
The Asfusius.
God kind like you see mankind.
So he's saying that we become associates of the God kind.
That means that he's brought us into fellowship with the God kind.
This is amazing.
So, we are no longer fellowshiping with men.
We are fellowshiping with God.
We are no longer ordinary men.
He's brought us into oneness with God.
There is a realm in which we now move.
Oh, hallelujah.
Your princely life has begun.
Your royal life has begun.
That's why he says, you are a royal priesthood.
But I'm out of time.

Lift your hands and worship you.
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God bless you.