Meeting: Sunday School
Minister: Pastor David Kilanko
Topic: Growing up Spiritually (Recap)
Lesson 1: Understanding Spiritual Growth
The reason why God made man was that Man is meant to grow up towards God. Even without the fall, Adam and Eve were still supposed to grow because they had not fully become like God; they still had a tendency to disobey and die because God cannot be tempted and God cannot die. Angels don’t need to grow; it is a transgression for angels to have the desire to want to grow because they have been made in a particular state and their own righteousness is to stay in that state. This is the difference between us and angels. Man is the only creature who has the opportunity to grow into the image and likeness of God, and this is a blessing. We talked about the reason for growth, how it is for us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48), to come into a higher estate in God, to overcome the enemies of God’s life, and to be sinless, deathless, and incorruptible. The part of us that needs to grow is our soul, as man is a tripartite being; he is essentially a spirit, has a soul, and lives in the body (1st Thessalonians 5:23).
1st Corinthians 9:27 “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway”
What keeps the body under is not the body; it is the spirit, because the flesh is weak. Preaching to others can be a function of the spirit, the soul, and the body. The soul is what could become a castaway. Man is a tripartite being, and it is the soul that needs to grow. And that Growth, we call it salvation; we call it coming into God’s nature
Lesson 2: What it means to grow spiritually
There’s a lot of information about bodily growth, but very little information about spiritual growth. Some of the ones we do find available are not very profitable for the soul. We looked at the paradox of spiritual growth and some things that have been misconstrued as spiritual growth but are not spiritual growth. (1). Being born again doesn’t mean you’ve grown spiritually; it’s only the beginning of the journey. The new man is the spirit, but the soul is still an old man. (2) Being very prayerful also doesn’t mean you’ve grown spiritually. As much as it is good to pray, in fact, as believers, we have been called to pray in season and out of season; we need to understand that a consistent prayer life does not equate to spiritual growth. Scripture talks about Cornelius in Acts Chapter 10, who was a devout man in prayer yet did not have the knowledge of God as he ought to. (3) Working in the house of God doesn’t mean you’ve grown spiritually. We can serve God and still not be growing, but the quality of our service in the house of God should get better as we grow. (4) Being moral and pious also does not mean growth. Good works should be a result of more knowledge of God.
The core pillars of spiritual growth, according to the scripture:
- Milk: raises one to become a child from a babe. Characteristics of a babe are spelt out in the nature of carnality. God does not want you to remain carnal; that is why milk would be fed in that soul.
- Meat: this raises a child to be a man in his heart and mind.
- Strong Meat: This raises a man to come into the things of the Father.
Lesson 3: How the Gospel helps us to Grow
Obedience to the gospel of the kingdom means that we will be led to pray, led to serve in God’s house, and led to do good works and dealt with by the leading of the Holy Ghost through objective and subjective leading. The life of a believer is not economically led but Spirit-led because, without leading, there is no growth. The hope of the gospel is for the soul to grow out of the earth. Satan doesn’t want people to grow out of this earth, but as the gospel is being preached to us, we see a better hope, we are brought out of this earth like our father Abraham, who saw a better hope in Hebrews 11: 10-13. The Lord raised the five-fold ministry for our growth, and we cannot grow without them (Ephesians 4:11-13 “11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…”). Growth takes time; that’s why we need to be patient with people. Suffering (by the leading of the Spirit) is very critical to growth. Our old nature will expire through subjection.
Lesson 4: Directional growth of Man
The growth of man is not just upward; it is Godward. There are many levels upward that we can settle in instead of pressing further to God (Philippians 3:14). Man fell from glory to flesh to grass, which is not a sign of growth but a sign of degeneration, corruption, and spoiling. God wants to move us back from grass to glory. Jesus is the restorer of directional growth through divine progression, progressing from milk to meat to strong meat. A person who has taken milk well will fellowship more, meditate on the word more, be sensitive to the spirit, have more conviction, have continual cleansing, and have faith towards God, believing him for anything. A person who has drunk milk well will love reading the Bible, love reading the scriptures, and like to pray. A healthy child always likes to talk to his father. If you struggle with prayer, there is one thing fundamentally wrong with your milk. A person who has drunk milk well will be given to the leading of the Spirit because we have once been led by sin, but the Lord wants to lead us by the Spirit.
Lesson 5: Precepts and Lines
Precepts are the revealed knowledge of God’s word that are expounded upon by the spirit of wisdom and revelation. It is the revealed knowledge of God’s word that actually can work the salvation of a soul. There are many emphases in the scripture, but what would grow the soul is the Doctrine of Christ, the Doctrine of the Father, and the Doctrine of God. Precepts are what reveal the lines. You must have heard something for us to be commanded after. Lines are the expressions of the precepts. Lines can be instructions/commandments that can be birthed by the spirit, who is the converter of what you have heard into life. This conversion takes place with obedience. Lines are the measures of life; lines are commandments and instructions; lines are the measuring rod of life. You can check how much of Christ has been formed in you, in your soul, by what you do and not what you say. Obedience is very key to the conversion of revelation to life. Satan doesn’t want us to obey because it is many that are led by the spirit of God that are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14). To be led means to follow the leading; you can be led but not follow the leading. A sign that you’re led is that you obeyed.
Lesson 6: Understanding Precepts and Lines & Lesson 7: Leadings & Dealings of the Holy Spirit
Lines emanate from the person of the Holy Ghost. We generate our pathway not from our soul but from our inner man, which is our spirit. That is, all of the instructions are birthed by our spirit -”For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” 1st Corinthians 2:11
Our growth, our life, and everything we can attain in God is actually inside the spirit of God that dwells in our spirit. If you do not obey the leading of the Spirit, you cannot come into anything in God. Lines are not humanly initiated or generated; they have to be by the Holy Ghost. Lines are not just picking up standards or things from the scriptures or church rules. We are also not static or stationary people; we are people on a journey, and sometimes the enemy of what God is saying now may be what God has said before, because you don’t want to move. The manual emphasized that lines are ways, that teaching produces understanding, that doctrine is not merely information; it is for us to pick the life out of the information, and that hearing shapes perception; hence, you have to be careful what you hear, because what you hear determines how you see life. You cannot separate knowledge from leadings and dealings; we hear so we can be led. We saw the importance of the Shepherd’s ministry, which takes us from feeding to leading and to dealing.
Lesson 8: The place of leading in nature formation
No change of nature will happen without warring with evil spirits. Spirits feed on our evil nature, so they find joy in allowing it to thrive. We fight evil spirits by obeying God’s instructions and by speaking against wrong natures in our lives. We also don’t agree with your flesh or feelings while you’re fighting evil natures. We should also give thanks for nature’s formation constantly. We should also give ourselves to constant feeding. These are the attitudes we need to have in the season of warring evil natures in our souls.
Question 1
Does understanding involve precepts or lines, i.e., do you need understanding for precepts or for lines?
Answer
Even when precepts are coming, which are the revealed word of God, you actually need to understand them before you can even say you want to convert it, because if you don’t understand precepts, you can run with the wrong thing. It’s good to tarry in the place of prayer to be able to get understanding that can be converted to commandments. You need to understand the precept to be able to carry out the works (to do).
Question 2
Is the enemy of what God is saying now what God has said before?
Answer
Sometimes, the enemy of what God is saying now may be what God has said before. It is not always the case, however. God may have you fulfill a commandment that He has given you before, especially if you have not fulfilled it, because if you don’t obey that instruction, you can stay stagnant for many years.
As the scripture says in Deuteronomy 8:3 “…that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live”
We must learn to keep communion and fellowship with the Lord, as our attentiveness is important. Every instruction and commandment is important, but as we are sensitive to the spirit, we would know what God has moved from and what God is still saying now.