84 Sermon Illustrations on Growth

We are growing spiritually when:

1. We are increasingly aware of our sins and weaknesses.

2. Our response to sin is quick and followed by genuine repentance.

3. Our spiritual battles are becoming more fierce and yet we still rejoice.

4. We see trials and temptations as opportunities for growth.

5. We view service for Him as high honor and not a burden.

6. We view everything that comes our way as being from God. (Romans 8:28?)

7. We sense our faith is growing stronger (ie - when our faith level rises,

or when it takes more to "ruffle" us)

8. We desire to spend more time in genuine praise and worship.

9. Our desire to obey Him is becoming more intense and sin is less

attractive.

10. We are eager to share with others what Christ is doing in our life.

11. We are experiencing an increasing awareness of His presence.

12. We jealously guard our private time of prayer and Bible reading.

13. We prefer to spend more time with Him above all others.

#2463

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I met a young man not long ago who dives for exotic fish for aquariums. He said one of the most popular aquarium fish is the shark. He explained that if you catch a small shark and confine it, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium. Sharks can be six inches long yet fully matured. But if you turn them loose in the ocean, they grow to their normal length of eight feet.

That also happens to some Christians. I’ve seen some of the cutest little six-inch Christians who swim around in a little puddle. But if you put them into a larger arena - into the whole creation - only then can they become great.

Sermon in series on Gospel of John. Mary Magdalene. John 20:11-18

HANGING ON FOR ALL YOU'RE WORTH

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I. A choice of direction.

II. Mary of Magdala, a remarkable woman.

A. A reformed prostitute?

B. A follower of Jesus.

III. Meeting the Risen Savior.

A. Where have they taken him?

B. Why Jesus not recognized?

IV. Don't cling. 20:17

A. Not "touch," because Thomas invited to touch. 20:27

B. The old relationship is invalid, we must go on to new ground.

C. There is a time to move on.

D. Things are different now.

V. Your father and mine.

A. Emphasis on separateness of relationship?

B. Better - emphasis on elevating of relationship. Ruth 1:16

C. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.

Sermon for Children's Day (not used due to time).

"ALL-ROUND MATURITY" Luke 2:52

"And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men."

I. Everyone wants to be mature.

A. Instantly.

B. Genuine maturity takes time.

II. Four areas of life in which Jesus (and us) grew to maturity.

A. Intellectual.

B. Physical.

C. Spiritual.

D. Social.

III. The importance of balance in maturity.

A. Samson was strong, but morally weak.

B. Solomon was wise, but spiritually weak.

C. King David was spiritual, but weak in relationships.

D. Jesus was perfectly balanced.

Churches should multiply small groups and multiply leaders.

Benefits of multiplying small groups:

1. Multiplication helps a small group maintain its outward focus so that it

does not become ingrown, introspective, or authoritarian.

2. Multiplication provides regular opportunities for more people to enjoyr

the benefits of a small-group experience.

3. Multiplication provides an opportunity for others to lead.

A good small-group leader should be:

1. Teachable.

2. Relational.

3. Spiritual.

The most unreasonable threat I ever made to my parents was in response to one of the things parents are always telling their children to do. Every night, right in the middle of my favorite TV program (my favorite being what was on at the moment) they would say, "Time for bed." I would usually argue. But on one particularly inspired occasion I replied, "I'll go to bed this time. But when I'm on my own, I'm staying up forever."

I have not been able to make good on that threat. But in my youthful fantasies of revenge, I planned to one day call my parents to get back at them for all their "unreasonable" rules and show them just what I could do as a man on my own. "Hello, Mom. It's 4:30 a.m. Nothing's wrong, but I just wanted to let you know I

didn't go to bed tonight. And guess what, Dad? The refrigerator door is wide open. And every light in the house is on. I played outside today in the street and I was barefooted the whole time. I didn't brush my teeth or take a bath, Mom. My room is a mess with all my clothes scattered all over the floor. I used a hammer today, Dad, and I didn't put it back where I found it. And right this minute, I'm watching TV and I'm sitting only 4 inches from the screen." That would've shown them!

Now that I am 36 and on my own, guess how many of those parental rules I break? You got it. Zero. And amazingly, I don't even want to.

Paul says mature Christians put away childish things (1 Cor. 13:11). And as we grow in Christ and let his Word richly dwell in us, we too will find we don't want to do ungodly things that we might have earlier desired. The psalmist explains, "Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). It's not that we will receive anything we can think of, it's that God will place the desires in our hearts.

--Ernie Thigpen (Spartanburg, SC)

There was once a pretty chicken; But his friends were very few, For he

thought that there was nothing In the world but what he knew: So he

always, in the farmyard, Had a very forward way, Telling all the hens

and turkeys What they ought to do and say. "Mrs. Goose," he said, "I

wonder That your goslings you should let Go out paddling in the water;

It will kill them to get wet."

"I wish, my old Aunt Dorking," He began to her, one day, "That you

wouldn't sit all summer In your nest upon the hay. Won't

you come out to the meadow Where the grass with seeds is

filled?" "If I should," said Mrs. Dorking, "Then my eggs

would all get chilled." "No, they won't," replied the

chicken, "And no matter if they do; Eggs are really good

for nothing; What's an egg to me or you?"

"What's an egg!" said Mrs. Dorking,

"Can it be you do not know You yourself were in an eggshell

Just one little month ago? And, if kind wings had not warmed

you,

You would not be out to-day, Telling hens, and geese, and

turkeys,

What they ought to do and say!"

"To be very wise, and show it,

Is a pleasant thing, not doubt; But, when young folks talk to

old folks,

They should know what they're about"

Marian Douglas - from McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader

A party of tourists,

looking up to the summit of an impressive mountain, thought that by climbing one of the less hills they would improve

their view. On the way they passed a party coming down, and they asked, "Is it worthwhile?" The reply came back, "Anything above the ordinary level

is always worthwhile."

A WILD BOAR stood under a tree and rubbed his tusks against the

trunk. A Fox passing by asked him why he thus sharpened his tusks

when there was no danger threatening from either huntsman or hound.

He replied, "I do it advisedly; for it would never do to have to

sharpen my weapons just at the time I ought to be using them."

For this reason, Christians should also rub their spiritual tusks

(i.e. praying, Bible reading, going to church, seeking God, etc.) so

that their spiritual armor will be sharpened and ready to use at any

given notice. Indeed, Satan likes to attack Christians when they are

at their weakest.

A HARE one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the

Tortoise, who replied, laughing: "Though you be swift as the wind, I

will beat you in a race." The Hare, believing her assertion to be

simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the

Fox should choose the course and fix the goal. On the day appointed

for the race the two started together. The Tortoise never for a

moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to

the end of the course. The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast

asleep. At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the

Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after her

fatigue.

Better to grow steadily in the faith than to become spiritually

self-reliant, self-confident, and arrogant. Slow but steady wins the

race.

AN ASS and a Cock were in a straw-yard together when a Lion,

desperate from hunger, approached the spot. He was about to spring

upon the Ass, when the Cock (to the sound of whose voice the Lion, it

is said, has a singular aversion) crowed loudly, and the Lion fled

away as fast as he could. The Ass, observing his trepidation at the

mere crowing of a Cock summoned courage to attack him, and galloped

after him for that purpose. He had run no long distance, when the

Lion, turning about, seized him and tore him to pieces.

False confidence often leads into danger. For this reason, we need

the continual reliance of the Holy Spirit to help us defeat the evil

one.

Very beautiful and suggestive is the law by which the trees hold

fast their connection with the earth while ascending towards heaven.

Roots draw upwards the finest essences of the earth out of their

imprisonment; while the branches with their breathing leaves draw down

the virtues of the heavens. Tree-development depends on the

cooperation and unity of ascending and descending currents of energy.

How could the trees produce heaven's fruit for the use of the world

if their roots quitted their hold of the earth? Very cunningly the

trees breathe their escape from the soil, and at the same time, very

tenaciously, very determinedly, cling to it. With the same breath they

say, we will leave the earth, and yet we will not quit it. We will go

in for the ascensive life; but the higher we go the more deeply will

we root ourselves in the earth; and they do both. -- John Pulsford.

[Transcriber note: This should not be taken to say that true

Christians are "of the world" in the spiritual sense, for their

"conversation is in heaven," and they are "not of the world even as"

Christ is "not of the world."]

By J. Wilbur Chapan, "Present Day Parables."

If you were in Mr. Moody's home, and asked him about a certain clock on his mantel in the sitting-room, he would probably tell you a story. This clock was given him by a lady in London, who came to one of Mr. Moody's meetings and was very angry at some things he said. She came back the next night, however, and was angrier still; she came back the next night, and her anger began to vanish. The night after she was also there and became deeply convicted of sin. The next night she was in the inquiry meeting, and she came night after night, until one night she said to Mr. Moody, “I realize that I am a sinner; I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; but I believe that I cannot be a Christian. Whether it is my sin, or what it is, I do not know. But I do not believe that if I commenced to be a Christian I could ever hold out.”

Mr. Moody tried every way he could to get her to decide to try. But he failed, until he thought of that old story about the pendulum. On the first day of January the pendulum began to count up what it had to do. It had to tick so many ticks in a minute, and there were so many minutes in an hour, and so many hours in a day, and so many days in a year, and it would likely have to keep on ticking for so many years. When it found out the millions of times it would have to tick it said, “It's of no use; I will stop right now.” Then this thought occurred to the pendulum: “It is only one tick at a time.” So it began to tick, and it ticked the next tick, and the next, and the next, and it is ticking yet.

This lady said to Mr. Moody, “I will tick the first tick now,” and she is ticking yet. She gave that clock to Mr. Moody -- she is now one of the most earnest Christians in the city of London -- and asked him if anybody should refer to it, to tell them the story, that it is only a tick at a time. Blessed be God, it is as simple as that! “As the ten lepers went, they were cleansed.” -- B. F. M.

By J. Wilbur Chapan, “Present Day Parables.”

An old man sat thinking, one day, about his past, recounting to himself his mistakes and follies, and regretting them, wishing he had never committed them, and that there was some way of undoing them. He took his pen, and on a sheet of paper made a list of twenty things in his life of which he was ashamed, and was about to seize an imaginary sponge and rub them all out of his biography. He was thinking how much more beautiful his character would have been at the close of his years if these wrong things had never been committed. But to his amazement, as he thought of wiping out these evil things, he found, that, if there were any golden threads of beauty running through his life, they had been woven into the web by the regrets he had felt over his wrong-doings; and that, if he should wipe out these wrong acts he would at the same time destroy the fairest lines of nobleness and worth in his present character. He learned in his meditation that he had gotten all his best things out of his errors, with the painful regrets, the wise lessons, the true repentings, and the new life, which followed. -- Miller.

[Transcriber Note: While profiting from one's past folly and errors is noble, I doubt that such nobility is intertwined with a necessary, continual remembrance of such. Once the past is rectified with both God and men, it is often best to “forget those things which are behind.”]

By J. Wilbur Chapan, “Present Day Parables.”

If you want to be distressed -- look within. If you want to be

defeated -- look back. If you want to be distracted -- look around.

If you want to be dismayed -- look ahead. If you want to be delivered

-- look up!

"I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself."

-- Aldous Huxley

"The time is always right to do what is right."

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"You can't change what you don't acknowledge."

-- Phil McGraw

"Be prepared to reinvent yourself every year. Imagine starting over with no limitations or encumbrances."

-- Brian Tracy

"Whatever your present situation, I assure you that you are not your habits. You can replace old patterns of self-defeating behavior with new patterns, new habits of the effectiveness, happiness, and trust-based relationships."

-- Stephen Covey

"There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction."

-- Winston Churchill

"Today changes must come fast; and we must adjust our mental habits, so that we can accept comfortably the idea of stopping one thing and beginning another overnight... We must assume that there is probably a better way to do almost everything. We must stop assuming that a thing which has never been done before probably cannot be done at all."

-- Donald M. Nelson

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

-- Mohandas Gandhi

"What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly."

-- Lao Tsu

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

-- Count Leo Tolstoy

"Change your thoughts and you change your world."

-- Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993), writer and clergyman, cited in B&P

"Things do not change; we do."

-- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), philosopher and writer, cited in B&P

"Never doubt the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. That's about the only way it has ever happened in the past."

-- Margaret Mead (1901-1978), anthropologist, The Best of B&P

"In spite of warnings, nothing much happens until the status quo becomes more painful than change."

-- Laurence J. Peter (1919-1990), Writer, BITS & PIECES

"Everything that is full of life loves change, for the characteristic of life is movement toward a new goal, and urges toward new pleasures."

-- Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979), Catholic priest

"Here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often."

-- J. H. Newman, Essay on Development (quoted in Christianity Today [CT])

"Dislocation, with all its risks, is surely preferable to stagnation, which is the temptation when we cling too powerfully to what we have. When we do that, growth ceases. This is living death."

-- Ralph McAfee Brown, Creative Dislocation-The Movement of Grace [CT]

"The status quo can never be totally accepted by one who has an eschatological vision."

-- Charles Curran, Theology Today [CT]

"We have to feel the universe at once as an ogre's castle, to be stormed, and yet as our own cottage, to which we can return at evening."

-- G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy [CT]

"Getting things done [institutionally] is like elephants mating: It is done at a high level, accomplished with a great deal of roaring and screaming, and takes two years to produce results, which usually fall to the ground with a thud."

-- EMC Weather Vane [CT]

"Be not afraid to go slowly; Be only afraid of standing still."

-- Japanese proverb [CT]

"If you're not making mistakes, you're not taking risks, and that means you're not going anywhere. The key is to make mistakes faster than the competition, so you have more chances to learn and win."

-- John W. Holt Jr., Celebrate Your Mistakes [CT]

"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people."

-- George Bernard Shaw, quoted in Sojo Mail (Sojourners Online) [CT]

"Be not the first by whom the new is tried. Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."

-- Alexander Pope, from "The Essay on Man" [CT]

"A generation is the primary agent of social change... Reform is thus brought organically into a society. People don't change, generations do."

-- Landon Y. Jones, Great Expectations [CT]

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little."

-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Second Inaugural Address (January 20, 1937)

"The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self."

-- Whitney Young (1921-1971), civil rights leader, B&P 06/14/02

"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be."

-- Thomas Kempis, theologian, QFTM 8/20/02

"There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place."

-- Washington Irving

"When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change."

-- Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland

"He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery."

-- Harold Wilson

"Change is an easy panacea. It takes character to stay in one place and be happy there."

-- Elizabeth Clarke Dunn

"Never swap horses crossing a stream."

-- American Proverb

"I've never met a person, I don't care what his condition, in whom I could not see possibilities. I don't care how much a man may consider himself a failure, I believe in him, for he can change the thing that is wrong in his life any time he is ready and prepared to do it. Whenever he develops the desire, he can take away from his life the thing that is defeating it. The capacity for reformation and change lies within."

-- Preston Bradley

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

-- Leo Tolstoi

"Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal."

-- Arthur Schopenhauer

"The problem is not whether business will survive in competition with business, but whether any business will survive at all in the face of social change."

-- Laurence Joseph McGinley

"We emphasize that we believe in change because we were born of it, we have lived by it, we prospered and grew great by it. So the status quo has never been our god, and we ask no one else to bow down before it."

-- Carl T. Rowan

"We are restless because of incessant change, but we would be frightened if change were stopped."

-- Lyman Lloyd Bryson

"Things do not change, we do."

-- Henry David Thoreau

"The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress."

-- Charles F. Kettering

"He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils."

-- Francis Bacon

"Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes."

-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."

-- Robert F. Kennedy

"There is nothing permanent except change."

-- Heraclitus

"All change is not growth; all movement is not forward."

-- Ellen Glasgow

"In a progressive country change is constant; ... change ... is inevitable."

-- Benjamin Disraeli

"Weep not that the world changes--did it keep a stable, changeless state, it were a cause indeed to weep."

-- William Cullen Bryant

"Christians are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause it."

-- Harry Emerson Fosdick

"If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we are not really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security."

-- Gail Sheehy, writer, B&P 4/16/03

"Though no one can go back and make a new beginning - anyone can start from now and make a brand new end."

-- Carl Brand

"We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation."

-- Jim Rohn

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The New Testament is very clear that God's will for every believer is spiritual maturity. He wants us to grow up. The apostle Paul says, "We are not meant to remain as children ... but to grow up in every way into Christ the head" (Ephesians 4:14, Phillips). The goal of spiritual growth is to become like Jesus. This has been God's plan for us since the beginning. He created us to be like his Son.

The big question, then, is how. How does spiritual growth happen? How do we become mature in Christ? Churches are filled with people who have attended for decades but show little development in discipleship. What's the problem?

One of the biggest barriers to growth is the misconception that all you need is Bible study to grow. Many of our churches have been built on this myth. I call them "classroom churches." Classroom churches tend to be left-brain oriented and cognitive-focused. They stress the teaching of Bible content and doctrine but they give little, if any, emphasis to believers' emotional, experiential and relational development.

The truth is that it takes a variety of experiences with God to produce true spiritual maturity. In addition to Bible study, it takes worship experiences, ministry experiences, fellowship experiences and evangelism experiences. In other words, spiritual growth occurs by participating in all five purposes of the church. Mature Christians do more than study the Christian life -- they experience it.

Genuine spiritual maturity includes having a heart that worships and praises God, building and enjoying loving relationships, using your gifts and talents in service to others, and sharing your faith with lost people. Any strategy to move people to maturity must include experiencing all of God's five purposes for us: worship, fellowship, discipleship, service and evangelism.

To Christians who fool themselves by thinking all they need to do to grow is attend Bible studies, James warns, "Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead put it into practice!" (James 1:22 TEV).

What people need is a practical program for putting truth into practice! The respected Bible teacher Gene Getz says, "Bible study by itself will not produce spirituality. In fact, it will produce carnality if it isn't applied and practiced." Bible knowledge without ministry and missions tends to produce Christians with judgmental attitudes and spiritual pride.

If Christianity was simply a philosophy, then our primary activity might be studying. But Christianity is a relationship (John 14:20-21) and it is a life (John 10:10). Jesus didn't say, "I have come that you might study." The words that are used most often to describe the Christian life are love, give and serve. Yet the schedule of most churches indicates they believe the sole duty of a Christian is to study!

Honestly, the last thing some believers need is another Bible study to attend. They already know far more than they're putting into practice. What they need are ministry and evangelism experiences where they can apply what they already know, relational experiences (like a small group) where they can be held accountable for what they know, and meaningful worship experiences where they can express appreciation to God for what they know!

The Dead Sea is dead because it takes in water but doesn't give any out. When any Christian's schedule consists completely of receiving biblical input but has no planned outflow of ministry or evangelism, his spiritual growth will be limited. Study without service leads to stagnation.

Of course, we must "continue in the Word" to be Christ's disciples. All I'm saying is that it is a mistake to assume that study alone will produce maturity. It won't. It is only one component of the maturity process. People need experiences, in addition to study, in order to grow. That is why you need a balanced strategy for developing disciples.

At Saddleback Valley Community Church, we have seen amazing results by using a balanced strategy that involves people in worship, fellowship, discipleship, service and evangelism at the same time. In the fall of 1999, we designed a six-week balanced spiritual growth emphasis called "40 Days of Purpose," and the results were breathtaking: In just 40 days, 564 people accepted Christ, 1,065 new believers were baptized, 1,628 new members joined our church, 2,701 more signed up to be involved in a lay ministry, and 5,465 were trained in personal evangelism and world missions!

This spiritual growth emphasis was so effective that we did another one the next fall, in 2000, using the same pattern. The results were again incredible. We moved more than 2,000 people into new small groups in a single week and, without any formal emphasis on giving, more than $10,000,000 was committed for a children's building.

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do,and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. So, this the man did, day after day.For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down; his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan)decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: "you have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't moved." Thus,giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and the he was a failure, these thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. "Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough."

And that is what he planned to do, until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord."Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why.am I failing? "The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that eally so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done.Now I, My friend, will now move the rock."

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just a simple obedience and faith in Him. By all means,exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who moves.

When everything seems to go wrong ... just P.U.S.H.!

When the job gets you down ... just P.U.S.H.!

When people don't react the way you think they should...just P.U.S.H.!

When our money looks "gone" and the bills are due...just P.U.S.H!

When people just don't understand you ... just PUSH...

P= Pray U= Until S= Something H = Happens P.U.S.H.!

Do you remember the thrill of getting a new pair of shoes? As I was growing up, my mother, much like your mother probably did for you, would take me to the shoe store to buy a pair of shoes. After trying on a few different pairs of shoes and walking around the store with them we would find a pair that we liked. Then, and only then, our mothers would give the ultimate test, the Thumb Test. Using their thumb, they would push down on the end of the toe to make sure that the shoe had plenty of what? Growing room. Why? Because they wanted to make sure that the shoes allowed for our feet to grow, rather than only being comfortable for a short time. Does this sound familiar?

Now that I am full-grown I no longer use this thumb test. No longer am I growing, no longer do I need the extra room. For the rest of my life I will wear the same shoe size. It is one of those limitations that God placed on these bodies of ours. I will never be any taller then I am now, I might grow a little around the middle as some of us have a tendency to do in later years, but as a general rule we are done growing - or are we? Perhaps we should look beyond the physical to our minds, our character, and even our personalities. All of these were meant to keep on growing indefinitely! The great thing about life is that there are no limitations on how much we can grow and develop. Unfortunately most people don't tap into their growth potential. Benjamin Franklin's thoughts captured on this gravestone inscription are very true:

"Died - age 25

Buried - age 70

Here lies the average person"

Most of us complete our education and we stop learning and growing. What a tragedy, what an utter waste of a great life! Don't let this be you! Don't ever stop learning; always keep growing. I want to encourage you to make yourself a lifelong learner. No matter what level your abilities are, you have more potential then you could ever realize in your lifetime!

So why do people stop growing? Is it a conscious choice - or more a lack of a making a choice? You see, upon reaching adulthood, most people find an "environment" that they feel comfortable in, much like a worn pair of comfortable shoes. The choice that has to be made is that of stepping out of our comfortable environment into one that is bigger than we currently are in, the same way we used to get a pair of shoes that we could grow into. Figuratively, find a pair of shoes for your mind that gives you room to grow. Step out and step up to a responsibility that is "too big" for you right now and that requires your growth in order to fulfill it. Find an environment where you are forced to grow just to keep up. Keep stepping out and stepping up for as long as you want to grow. Because you will never find a shoe for your mind so big that you cannot grow into it.

Give your life the Thumb Test; step out of your comfort zones, take on new challenges, and stretch yourself. Do things that you never thought you could do. Take on a responsibility that is more than you feel like you can handle so that you will be challenged to live up to it. Don't ever get a pair of shoes for your life that fit you perfectly; always provide some growing room. If the shoe fits, don't wear it. Experience once again, or maybe for the first time, the thrill of learning, of conquering! The thrill of growing into a new pair of shoes.

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Seth Getz is a small business;Seth@QDSInc.net; http://www.PersonalCoachingSystem.com.

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My wife Karen recently received a lovely family heirloom diamond ring. And she took it to the jeweler the other day so he could look at it with that magic eye that jewelers have. As he looked at it under magnification, he let out a curious "hmmm." He told Karen that the diamond had a fracture in the middle of it, invisible to the naked eye. Which caused Karen to ask how there could be a fracture in the middle. Why didn't it go all the way across the diamond? Mr. Jeweler gave a very interesting explanation. He basically said that while some diamonds are developing, some underground disturbance - maybe a quake or a tremor - causes the diamond to crack. But apparently some diamonds continue to develop anyway. Like the one we have. It was fractured, but it didn't stop growing!

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Fractured, But Growing."

Actually, that isn't just true of diamonds. There are people like that. Maybe you. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 6:9-10. It's an account of a lot of life trauma and a man who was fractured, but - well, just listen. He says, "We were dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." Paul here models being a believer who may get beaten up but refuses to get beaten down; who takes a lot of hits, but refuses to be knocked out. Like our diamond, you may be fractured, but you don't have to stop growing.

Tragically, a lot of people do. Their growth stops with the trauma. And there's no denying the damage done when you get hit by a major life trauma. A divorce, losing your job, losing someone you love, losing your health, a major injury, a depressing setback, a breakup, abuse, dealing with pain from your past. Things like these are major blows, and the hurt is deep and long-lasting. There is very real fracture. The question is: Will you stop growing now?

The same Apostle Paul who experienced a bombardment of life traumas is the one who said in Romans 8:37, "In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." You don't get to choose whether or not the trauma hits you, but do choose whether or not it will be what you focus on the rest of your life - whether you focus on your identify, your attitude. So many people never get back up. They just sort of sleepwalk from the fracture point on, and they quit developing spiritually, interpersonally, mentally, emotionally.

But, because of God's Holy Spirit living in you, there is no life trauma that is insurmountable, that has to define the rest of your life. But it takes a sanctified stubbornness on your part that says, "The fracture is there, but my life is not over. Even if I don't feel like it right now, I'm going to aggressively pursue God's plans for my future. I'm going to dig into things that will enlarge the difference I can make in the years I have left."

Like Paul, you commit yourself to that realistic, but buoyant approach to life that is "dying, yet we live on; beaten, yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." (2 Corinthians 6:9-10)

Through the eye of a jeweler, we have seen a diamond that didn't let a fracture keep it from becoming more and more beautiful. By God's awesome grace, be a diamond that may be fractured, but will not stop growing!

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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The Making of a Soldier

I did not expect to go to West Point. As a third alternate appointee in 1943, there were three other applicants ahead of me-- a principal appointee and two alternates-- and the principal had already qualified and been accepted. Furthermore, I had failed the physical exam on three separate counts: a heart murmur, red-green color blindness, and I had had the cartilage removed from my left knee. In any event, time had run out; the last day was over. Clearly, there was no possibility remaining. But at 10 o'clock on the night before the new class was to report in, I received a telephone call saying that the principal had broken his arm that morning, that the other two alternates had both failed the academic exams, and that if I could get to West Point by Noon the next day, they would give me a waiver on my physical. Isn't that an amazing miracle?

Due to the war, the four-year curriculum was accelerated to three years, but not at all abbreviated, which meant that, although I lived only one and a half hours away, I never got home once until after my plebe year, and then for a total of only five short visits before I graduated in 1946. It was tough and demanding, both academically and physically, and of the more than 1200 select cadets who entered with me, making our class by far the largest up to that time, only 875-- fewer than three out of every four-- graduated three years later. Incredible as it sounds to me, that was 55 years ago, making me the oldest graduate to be going on this wonderful trip to China; and the question that Wayne Richardson '83, the youngest among us, has asked me to address is: "During that time, what has West Point meant in your life? What difference has it made?" The answer to that is three-fold.

Because of West Point, during the course of my life I have come to know that, regardless of the circumstances, there is nothing that is impossible. Whatever might be my desire, my dream, my desperate need, it may or may not be granted, but anything is possible. Just my being at West Point was adequate proof of that, and there were a good many other times as a cadet that I was pushed beyond what I thought were my limits, and was required to do what to me seemed utterly impossible. I have come to know that in life, as in battle, the willingness to dive in and tackle the impossible, and the ability to hope in the face of hopelessness, often spell the difference between victory and defeat, between success and failure, between life and deadness.

Because of West Point, I also have come to know that, more than any other single quality, the real measure of a man lies in his integrity and honesty-- that is, in his honor. For if a man is not honorable; if he is not true to his word and true to himself; and if he cannot be trusted to stand for what is right and good and honest, against all that is wrong and evil and false, even at the cost of his life; then he is a liar, and a coward, and a hypocrite. He lacks character and is of little worth.

Finally, and most importantly, because of West Point, during the course of my life I have come to know that, in and of myself, I am not strong enough to undertake the impossible with abandonment and trust, and without fear, and so to win the day against impossible odds. I have come to know that, in and of myself, I am not strong enough, or brave enough, or unselfish enough, to stand against the onslaught of the enemy for what is right, at the cost of denigration, pain, and even of my very life. But I also have come to know Someone who is strong enough; who is omnipotent, ever-present, and ever true; and who alone deserves all honor; and with Him by my side, I am able to stand without fear.

Contributed by Stephen Elmer

(buzz@c4.net)

"The young Christian is still carnal," says Andrew Murray.

"Regeneration is a birth: the center and root of the personality, the spirit, has been renewed and taken possession of by the Spirit of God.

But time is needed for its power from that center to extend through all the circumference of his being. The kingdom of God is like unto a seed; the life in Christ is a growth, and it would be against the laws of nature and grace alike if we expected from the babe in Christ the strength that can only be found in the young men, or the rich experience of the fathers."

How long would you keep an automobile that had to be pushed everywhere it went? How much would it be worth to you? How much pleasure would you find in it? You might keep an automobile that just had to be pushed occasionally, but you would not have one for long that just could not be depended on, that would not go whenever you wanted it to go.

The Lord is no more pleased with one of His servants that continually has to be pushed than you would be with an automobile that continually has to be pushed.

God wants men of initiative and fervency of spirit. Paul taught us to be diligent, not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord (Romans 12:11).

A man who has to be pushed continually in order to keep him in service and attending worship is not devoted to the cause. It is understandable that a newborn babe in Christ, a young convert, might need to be pushed or encouraged, but if one who has been a Christian for many years must still be pushed, he is not growing spiritually as he should. He is not spiritually mature.

Do you have to be pushed?

If we plant a tree, it begins to grow; if we set a post, it begins to decay. There was an old farmer who, in the prayer meetings of his church in describing his Christian experience, always said: "Well, I'm not making much progress, but I'm established." One spring when the farmer was setting out some logs, his wagon sank in the mud in a soft place in the road, and he could not get out. As he sat on top of the logs viewing the situation, a neighbor who had never accepted the principle of the old farmer's religious experience came along and greeted him: "Well, Brother Jones, I see you are not making much progress, but you're established."

”As scientists look back at all the discoveries made in the 1990’s, the so-called Decade of the Brain, one finding stands out as the most startling and, for many scientists, the most difficult to accept: people are not necessarily born with all the brain cells they will ever have.” These words are a quote from Sandra Blakeslee, from a 1/4/00 preview article of a The New York Times piece entitled “Discovery Yields Shock About the Brain.” [Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company]

Commentary:

Well, shut my mouth! Neither are they born with all of many things they will ever have. Take sin, for example. And we have no idea the precise change that takes place when a sinner is born again. If scientists have difficulty accepting an unexplained increase in brain cells, no wonder so few of them seem to be believers.