carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

2Co 4:11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

2Co 4:17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

2Co 4:18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Paul example:

2Co 11:24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

2Co 11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

2Co 11:26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;

2Co 11:27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

2Co 11:28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Php 3:10 All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death,

Rom 8:28 We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.

III. Spiritual growth involves proper spiritual diet and exercise

Spiritual Food:
The word of God is our spiritual food.

Heb 5:12 By now you should have been teachers, but once again you need to be taught the simplest things about what God has said. You need milk instead of solid food.

Heb 5:13 People who live on milk are like babies who don’t really know what is right.

Heb 5:14 Solid food is for mature people who have been trained to know right from wrong.

Spiritual Exercise:
We must put into practice all that we hear and read from the Word of God. Through this, we will be able to build our lives on the Rock who is Jesus Christ the foundation of our lives.

Mat 7:24 "Therefore, everyone who listens to these messages of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.

Mat 7:25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation was on the rock.

It is only after the rain, floods and the winds tested our lives that we will be able to prove what kind of foundation that we are standing by.

IV. To grow spiritually, one must be planted in the house of the Lord

To be planted in the house of the Lord means to belong to the family of God in a Local Church. The church has an important part in our spiritual growth.

Psa 92:12 The righteous will flourish like palm trees; they will grow like the cedars of Lebanon.

Psa 92:13 They are like trees planted in the house of the LORD, that flourish in the Temple of our God,

Psa 92:14 that still bear fruit in old age and are always green and strong.

1Co 12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

I - To grow spiritually,