INTRODUCTION
We are living in a time when the only way you will make a difference in this world is to stir up the gift and calling of God in our lives. Anything you have received from the Lord is good and is enough. You must never get slack or give up on what God is doing in your life. (Hebrews 6: 1 instructs, “therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God),
Examples
§ David (1 Samuel 22 and 24) whom God through Samuel had anointed to be a kind but David had the covering of a cave and could not see the beautiful throne but God is still God in times of trouble.
§ Joseph (Genesis 37 - 41:41-47) to who despite all odds pressed on to fulfill God’s dream in his life. The bibles says in Genesis 39:23 that “The LORD was with Joseph. He gave Joseph success in everything he did”. (He was in charge of the prison he did not stop there…)
§ Thermometer and Thermostat
INTRODUCE THE TOPIC:
PERFECT PROGRESS, (stepping up, leaving behind what is good and going for the best, going towards the goal). This progress involves three stages. Paul talked about these three stages in (Philippians 3:10-21) when he did not boast about his achievement but still considered his mission not accomplished.
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
PHP 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
· Stage 1: PERFECT RELATIONSHIP
At this stage we are perfect because of our eternal union with the infinitely perfect Christ. When we become his children, we are declared “not guilty” and thus righteous. This perfection is absolute and unchangeable, and it is this perfect relationship that will one day be “completely perfect” or Glorified.
· Stage 2: PERFECT PROGRESS
At this stage, our progress is changeable in contrast to our relationship as in perfect relationship. Why? It is because it depends on our daily walk.
- At times in life we mature more than at other times, it simply means we are growing towards perfection if we “press on” – Philippians 3:12
§ TROUBLED ON EVERY SIDE, YET NOT DISTRESSED
§ WE ARE PERPLEXED, BUT NOT IN DESPAIR
§ PUZZLED BUT NOT COMPLETELY BAFFLED
§ PERSECUTED, BUT NOT FOR FORSAKEN
§ PURSUED BUT NOT CAUGHT
§ CAST DOWN, BUT NOT DESTROYED
§ STRUCK DOWN TO THE MAT BUT NOT OUT OF THE FIGHT
· Stage 3: COMPLETELY PERFECT (Philippians 3:20-21)
A stage when Christ returns to take us to eternal Kingdom. We will be glorified and made completely perfect. (Song: Will you be ready when the Lord shall come…)
HOW DO WE GO ABOUT PERFECT PROGRESS (2 Peter 1:3-11)
These actions do not come automatically:
§ They require hard work.
§ They are not optional
§ They must be a continual part of the Christian life
§ We don’t finish one and start on the next
§ We work them all together through God that empower and enable us.
WHAT MUST WE GUIDE AGAIST
1. Don’t place absolute trust in people or unreasonable expectation of the Church, office.
(Jeremiah 17:5-9 This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. JER 17:6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. JER 17:7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. JER 17:8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." JER 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?)
· Come to the fact that everyone is human and will make mistakes, but the only one you can trust without failing you is God. (Explain love and trust)
2. Don’t seek or promote yourself or your agenda.
(Psalm 75:5-7 KJV) Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
· Always lift up the Lord in all that you say and all you do. Don’t boast or talk about yourself. Always boast in the Lord Jeremiah 9:23-24, warns “This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, JER 9:24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the LORD”.(Chevron’s experience).
· Pride and arrogance will set you up for a fall – Proverbs 16:18
· Avoid the trap of presuming that your opinions are always divinely inspired or are indisputable. Don’t press your opinions or personal agenda.
3. Treat others as you wish to be treated.
Mathew 7:12 ”So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets”.
4. Have a teachable, cooperative attitude
Hebrews 13:17 ”Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you”
· Accountability to a godly shepherd is a part of God’s order for the Spiritual growth of every Christian.
· Most people don’t want to be told what to do, or be corrected if they are wrong, this is why modern churches are turning out so many immature believers. When they hear something they don’t like they either live the church or cause dissension/opposition.
5. Have a teachable, cooperative attitude
Hebrews 13:17 ”Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Nigeria experience in the church)
6. Be devoted to love and forgives
1 John 2:10-11 ” Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him”.
· Be quick to forgive and don’t hold grudges. If you forgive, then God will forgive you too.
7. Don’t personalize everything that is preached
· Preaching is in such that everyone will take the message personally and apply it to his or her own life.
· Accept it just like another miracle. (Gbigbaleti experience).
8. Move with successful people
9. Evangelism
Romans 1:16-17 ”I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
The Gospel shows us both how righteous God in His plan for us to be saved, and also how we may be made fit for eternal life. (Talk about how to do this in the office…)
Altar call
Ephesians 4:31-32
Pray that they all receive the fire of the Holy Ghost.
Galatians 5:10
Everyone responsible for dissension be straighten up by the fire of the Holy Ghost
Open my eyes LORD to see Jesus upon the Throne.
