Acts 2.42 tells us the way to grow. And of course, it is all about being involved in local church.
42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
Sadly, some Christians never relate Biblically to the local church and never grow. Here are five people who are breaking Acts 2.42 and therefore never grow:
1. MR. GUESSIF. You know when I go to church, there are some people who are just consistent, regular, always there. You would be really surprised if they weren’t there. If it’s Sunday morning they are there. Other people are like Mr. Guessif. You have to guess if they are there any given week. They are inconsistent, unreliable and therefore cannot grow. Can you imagine a child growing if you only fed him or her when you felt like it? Then how can you imagine your soul growing when you don’t consistently get to church and get fed?
People come to me and tell me why they missed church and I wonder if they would ever miss work, a family outing, or even their favourite TV show for such a minor reason.
2. MRS. SPOOKY. One of the hardest things to deal with is when someone says to me “God told me this…” but it totally contradicts the Bible! It’s not spiritual, it’s spooky. Spooky people do not take the time or effort to study God’s Word, they don’t actually care what it says. They like being able to just do what they feel. They like to be depressed and say its God. They like to say it’s God defeating them so that they can not blame themselves. Everything they do is spooky. They are often close with Mr. Guessif, and if they miss church and you ask if they are OK, they will tell you the Spirit led them to not be in church. These people never develop the backbone and strength to grow and increase. Stop being spooky and study the Word. Some of the Spooky family will go to several different churches, changing from week to week. Others will chase conference after conference. Some will even go to Bible College and during their time there not even go to church! What a waste of time and money that would be!
3. MR. ROBOTO. Some people are very good at learning the Word, but they will not engage with others. They cannot have fun, they cannot enjoy themselves. They do not open up about where they are. You cannot be discipled if you are not open! The easiest way to find who is Mr Roboto is they will go to the service but never go to a small group. They will go to conferences and churches but never be in a small group where they have to ask for prayer and be vulnerable. The salvation of the world happened because the Word became flesh. If you do not let the Word in your life become flesh you will never save even a tiny part of the world!
4. MR. DISINCLINED. Some people need motivation to do anything. You need to text them ten times and invite them personally to a special event to get them to come. They are never hungry for anything, you have to gee them up to worship, hype up the message. They have no internal motivation. These people never grow because they are not in an environment 100% of the time where everyone is encouraging them. So they cannot grow.
5. MRS. PROUDHEART. Some people just do things their way. They don’t do what God wants, they do what they want. To find out what God wants, you need to pray. You need to take tbe tine to fellowship with God. So many people are totally prayer less, so never grow. Because of one reason – arrogance. They assume they know what God knows by instinct. No one’s instincts are that good, you need to spend hours with the Lord.
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