2nd Peter 3:18 but GROW in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen
As we move quickly into 2019, I ask you a question, what did you learn from 2018. Are you able to grow from last year?? Peter encourages us to grow “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” I have to trust that Peter, and all of his experience with the Lord, would understand the type of Growth possible for anyone in Christ Jesus. So what is GROWTH:

G–Grace
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
-We are who we are and where we are because of God’s Grace. We must also know that Grace is a gift that we can never earn or loose, regardless of what we have done. We’ll dig into this more later.

R–Righteousness
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
-Jesus is Righteous and everything in Him is Righteous. Guess what? 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. When we accept Christ as our Savior we become the righteousness of God, because we are in Christ. More to come…

O–Obedience
Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
-I always want my children to obey me, because I feel I know what is best for them, plus I love and would do anything for them. How much more does God want what is best for us? Colossians 3:20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.

W–Worship
Genesis 22: 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
-Worship takes every focus off of ourselves (our life, problems, desires) and places it solely on God!!!! When we do this, we acknowledge Him as our source, strength and hope. We invite God into our situation when we worship and God is looking for us. John 4: 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

T–Thankfulness
1 Chronicles 16:5 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 35 And say, “Save us, O God of our salvation; Gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles, To give thanks to Your holy name, To triumph in Your praise.”
-A mindset of Thankfulness, is a constant reminder that every blessing we receive or good that happens to us, does so because of God’s love for us. James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights…

H–Healing
Isaiah 53: 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
-By Faith we are healed!! Jesus allowed himself to be beaten to a pulp so that we would receive His supernatural healing and desires that we be healthy and whole. 3 John 1:2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

As we continue together into 2019, GROWTH has to be a group effort. Us and a Triune God (The Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit). With this team we can do all things. We will work together over the next couple of months to walk thru this GROWTH model. So come back and join us.