Welcome to the Believer's Bible Assembly This is the day that the Lord has made and

we're going to rejoice and be glad in it Open your Bibles this morning to 2 Peter

chapter 3 verse 18 And it reads as follows but grow in the grace and the knowledge of

our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ To Him be glory both now and forever Amen It is the

will of God that every believer grows in the word and grow to spiritual maturity This is

God's will for every born again believer The text this morning emphasizes the importance of

spiritual growth and maturity in the life of the believer It talks about the grace of Christ God's

unmerited favor When we were born again we received this grace that we didn't work for that we

couldn't earn but because of God's love his grace has been bestowed upon our life However true grace

is progressive It's a call to grow in the grace that we have received And as

believers we are to continually grow day by day in this grace This growing in grace is ongoing it's constant

and it's a deliberate effort that we put into our walk with Christ Now that we have received the

grace of Christ it's up to us to now walk in that grace and that requires us

to grow It requires us to increase and this growth and increase in the word now develops

our faith This grace that we have received from God His unmerited favor upon our lives empowers

us to live this Christian life but we have to continue to grow in it We have to continue

to grow in our understanding of it That's why the second part of this verse is so critical

but grow in the grace and the knowledge because that's what it's all about The

grace and the knowledge We received the free grace from God but now what does that mean

What is it How do we walk in it How do we live it out That's where knowledge

comes in And this knowledge is a deep personal relational understanding of Jesus Christ and not just

intellectual awareness It's a knowledge a deep knowledge a deep personal relational knowledge of Jesus

Christ and you can't get that just by reading You can't get that just by quoting a verse This

requires a personal walk with him and in this walk with him you are growing

So now not only are you receiving the grace of God you're walking in the

knowledge of his word This verse is a call for us to grow both in grace

and knowledge And when we do this we'll live a balanced Christian life It will become a lifestyle to us

We don't even have to think about it Doesn't mean that trouble won't come our

way or adversity will not come our way but our walk will always be balanced between

the grace of God and the knowledge of God And as we continue to lean on his wisdom his knowledge

his grace as we continue to allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through

our lives we'll continue to walk out this Christian life knowing that the Lord is with us We're not just

to be recipients of the grace We have to be active participants of this grace learning

and growing in his will However in order for our rise to make significant progress

towards spiritual maturity there are some things That every believer must avoid obstacles that can hinder our spiritual growth

There's no doubt that the Lord wants us to grow in the grace and knowledge

of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ There's no doubt about that But there are some obstacles that every

believer must be aware of and avoid Obstacles that can hinder our spiritual walk and our growth with Christ

Today I want to unpack and discuss 7 obstacles that keep us from growing in

spiritual maturity and faith Let's talk about it Number one Lack of knowledge of God's word

You hear me say this over and over again without a consistent intake of the scripture Our spiritual growth is

hindered Hosea 4:6 my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge That was true back in Hosea's

day and it's still true today God's people are destroyed They cut off ruined for

a lack of knowledge Knowledge about what Knowledge of the scripture knowledge of God knowledge of Jesus Christ knowledge

of the Holy Spirit knowledge about how we should live and move and have our being

in Christ People today are being destroyed doomed cut off ruined for a lack of knowledge And this is it's

not like knowledge don't exist We're blessed to have all of this knowledge available to us But even though the

knowledge is available to us do we have the desire and the want to to grow

desire to dive deeper into the things of God Because if we don't our lives

will be destroyed doomed cut off and ruined all because we fail to pursue knowledge Proverbs chapter 4 verse 7

says that wisdom is the principal thing wisdom is the main thing and with all your getting

get understanding So it's up to us to seek after knowledge to seek after wisdom to seek

after understanding And when we don't do these things our spiritual walk our spiritual growth

with the Lord will be hindered And if not fixed we will be destroyed cut off doomed

ruined for a lack of knowledge and it don't have to be that way The scripture says

that we have to grow We have to increase in knowledge knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ Some people lack knowledge and are being destroyed Others have the knowledge but

they're not growing in it They become complacent content Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12 to 14

says by this time talking to believers who have been in the faith for a while you ought to

be teachers You should be out here teaching other people about the things of God the things of

Christ but you still need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again But

then he goes on to say but solid food is for the spiritually mature That's what we're

trying to get in our walk with Jesus Christ We're trying to move from milk to meat from baby

food to solid food from the elementary truth of the word to a deeper more in depth knowledge of

the word not just a head knowledge But we can deepen our relationship and our walk and

our fellowship with Jesus Christ Spiritual immaturity is a direct result from not progressing beyond the

basic teachings of the word The first obstacle to spiritual maturity and faith is the

lack of knowledge of God's word The second hindrance to growing in spiritual maturity and

faith is worldliness and Cardinal living Worldly desires worldly pursuits can choke out spiritual growth What is in the world

that you're still desiring What is in the world that you're still pursuing We've been separated from the world

but believers still have a desire to go back into the world that we were separated

from First John chapter 2 verses 15 to 17 talks about do not love the world watch

this or the things in the world It goes on to say the world is passing away but whoever

does the will of God abides forever What is it about the world that you love What is it

about the things of the world that you're still pursuing We see it every day

how people that pursue the things of the world and love the world how they fall and they fall

fast quick The lives have been ruined The reputations have been shattered all because they

confess the love of God but they're still pursuing the things of the world Romans chapter 12

verse 2 tells us that we are not to be conformed to this world but we are to be transformed

By the renewing of our minds So as a believer if you're still desiring the things of this world but

if you're still loving the world it's because your mind has not been renewed Your thinking is still like

that of the world Listen we've been brought out of the world We've been separated from the

world and separated to God and His purposes What in the world are you still looking for What in the

world are you still pursuing Because worldly desires can choke out spiritual growth If you are pursuing the things of

the world you're not pursuing the things of God and if you're not pursuing the things of God you can't

grow You can't mature in your walk you can't mature in your faith In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 1

through 3 Paula minus the Corinthians He told them you are still Cardinal You are

still worldly For since there are jealousies and quarreling among you are you not worthy cardinal Paul is saying

that the proof that you're still worldly the proof that you're still pursuing worldly things Is because of the fruit

that's being produced in your life Paul said listen I know you still a cardinal

You know why Because there's still jealousy among you They're still quarreling among you And if you're doing these things

are you not still cardinal As a believer that's walking growing in the world desiring spiritual maturity our life

is gonna take on a different form The things that we used to do we're not gonna do

no more We're not gonna have a desire to do anymore But if there's still evidence

of the old self popping up every day all day that's proof that your relationship with the Lord right

You're not growing You're still the same By now you should be teachers of the word

but you still cardinal you're still worldly Why Because you're still pursuing these things Something

in the world you still love something in the world you still want to be a part of

but Paul is clearly saying here That cardinal behavior is a key indicator of spiritual

immaturity and the spiritual immaturity leads to spiritual pride and self-deception Because of pride a person thinks that

they have arrived already Oh man I don't need a word I learned that long time ago I'm

good That's a person that's full of pride and that's a person that's been self-deceived Thinking one has

arrived can lead to self-deception and it also leads to spiritual stagnation meaning you're not gonna grow If you

think that you've already arrived there's no room for growth If you think you know it all there's no

room to learn anything else Proverbs 16:18 says pride goes before destruction God detests the

prideful There's nothing about spiritual pride or pride in general that God loves James 4:6 says God

resists He opposes the proud but he gives grace continually to the humble And if you think you've already

arrived you cannot grow In Revelation chapter 3 verse 17 the Lord had to rebuke the church of

Laodicea He said you say I'm rich and I need nothing not realizing that you are wretched pitiful poor

blind naked This church was prideful They were puffed up They were self-deceived They thought they had

arrived I'm rich I got all the money I need so I don't need nothing else And the

Lord said you don't even realize how wretched you are You don't even realize how

pitiful you are You're poor you're blind and you're naked without hope and in great

need because of spiritual pride and self-deception We have to avoid worldliness and Cardinal thinking and Cardinal living because

that's going to lead to spiritual pride That's going to lead to complacency that's going to

lead to deception which is an obstacle that keeps us from growing in Christ So #2 worldliness

and Cardinal living We got to avoid that by all means There's nothing in the world that's gonna help

you grow spiritually There's nothing in the world that's gonna help you grow in your walk with Christ

but everything in the world is designed to hinder your walk with the Lord Number

sensitivity to it and cuts off our growth Now the key word there is unconfessed sin Listen

as long as you are in these earth suits the sin nature that we always battling with every day is

gonna raise up But we're talking about today is unconfessed sin You sinning you know you're

sinning you haven't confessed your sin unto the Lord So this pattern of sin is going to

now desensitize you to sin Now the sin that you're persistent in and have not confessed have

become a lifestyle and that's gonna cut off your growth from the Lord You might

be saying Pastor Mike what about the Holy Spirit If I'm saved in the Holy Spirit convicting

me Yes he is but you're ignoring the Holy Spirit too This is a willful act but unconfessed

sin and disobedience is gonna cut off your spiritual growth from the Lord Psalm 66:18 says this If I had

not confessed the sin in my heart the Lord would not have listened Sin cuts

off communication with the Lord It cuts it off But not only sin but disobedience which is a sin James

the word says that's disobedience That's sin Listen if you know what the word says for you

to do and you don't do it that's disobedience that's sin Unconfessed sin and disobedience cuts off our spiritual growth

from the Lord but it doesn't have to be this way First John 1:9 it says

if we confess our sin he Christ is faithful He's true to his promise and he's just to forgive us

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Not some but all unrighteousness That's the promise of the Lord

He's already forgiven you but when you sin knowingly you have to go before the Father and

confess that sin After you've been born again and if you continue to sin the Holy Spirit will convict

And once the Holy Spirit convicts now is our responsibility to confess Lord I'm sorry I messed up

Thank you Lord for forgiving me of my sin It's an acknowledgment of wrongdoing but if you don't

do that that's gonna cut off your spiritual growth with the Lord Number 4 is a neglect

of prayer and fellowship with God When you neglect prayer and fellowship with God your relationship

with Him just became distant And a distant relationship with God is the result of a

lack of communication with God See God initiated our relationship with him but it's up to us to maintain it

And one of the ways we do that is through prayer and fellowship But if

you're not praying and you don't have any fellowship with God that's gonna result in spiritual stagnation

John 15:45 says abide in me and I in you Live in me and I

will live in you Apart from me being distant from me being separated from me you can do nothing How

you gonna grow and you have neglected the source of your spiritual growth We have

to abide in Christ We have to abide in His word We have to abide in prayer

Luke 18:1 says that we ought to always pray and not lose heart Don't give

up When you have a distant relationship with God you're going to lose heart You're going to give up Because

the fellowship that's necessary for you to maintain your walk with the Lord has now

been severed Not because of the Lord but because of you and the neglect to pray neglect to

be in daily fellowship and communication with the Lord The neglect to read your Bible daily to study your

Bible daily See all these things keeps us connected to God through His Son Jesus Christ Hebrews

chapter 2 verse 1 says this we must pay closer attention talking about to the things that maintain

our relationship with God prayer the word Therefore to what we have heard so that

we do not drift away We maintain a relationship with the Lord through prayer through

the reading of His word we're being connected to Him But if we do not do these things we will

drift away Drifting away implies a lack of an anchor that steadies us Drifting away also implies a lack

of direction because without that anchor we're liable to go anywhere toss to and fro

where every window of doctrine Drifting away implies a neglect of our spiritual growth and

our faith The apostle Paul warns us against this in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 19 It says

holding on to faith and a good conscience which some have rejected and have suffered shipwreck

without regards to the faith Let me read this to you and amplify it Keeping

your faith leaning completely on God with absolute trust and confidence in his guidance and

having a good conscience for some people have rejected their moral compass and have made

a shipwreck of their faith So what happens when you neglect your relationship with God What happens when

you neglect prayer and fellowship with God Your faith will become shipwrecked and nobody wants that Paul was teaching us

the importance of not straying from the truth not straying from faith and he's talking

about the necessity of not becoming complacent in our Christian life in our Christian walk

Number 4 neglecting prayer and fellowship with God That's a key obstacle to our spiritual growth

Likewise number 5 neglect the Christian fellowship Spiritual maturity requires us growing together as believers It requires fellowship with like-minded

believers Hebrews chapter 10 verses 24 and 25 talks about let us consider how to stir

up encourage motivate one another not neglecting to meet for worship and instruction We come together

to serve one another to encourage one another to motivate one another If you neglect that aspect of

it you won't grow But when we come together we come together to stir each other up I'm string you

up this morning I'm teaching you what you need to do to grow spiritually I'm encouraging you

I'm motivating you That's the purpose of assembling together Proverbs 27:17 says as iron sharpen iron

so one person believer sharpens another That's what we're doing We're sharpening one another with the

word We encouraging one another with the word We're motivating each other with the word It helps when

we encourage one another And that's what it's all about But if you don't have this

fellowship among like-minded believers you will not grow in your faith Number 6 a lack of perseverance through trials You

going toward a trial coming out of a trial that's life But the good thing about us is that we

don't have to go through the trials of life alone We have God the Father God the Son and the

Holy Spirit with us but we still got to go through it Oftentimes when people

go through trials of life that's when they throw in the towel that's when they give

up James says consider it all joy count it all joy when you fall into various trials These

trials are designed to grow me to mature me We are gonna go through various

trials but the key is not to give up James chapter 1 verse 2 and 4 talks

about the testing of your faith that will produce perseverance and the purpose of perseverance is so that you

may grow that you may mature and be complete In order for God to be able to

do what he wants to do in and through you You have to go through some trials When you read

the Bible you see people of God that persevered through trials But those trials were not

designed to destroy them but to grow them Now I'm gonna tell you like James said consider

it all joy when you go through these various trials in life And we can

be joyful because God is with us And he promised that he will never leave us nor forsake us But

the key is for us not to grow weary while going through these trials but we

got to keep on pressing knowing I'm not going through it all by myself but God is

with me So number 6 Obstacles to spiritual growth believers throwing up their hands throwing

in the towel giving up in trials can't do that gotta keep pushing through And the 7th obstacle is

false teaching and deception I believe that number one thing that hinders us in our walk

with God today is false teaching and deception The Lord told Paul in the last days as we get

closer to the return of Christ there's gonna be false teaching and deception in the church

and this false teaching and deception is designed to lead believers astray and to stunt

their growth and maturity 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 3 and 4 talks about for time will come and believe

me it is here when people will not put up with sound doctrine But they will turn

their ears from the truth and will be turned onto myths and fables That's where we are right now False

teaching is everywhere Is in the church it's outside the church We're in the midst of it But

what's gonna keep us anchored What's gonna keep us on solid ground Sound doctrine the word of truth But

if you don't have it and you have those engineers that's leading you to false teaching your

spiritual growth and maturity in Christ in the word will cease Because there's nothing in false doctrine false teaching that's

gonna grow you in the faith And what I'm talking about this morning are things that's going to hinder you

from growing spiritually and false teaching will lead to deception And Jesus said as we get closer and closer to

his return the world will be full of deception to the point that even the very elect will

be deceived So let me leave you with this Yes it's God's will for us to grow to spiritual maturity

However we must avoid these roadblocks these obstacles that we talked about today As believers we must deepen

our knowledge of God's word cause that's what's gonna help us to continue to grow We have to get beyond

the elementary truth of the word We have to resist the appeal of the world We have

to resist the appeal of sin because the reality of it is you can't win with sin

Sin separates you from the promises of God But the good news is we have an advocate

Jesus Christ when we confess our sins We're covered by the blood we belong to Him but you can't win

with sin And you can resist it because you have the Holy Spirit in you We have

to maintain a vibrant prayer life We have to spend some quality time with the

Lord in prayer How do you show your love towards someone You spend quality time with them That's

how you show your love towards another That's the same thing God requires of us We need to spend quality

time in prayer with the Lord Likewise we have to engage with like-minded believers We have to persevere

through trials and we have to be discerning about what we see and hear We have to renew

our minds We need to be focused more on the word Understand that the more we grow in

grace the more we bring glory to God with our lives That's the ultimate goal of every believer John 15:8

says that we glorify God when we grow and our lives produce fruits And when we

do these things we will continue to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus

Christ and we will avoid those things that hinder us from growing spiritually And when we continue to grow in

the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ we're conforming daily to the image of Christ So I pray

that this message this morning has been a blessing to you and that we have identified

knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because it is His will for us to grow And our

lives to produce fruit Amen