Forward Motion- Part 1

This past Sunday night, we began a new series entitled, "Forward Motion." We began to ask the question, "How do we become more like Jesus?" It's a simple question, yet for some reason, it continues to stump us...On Sunday night, we saw that when it comes to asking this question, we tend to be asking it from 2 viewpoints. There are those of us who are on the outside looking in...you take one look at Christianty, and because you feel as though you can't be perfect, because you feel as though you aren't ready to go "all in", to make the "leap", you back away and forget about it. There are others of us who believe we are followers of Christian, and yet whenever we get to a point in our lives where we want to "change" or "be different", we eventually hit a wall, and never come through on our pormises...why is at? Why do we, whenever we come home from a conference or retreat and are on fire for God, suddenly hit a wall and our momentum comes to sudden stop...and then guilt, worry, and frustration set in....

Maybe it comes back to how we define the words "I'm going to change..."? Maybe we need to recognize that we can't be perfect...and that instead of being able to leap to perfection over night, our faith is really about tiny steps of forward motion leading us into the image of Jesus...?
On Sunday night, we looked at the life of Peter, a "leaper" if there ever was one...We saw how he was first called, and how he ended up dying. But more importantly, we saw the struggles during his life...What we saw was that his life was about tiny steps of forward motion...steps that led him from days of fishing when Jesus first called him to "follow me", to the day when he would be martryed for this same Jesus...For Peter, his growth didn't all come over night...it was a journey...a journey of steps...the same is true of us...

Use these questions to help further your understanding and application of Sunday night's message!

1. Take some time in prayer, and talk with God about the struggles you have in your walk with Him. Where do you think these struggles stem from? Are you trying to be perfect? Why do we get tempted to become "perfect" over night?

2. Read Philippians 1:6...What promise are we given in this verse? Who is the one who changes us?

3. Does it help to look at your faith as a process of progressing growth?

4. How do you know when you are moving forward or simply standing still, when it comes to your faith? Be honest with yourself, which are you?

5. What is your one "step" that you want to work on in your faith? How do you plan to go about reaching that goal?

6. Spend some more time in prayer confessing those times when you have tried to make yourself perfect. Pray for understanding of what it means to surrender to God's work in your life. Finally, pray for strength to take that step this week...