Self Growth By                  Pastor Ricky Harris

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ²  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The Bible encourages us to grow;

1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

1 Timothy 4:7 But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

• In our focus on self growth we see in Romans 12:1-2 how Paul encourages or admonishes his audience to dedicate their lives to God by presenting their bodies to God as a living sacrifice.
• This is an area where we all should seek to grow and mature.
• In the natural world anything that is not growing is said to be dying.
• In your life you want to see an increase and not a decline when it comes to your health, wealth, intellect, as well as your spirit as these are all things you can use to bless your life as well as your service to God.
• In your pusuit of growth you may make some mistakes along the way.
• Learn from your mistakes. Repent, correct and move on.
• There is a time for rest as one needs time to recoup.
• Stagnation is not the same thing as rest.
• One could make the mistake in thinking  that being stagnate is the state between growing and dying by assuming that stagnate is in essence like being in neutral.
• Rest is temporary, stagnation is permanent.
• The definition of stagnate is “to cease developing; become inactive or dull.”
• At our very core, the soul is what drives us to grow, achieve, search and learn; all in a singular quest to become more.
• In a universe of change, you have no choice but to succumb to it. 
• Something is always changing one way or another.  If you’re just trying to maintain, then you’re in danger of going backwards. Maintaining can be a passive form of regression.
• As far as your physical health goes, your body is literally a sculpture in constant progress.  If you are exercising regularly but do not vary your workout routine, your body will adapt and go on cruise control.  Bodybuilders and athletes are very aware of this exercise plateau.  They have to constantly switch up their routines and attack their muscles in different ways to surprise the body and force it to adapt to new levels.  If you don’t exercise at all, then your muscles and bones will invariably get weaker.  If you don’t give them any reason to grow, then they will waste away.
• However, waste is not limited to body parts.  The same goes for your mind and spirit.  If you have a job and you’ve learned everything there is to learn in that position, then eventually you’re just maintaining that current position.  How long will it take before you become a zombie to the routine?  If you get sick and tired of a job, it could be because you’re sick and tired of maintaining that stagnate position. 
• You need to find a way to grow otherwise it can become a waste of time and when that happens your spirit will want nothing more than to break up the monotony.
• When it comes to finances if your bank account stops growing your finances will eventually dwindle to nothing.
• On the spiritual side please understand that Satan is not sitting steel and doing nothing.
• I believe that if we continue to grow then we will never die but rather at some point transition from this life to the next life.
• People who keep growing mentally by reading and staying active in learning are unlikely to develop Alzheimer.
• Whatever age you are now please understand you will never be this age again, so you might as well take advantage of this time.
• There is a grand version of you that is so great the universe doesn’t even know what to expect.
• Those who can sing the song “How I got over” when they say “my soul looks back and wonders how I got over;” it is not because of sitting around doing nothing. Because if you sit around and do nothing rather than get over, you will get run over.
• You can have unparalleled control of your health, education, career and relationships if you embrace change. 
• Meet your own God-given expectations and attack your Holy Spirit inspired goals with great passion to continually build yourself anew Meet your own God-given expectations and attack your Holy Spirit inspired goals with great passion to continually build yourself anew