Climbing Together: The Power of Spiritual Relationships

We define catalytic as an agent, somebody who makes a change, somebody who prods, somebody who helps move you forward. Spiritual is somebody who's interested in your spiritual life. Some of you all have buddies that you watch football with. Some of you all have buddies that you go golf with. Some of y 'all have buddies that you drink with. Okay, I probably should have said that. Some of y 'all, we got all sorts of buddies, but the reality is, do you have spiritual partners who are trying to be agents in your life and you be an agent in their life to grow spiritually? [00:03:08] (32 seconds)



He says, I'm sorry, in verse 4, he said, Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. To do nothing is nothing of spiritual eternal good apart from Jesus Christ. So he says here, guys, you've got to have a vibrant walk with Christ. You've got to abide in Christ. [00:10:11] (34 seconds)



In these past four weeks, I have tried to lay a biblical and philosophical foundation for why you ought to commit to other believers in Christ for spiritual growth. Another. In other words, I don't want you all to get into a group just to be in a group. I don't want you all to be in a group just to have new friends. I want you all to be in a group because, because God wants you to be in a group. I want you all to have catalytic spiritual relationships because God says, you know what? You cannot reach your spiritual summit unless you have other people helping you to climb. [00:05:40] (34 seconds)



So when you come together in catalytic spiritual relationships, you may not bring a fire, but somebody got to bring a fire. And the goal is that when you get connected with somebody else on fire, even if you come on fire, eventually you're going to be on fire because you came in contact with somebody who's on fire. But the challenge is many of us don't make contact with people who are on fire for Jesus. [00:14:12] (29 seconds)



Based upon our experience, based upon our exposure, rather than based upon our knowledge and our competency in the word of God. Are we tracking together? 2 Timothy 3, 16, 17 says that all scripture, when it says all scripture is inspired by God, it's making reference to specific documentation. It's not making reference to what God has dropped into your spirit. Smile at me. It's not making reference to what you thought about or what was revealed to you. It's making reference to what God has preserved in the 66 books of the Bible. [00:22:25] (37 seconds)



In other words, to live authentically means to let the warts show. It means to be honest about where you are, how you feel, what you're doing. So, well, we live in a world where, boy, we like, you know what? Learn how to trick people and don't let people know that you're really mad, you're really upset, you're really struggling. Things are really falling apart. Give the projection everything is great. [00:31:00] (21 seconds)



So when you get together into a Catholic spiritual relationship, you've got to learn to forgive one another. Hear me well. What happens is we think if we can acknowledge and prove and validate the validity of being mistreated, hurt, or disrespected, that gives us a green card to leave the relationship. God is saying, just because you can validate it, you can articulate it, you can document it, you can analyze it, you can categorize it, does not give you a green card to leave the relationship. [00:41:42] (35 seconds)



And so Satan isolates us to devastate us. So pastor, what are these seven behaviors? These seven behaviors, number one is, catalytic by number one is, you've got to devote daily. You've got to devote yourselves daily to a passionate, personal. [00:09:37] (18 seconds)



And so what happens is we don't live authentically. We act like certain aspects of life don't touch certain people because of who they are. You know, my dad had one of those. My dad passed in 2008. And my dad, you know, he was like George Jefferson. That was moving on up, right? So he moved out to the suburbs after I left. Yeah, like how are you going to move after I leave, right? So you should have to stay there because you didn't move with your kids. So anyway, we go out to the suburbs, but we're driving down the street. And my dad was surprised that grass had weeds in the suburbs. [00:35:12] (37 seconds)



And very often, we want to get rid of people because they become a mess. You don't want to deal with messy people. Stop dealing with yourself. Because if you're healthy, you make regular messes on a regular basis. [00:48:38] (16 seconds)