Growing To Be Like Jesus

Currently we're in a message series called "Living with Purpose." God has a purpose for your life. He wants you to discover it and live it. In this series we've found that God's purpose for our lives can be summarized in five biblical purposes. We've talked about two of them already. Our first purpose is to love God back, the purpose of worship. Our second purpose is to love people in God's family, the purpose of connecting your heart to others or fellowship. Today we're going to be talking about a crucial third purpose for your life. This purpose has to do with following God's direction in your life.

In order to know how to live life, God knew that we needed a role model. Someone who would be an example for us to follow. Who is your role model in life? Who is your example? Do you even have one? Having the right role model in life is very important.  The presence of a bad role model in your life will lead you astray. Young people look to movie stars, rock stars or athletes as their role models. Adults look to the rich and famous as their examples. God has a different role model for you, whether you are young or old. His name is Jesus.

Today, my message series is called "Growing To Be Like Jesus." God's purpose for your life is to grow to be like Jesus. That means that He wants you to think like Jesus, talk like Jesus and act like Jesus would. You are to be a disciple of Jesus, someone who learns from and follows His example. NLT Romans 8:29 For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son. Your third purpose in life is to be like Jesus, the purpose of discipleship.  God wants you to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. You couldn't possibly find a better example to follow then Jesus God as Father always wanted His children to become like Jesus, who is just like God His father.    

Now I want to make this perfectly clear. God is not saying that you're going to be a god. You'll never be a god, even though many cults teach that. God wants you to become godly, to think, feel and act as Jesus would in any given situation. NLT Ephesians 4:15 We will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church. A baby doesn't look much like their father do they? But as they grow up they become more and more like their father. God wants His children to grow up and become like Jesus who is the human representation of God the Father. The process of growing up to become like Jesus is called discipleship.

God uses lots of ways for us to grow spiritually. One way is through the Bible as we read it and put it into practice, we become like Jesus. Another way we grow up is through our relationships with other believers. Those relationships or fellowship are best built in a small group. But God also uses some unexpected things in our lives to help us grow spiritually. Today we're going to look at three unexpected tools that God uses to accomplish His purpose in our lives.  

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