Four Letter Words: “Grow” – 1 Peter 2:1-3

Four Letter Words: “Grow”

1 Peter 2:1-3
Sunday, April 27, 2025
Pastor Mike Bailey

Introduction

There are some four-letter words that should not come out of our mouths – and there are other four-letter words that we should be talking about. Maybe we don’t because these words make us uncomfortable or we don’t know what to say about them, but that doesn’t mean we should hide from them and the conversations they produce! Words like holy, life, grow, move, care, bold, and free are sometimes misunderstood because the world has redefined them. Let’s explore what the Bible says about these four-letter words together so we can stop avoiding them and start proclaiming what is good and true in our lives and in our world.

April 13: Holy – 1 Peter 1:13-25

April 20: Life – John 14:6

April 27: Grow – 1 Peter 2:1-3

May 4: Move – Genesis 12:1-9, Hebrews 11:8-16

May 11: Care – 1 John 3:17-18

May 18: Bold – 2 Corinthians 3:12

May 25: Free – John 8:36

IMPACT Church 101 E. First Ave. Parkesburg, PA 19365
(610) 857-3887 [email protected]

“GROW”

1 Peter 2:1-3

1. You should have a to grow in your faith.

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:1 (ESV)

Notes:

2. Growing in your faith means making changes.

¹⁴ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ¹⁵ Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶ and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? ¹⁷ So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. ¹⁸ Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” ¹⁹ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. ²⁰ How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? ^22a You see, his faith and his actions worked together. ²⁴ So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. ²⁶ Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works. James 2:14-20, 22a, 24, 26

Notes:

3. Growing in your faith gets easier with .

⁵In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. ⁸ The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:5-8

Notes:

4.Growing in your faith is .

¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 4:19-20 (ESV)

Notes:

5.Growing in your faith begins with opening your to Jesus.

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Psalm 34:8

Notes:

Challenge: What is holding me back from growing today?

It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Isaiah 59:2a

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

All Bible verses are from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.