Cultivating a Heart to Grow.Attendants Guide

Cultivating a Heart to Grow Teaching Summary: The key to growth is repentance in the power of Christ and determination of our will to walk through the steps to allow growth to cultivate Key to Christian Growth: Repentance (Mark 4:1-20; 1:14-15) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What is Repentance? A change of direction, turning from one way to another way; giving up a way of life in exchange for another. In a theological sense: the change our will, heart, and mind from following spiritual darkness and now following the light of Christ What Hinders Our Growth? Areas of Repentance ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hindrances to Repentance 1. Natural Response—Deflective We have not _________________ our own decisions, our mistakes, and our sins We have _________________ hidden sins and issues to remain unaddressed We have _________________ others, situations, and problems the authority to define us We haven’t _________________ how to break the cycle of our natural response

2. Natural Response—Defensive Denial:________________________________________________ Oversimplification: _________________________________________ Vindication: _____________________________________________ Justification: _____________________________________________ All our natural responses impact our ability to experience freedom from sin and experience the amazing life in Christ both personally and in our relationships Way Forward: Keys to Allow for Growth 1. Bring Ourselves into the Light of Christ (Ps. 139:23-24) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Be continually honest with ourselves and to the Lord (good, bad, ugly) and take ownership for our lives and our decisions (Ps. 51:4) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Relinquish our mistaken understanding of God and who we say we are, and embrace what the Scriptures says about God and who we are in Christ (Col. 2:20) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Allow the Lord to break our natural cycle of sin, pride, and self-reliance, and become humble and dependent upon Him and connected into His community (Gal. 3:2) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Begin to build new paths to life in Christ (Col. 3:5,10; cf. Gal. 2:20) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Small Group Notes/Prayer ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________

Application Exercise Reflecting IN: Reflect upon yourself in acknowledging your own weakness/sin/failures, possible limited/unbiblical view of God, yourself, situations, and others (Gal 6:4) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Praying IN: Commit what you have learned to praying for change in the areas ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Sharing OUT: Share/confess your situation to someone (Jam. 5:16) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Living OUT: Redefining who you know the Scriptures says you are, who God is, and your own journey in Christ—this what Christ has called me to live and for His purposes ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________