This past Sunday I started a series for the month on “The Growing Church” and we looked at the topic of healthy growth. One of the things I emphasized is that it all starts with the Lordship of Jesus and the Leadership of the Holy Spirit. Today, I was reading in I Corinthians chapter 3 where Paul talks about the truth that it is God that makes it grow. Paul clarified that it wasn’t himself or Apollos that had caused the church to grow, they were just people that God was using (this Sunday’s sermon is “God Uses People”); it was God that caused the church to grow. As Paul continues in chapter three, he establishes that he had laid the only foundation that can legitimately be laid and that is the foundation of Jesus Christ. This connects directly with what was said on Sunday that we must start with a common commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The next thing he tells them is that they are the temple of the Holy Spirit. (The you is plural in the Greek and is a reference to you – the church and not you as an individual) Anyone attempting to bring division was not just tampering with a human organization, but they were moving against God’s holy work. God has always intended for the church to be led by the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus instructed the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit. Paul now declares that God’s Spirit lives in the church. Have you ever noticed that when God’s Spirit is moving and leading a service that there is life in that service? The church was designed to be led by the Spirit. The Lordship of Jesus and the Leadership of the Holy Spirit put God’s church in a place where He can bring growth. The Growing church <b>2/9/11</b>