Sanctification Before Flourishing: Growing Day by Day

Introduction

It's natural to long for your life to flourish. Every Christian, every person, wants to progress, wants to grow. But Pastor Jean-Blaise AMOUGOU opens his message with a reminder that puts everything back in its place : you belong to someone, and it's that Someone who makes you grow as he sees fit.

The theme of this message is direct : sanctification and salvation before flourishing. Before God blesses you the way you dream of, he wants to transform you. Before he sets you on the heights, he wants to shape you in the valley. In other words, spiritual maturity isn't a sprint. It's a daily walk with God, made of self-denial, trials accepted, visible fruit, and perseverance.

Message Outline

1. Spiritual maturity begins with a new birth

As long as a child hasn't matured, they remain a slave : they endure, they obey, but they haven't yet understood what the Father desires. You have to become a son or daughter to enter into God's will, and that begins with the new birth.
Nicodemus knew the Torah by heart, he was a teacher in Israel, and yet Jesus told him : "Unless someone is born anew, he can't see God's Kingdom" (John 3). Intellectual knowledge doesn't replace the new birth.
To be born again is to recognize that without Jesus everything is lost, to let go of your old life, and to accept Christ as your one and only Lord and personal Savior. The flesh still clings to you, but Jesus has conquered it : there is no more condemnation for those who are in him.
The preacher insists : you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God, the Almighty, the one who created all things, comes to live in you. A born-again Christian, filled with the Holy Spirit, doesn't need to be delivered from demons : he needs to be set free from the works of the flesh.

2. Growth is a daily process

"If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Daily. Not a sudden event. Not a feeling from a worship service. A progressive path.
God is the divine potter. He breaks, he shapes, he removes the little bits of stone that could hurt you. He does as he sees fit. A child doesn't become an adult in a day ; a disciple grows step by step.
Maturity is built through steady habits : daily prayer where you speak to God and fall silent to listen to him, meditating on the Word (not just reading it), constant obedience to what he asks of you.
It isn't the occasional grand gesture that transforms you, but the steady habits, lived in Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus, doing his will and not your own.

3. God uses time and trials to make you grow

This is where many people stall. As soon as a trial hits, we look for someone to blame : "It's Satan, it's a demon, it's my uncle, it's my aunt." The preacher resets the compass : God shapes you every day through experiences, trials, and discipline.
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4). God's timing is what many people don't want to wait for.
Difficulties aren't accidents in your life, but tools of transformation. Without trials, there's no depth. A Christian who has never known a trial remains a child, not a son.
The preacher shares a testimony from a stay in Toulon in 1994. In the family he lodged with during a pastoral training program, the wife always sang, joyful, even though her husband had left her ten years earlier asking for a divorce. For ten years she stayed on her knees : "Father, this is the husband you gave me. Show me grace." One day, a stranger leaving an evangelism outreach in Toulon stopped her husband in the street and told him : "The Lord sends me to tell you to go back to your house, now." The husband went home, fell to his knees on the stairs, his head to the floor, to ask forgiveness from God and from his wife. Their son is today the pastor of a large church in the south, a warrior filled with the Holy Spirit. That woman lacked in nothing. She held firm.

4. Maturity shows in the fruit, not in the words

The fruit of the Spirit is one : love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The preacher especially stresses self-control : that's where every one of us, without exception, stumbles.
When someone comes at you, self-control disappears fast. You snap back : "Who are you? Why are you talking to me like that?" But the apostle Paul reminds us : we have the same Spirit. That Spirit isn't divided.
Love isn't a slogan from a worship service. It's proving to yourself, when everything is going wrong, that there's no wall between you and your brother. It's speaking gently when you correct someone. It's letting go of jealousy, contempt, and pointless quarrels.
"Maturity isn't what you say, but what you become in Jesus Christ."

5. Growth requires discipline and perseverance

"All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it" (Hebrews 12:11). Will you let God lead you down his path of discipline?
Many refuse : "I'm a Christian, I shouldn't have to suffer." But which apostle never suffered? Paul was left for dead. Peter died a martyr. God himself allowed a demon to follow Paul to keep him from being puffed up with pride. Suffering is part of the path.
God wants to break certain habits. He wants to bring to the surface what you're hiding deep inside so he can set you free. Many Christians are sick, frustrated, tormented because they keep things buried instead of handing them over to Jesus.
Persevere even without motivation. Like they say back home : "you push, then you wedge the stone" : you push your life up the slope, and when you're tired you wedge it in place, you rest, then you push again. Faithfulness isn't when you're singing at church : it's when the tears won't even come anymore, when all that's left is groaning. What is hard today builds a solid life tomorrow.

Key Takeaways

Spiritual maturity isn't a sprint : it's a daily walk with God, progressive and intentional, day after day.
It begins with the new birth. Without it, you can know the Bible by heart like Nicodemus and still never see the Kingdom.
Trials aren't accidents. They're the tools God uses to break you, shape you, and make you stronger.
The true measure of your growth is the fruit of the Spirit in your life : love, patience, gentleness, self-control, especially when things go wrong.
Faithfulness means persevering when you have no strength or tears left. What is hard today builds a solid life tomorrow.

Personal Application

Are you still a child, a slave to your own desires, or a son or daughter seeking to do the Father's will? Where are you really at?
What daily habits have you actually put in place to pray, meditate on the Word, and listen to God? Or are you still waiting for the big spiritual moment?
What trial are you going through right now? Are you running from it, looking for someone to blame, or receiving it as a tool of transformation in God's hands?
Where have you fallen short this week in self-control, gentleness, love toward your family, your spouse, your brothers and sisters at church? What needs to be confessed today?
Is there something you're hiding deep inside that God wants to bring to the surface to set you free? Are you ready to hand him your heart as it is?

Scriptures Cited

Luke 9:23 · "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me."
2 Peter 3:11-18 · "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
John 3:3 · "Unless someone is born anew, he can't see God's Kingdom."
Romans 1:18-21 · "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness…"
James 1:3-4 · "The testing of your faith produces endurance."
Galatians 5:22-23 · The fruit of the Spirit : love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Hebrews 12:11 · "All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous… yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."
Hebrews 12:14 · "Follow after… the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord."
Romans 8:1 · "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."

Frequently Asked Questions

Why must sanctification come before flourishing?

Because God's first aim isn't to bless you, but to transform you. Without sanctification, "no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). Material or emotional flourishing without a transformed life stays hollow, superficial, and fragile. God wants first to make you a new creation before he sets you on the heights.

How do I know if I'm really growing spiritually?

It isn't how long you've been at church, your Bible knowledge, or your responsibilities that prove it. Nicodemus knew the whole Torah and he wasn't yet born again. Look instead at the fruit of the Spirit in your life : love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Look also at how you walk through trials. Maturity isn't what you say, it's what you become in Jesus Christ.

Why does God allow so many trials in my life?

The preacher is clear : difficulties aren't accidents but tools of transformation. Just as the potter breaks and shapes the clay, God uses time and trials to help you grow. Without trials, there's no spiritual depth, no maturity. What is hard today builds a solid life tomorrow. So the question isn't "why?" but "what do you want me to understand, Lord?"

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