God wants you to grow in 2016. Bridge Church is tackling some of the best On Ramps to Spiritual Growth & Transformation this month. First was the on ramp of Understanding the Gospel & God’s Will. Second, was the On Ramp of Personal Devotional Habits. This week, we covered the On Ramp of Building Catalytic Relationships. Check out the talk given by Evan McGinty at yesterday’s Bridge gathering HERE or on Itunes. Here’s a few big ideas from the message:

• A catalyst is something that increases the rate of change. Relationships serve as great catalyst for personal & spiritual growth.
• God desires for us to have relationships with wise people with lots of God-experiences – “Those who walk with the wise become wise” Proverbs 13:20.
• Wise people have a lot of experience with God that their eager to share. They’re not afraid to challenge you & they make you more like Christ.
• Walking is SLOW & INTENTIONAL. Walking takes time. God commends long term relationships, not just a quick fix.
• Reading books pale in comparison to walking slowly through life with friends. Following people on Facebook is no comparison to engaging relationships. Walking side by side with people in relationships is far better than following them from afar.
• Walking with the wise requires:
  1. Exchanging pride for humility. Pride is the #1 enemy of catalytic relationships.
  2. Exposing your weaknesses. Relationships sharpen us, which means we expose the dull edges to others so that they can help us knock them off.
  3. Making time for slow walking in committed relationships. Is there room in my life for walking with & getting to know people deeply?
  4. Taking risk & putting yourself out there. Relationships are risk & reward. Risk difficult conversations. Risk being vulnerable about your weakness. Reward – personal & spiritual growth.

When people have grown spiritually & matured, they can usually look back & say, “_____ helped me grow spiritually.” They point to deep relationships with people that took time, challenged them, & helped them grow closer to God.

Do you have these kind of relationships in your life? Are you looking to be catalytic in the lives of others?

Join Bridge Church next week for the final On Ramp. 10:30am at the Maritime Museum in Madisonville.