We bless the Lord for the third part in our Supernatural Growth series, and the topic for today’s sermon is what I call “Deficiency Syndrome.” From a medical perspective, a deficiency syndrome refers to a group of medical conditions, infirmities, diseases caused by the body’s lack of specific nutrients, hormones, or lack of enzyme functions, and it can also be the failure of a bodily system.

Hence the reason we have people on vitamins, supplements. I remember some time back when my doctor put me on a vitamin D supplement because of the deficiency found in me, and she told me to be on it for three years.

Some, unfortunately, do not have remedies to their deficiency because of how chronic it has become in them, but in the midst of it all, we believe in the mighty power of God to change every negative to become positive. Amen.

And as it is in the physical body, so it is in the spiritual, as many are lacking the right nutrients to grow in the Lord. No wonder we only count the years we lived as Christians but hardly know the years of our intimate relationship with God. People tell you, “I gave my life to Jesus 30 years ago,” but you can vividly see a deficiency in them as there is vividly no growth to show for it.

However, the word of the Lord coming to us this morning will give us the understanding and also help us to grow beyond our deficiencies by the help of the Holy Spirit because a child who is not growing will definitely be a concern to his or her parents.

If a child at the age of five is still breastfeeding and unable to walk or talk, that is a big concern to the parent, and I believe no parent will fold his or her hand to such a syndrome in their child. And for this reason, God as our heavenly Father and Mother will also be concerned seeing deficiency causing lack of growth in us.

There are many areas that children of God can be affected by deficiency in their walk with God, and as we all might have known, the first syndrome ever is when we eat sin like a glutton, because sin makes our body, soul, and spirit to become vulnerable to opportunistic infections, and that’s a primary cause for the lack of growth experienced in the course of our journey.

So we must examine what we ingest and what is causing us to be deficient because the lack of paying attention to what the devil is feeding you will eventually bring disorder to your spirit, soul, and body.

And that is why the Bible says in Romans 6:16 that “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”

And we know obedience leading to righteousness is definitely what we need as that will cause a proactive growth in us, but when we present ourselves to obey sin leading to death, that will lead our soul, spirit, and body to death.

So I am here to bring to our attention this morning to be careful what we feed our soul. Be careful what you invite to care for your spirit and body, for it may be good to you. It may be yummy to your belly. It may be genuine to you. It may be productive from the perspective of profit, but it is a deficiency syndrome.

For when the spirit lacks the vital resources it needs, it prioritizes immediate survival over physical development, causing growth to slow down or stop entirely, and God’s expectation is for every one of us to grow into Christ so that we may represent Christ in all that we do, wherever we go, at our place of work and wherever God gives us a voice, for we have known the truth.

And for this reason, we must depart from the error of the wicked and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We do not need anyone to tell us that eating too much fat calls for heart disease, and one thing about fat is that it is yummy. That’s why you want that ice cream in a big bowl. You want that fatty food even though you know it will cause disorderliness to your body.

That is exactly what sin does to us if we should allow it. That is what unfaithfulness does to us. That is what deceit, lewdness, lying, gossip, hatred, jealousy, and whatnot does to us. When we acquire them, they become a deficiency syndrome to us, and we carry them everywhere we go and sometimes infect others with it.

Beloved, as someone who knows the truth about what makes him to be disordered, what makes him to gain weight, what brings disorderliness, will decide to stop his addiction and focus on what brings orderliness, God is calling us to grow beyond what brings disorderliness to us.

So what is that thing you admire, that thing you yearn for? What is that craving of the flesh? What is that thing yummy to your soul but it is detrimental to your spiritual well-being? What is that thing that you crave for but it is turning you into a dwarf and disabled?

You gotta let go of them, beloved. Peter understood these folks he is speaking to, knows what the syndrome is, and he is calling them not to become addicted to their syndrome but rather grow in the grace and the knowledge of God.

Come on, somebody. Wherever you are lacking the spiritual supplement, you gotta embrace what is needed now. Perhaps it is grace to do more for Jesus. Perhaps it is to know Jesus more like Apostle Paul said. Perhaps it is the ability to pray and study the word. You gotta jump at it like a hungry lion.

Because when you cannot pray, when you cannot declare Jesus wherever you are, when you don’t know Him intimately but carry Him around as a mere religion, or when you lack faith in the One you claim to know, that is a deficiency syndrome, or when you do not even know Him at all – that is a deficiency sundrome—

a spiritual chronic malnutrition is where a deficiency of love, forgiveness, obedience, and the Word leaves you spiritually weak and makes you become a prey. But through faith and total surrender, God will heal your deficiencies.

For where there is deficiency, there is stagnation. There is backwardness, disorderliness. There is a tendency of becoming spiritually disabled, of becoming a spiritual dwarf. For someone who is tired of eating spiritual junk, I am calling you to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ today and be healed of your deficiencies today.

Tomorrow may be too late. Those junks you are feeding your soul will not give you wings to fly. They will not give you the knowledge to do exploits for Jesus. They will not make you grow from spiritual milk to maturity. They will not give you the ability to encourage others to come to your Jesus.

So as someone who is determined to cut carbs and get back into shape, and as someone who has survived a stroke but is fully willing to push through every exercise to walk again, your resolve—with the help of God—can overcome this syndrome. Through faith and perseverance, you will rise above it and begin to do exploits for Jesus.

So beloved, as we wrap up, I am leaving you with Colossians 2:6-7: “Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

Because tt is not how far but how well, somebody.

 

PP: I receive the grace to overcome my deficiency syndrome and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.