The Culture of Growth

Stephen DeFur - April 12, 2026

Culture eats strategy for breakfast

“There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1

“Human beings are like the grass that is renewed in the morning. Though in the morning it springs up new, in the evening it fades and withers.” – Psalm 90:5-6

“So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you

learn to know God better and better. We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” – Colossians 1:9-14 NLT

We gain wisdom

“We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.” – Colossians 1:9

“Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” - Colossians 1:10

We gain strength

“We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need.” – Colossians 1:11

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trails of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.” – James 1:2-3

We gain deeper joy

We get closer to Jesus