Walking in freedom everyday, Hebrew 5 v 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant us have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Talking about maturity, so here is a couple of terribly immature jokes!
The Lone Ranger and Tonto walked into a bar and sat down to drink a beer. After a few minutes, a big tall cowboy walked in and said "Who owns the big white horse outside?" The Lone Ranger stood up, hitched his gun belt, and said, "I do...Why?" The cowboy looked at the Lone Ranger and said, "I just thought you'd like to know that your horse is about dead outside!" The Lone Ranger and Tonto rushed outside and sure enough Silver was ready to die from heat exhaustion. The Lone Ranger got the horse water and soon Silver was starting to feel a little better. The Lone Ranger turned to Tonto and said, "Tonto, I want you to run around Silver and see if you can create enough of a breeze to make him start to feel better." Tonto said, "Sure, Kemosabe" and took off running circles around Silver.Not able to do anything else but wait, the Lone Ranger returned to the bar to finish his drink.A few minutes later, another cowboy struts into the bar and asks, "Who owns that big white horse outside?"The Lone Ranger stands again, and claims, "I do, what's wrong with him this time?" The cowboy looks him in the eye and says, "Nothing, but you left your Injun runnin'."
A mechanic who worked out of his home had a dog named Mace. Mace had a bad habit of eating all the grass on the mechanic's lawn, so the mechanic had to keep Mace inside. The grass eventually became overgrown. One day the mechanic was working on a car in the backyard and dropped his wrench, losing it in the tall grass. He couldn't find it for the life of him, so he decided to call it a day.That night, Mace escaped from the house and ate all the grass in the backyard. The next morning the mechanic went outside and saw his wrench glinting in the sunlight. Realizing what had happened he looked toward the heavens and proclaimed, "A grazing Mace, how sweet the hound, that saved a wrench for me
Growing to maturity Growth should be our natural state, should never stop growing! we are not expected to be instantly mature, many do not progress beyond the baby state, a church of mature Christians is an asset to any town, but a church full of old Christians without maturing has trouble on his hands! 1 cor 3 :1-3 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Still had a pattern of sin in their lives, jealousy and quarrelling, they still had a long way to go. New Christians are not expected to be instantly mature, just not able, the flesh is still at work in them, conflicts are still at work in them. These boys are not new Christians though, after a good length of time, still not ready for solid food, Paul is saying this is abnormal, at least it is supposed to be, in our churches today in the west it has become the norm.
Any Christian can become an old Christian it just takes time! Any Christian can become a mature Christian, but many do not! Babies are cute, but if they continue to act like babies as they grow up they become a lot less attractive! Wanting maturity is not enough, even if a wee one wants solid food, if the stomach is not ready, the swallowed food will come right back up! Today’s sermon is to help us understand what makes us unable to digest solid spiritual food so we can remove these barriers and actively grow with God in maturity.
Barriers to maturity not taking hold of our spiritual freedom, need to accept Christ! His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3, you have all you need! When you confess, repent, walk with God, you are taking hold of the life and the Godliness God has give to you! As you grow you give those things in your life that hold you back to God, you give them to God and you are released from the slavery/bondage you find yourself in as you give your life to God! Freedom in Christ is not maturity, freedom can occur in a very short time, maturity takes a lifetime!
Maturity a process of growth that continues throughout our lives as we apply ourselves to knowing God and his word. However freedom is a position we take in response to Christ’s victory over sin and satan. We are either free or bound in any area of our lives; we grow in freedom when we take the authority we have in Christ and we realise where we have been deceived and bound.
Yet freedom and maturity are linked, if we don’t accept freedom we cannot mature, this is the Corinthian Church’s problem, they had not dealt with their jealousy and fighting, so they are unable to move on. No amount of wanting to mature or trying to mature could help with the footholds that the enemy had in their lives.
Not taking personal responsibility if you had to help a friend with a problem like the Corinthian church, you may say “I’ll pray for you in your problems” Paul didn’t, in fact he didn’t do anything directly, Why not? Because he couldn’t! What was required was confession, repentance, submission to Christ and resisting the devil, they had to do it themselves, all he could do was help them see the truth and it was up to them whether they chose to act or not. It would be lovely if all we had to do was ask for someone to pray for us and all our problems would be fixed. But faith and repentance are needed and no one else can repent and believe for you, no one can forgive for you, no one else can submit to God for you. Other people are great, they can encourage, love support us, but we are responsible for our relationship with God, no one else. Throughout NT, it is the individual who has to take action when there is a problem in their walk with God we have to choose for ourselves to take God at his word and stand firm It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Gal 5v 1 you have to decide to stand firm, no one else can do it for you, then you can grow in maturity. You have all you need to grow with God, half the battle is understanding that, we have everything we need in Christ. the only thing that can prevent you from growing in your faith is you! Ultimate question is, will you believe what God tells us is true or will you trust your own feelings? We won’t grow until we take God at his word, even when our feelings scream at us that it’s not true, it takes effort and commitment.
Not knowing the basic truths you are righteous! Writer to the Hebrews, another block in growing In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil., the result is the same, immaturity, they are not stuck in sin, they don’t seem to get the truth, that they are righteous, they are still going in the circles over old issues and never making progress. They needed to hear what we need to hear and believe, that in Christ we are completely righteous, we are saints, there is nothing more to do. “on what basis can you stand before God?” maybe give a good head answer…..but do you believe in your heart or do you think you need to do a good job before god accepts you, do you still feel dirty, useless? Do your own thoughts condemn you even though the truth is that God never condemns the believer? Romans 8:1 believe the truth!
Faulty thinking Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. How do we leave elementary teaching behind? By realising what makes us pleasing to God, you know what that is? Not what you do, not what you say, but what Jesus has done on the cross, that is it, God sees you as acceptable, more as a saint, because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. Nevertheless there are still barriers in us, strongholds we need to break down! We have weapons though
2 Cor 10:4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We have to fight, we are to wield the weapons God gives us, which takes application and effort, our main weapon is the truth, which is the bible, you are significant, accepted and restored, Your father God loves you, and in him we are saints.
Breaking faulty thinking takes time and effort, replace lies with the truth, let the word of God seep into you, the only way you do that is by regular watering with the word, think of that plant that you need to water everyday, when you don’t it shrivels and dies………………..
Not training ourselves to distinguish good and evil Heb 5:14 we grow in spiritual discernment by becoming intimately acquainted with the truth, we have to train ourselves to discern good from evil, so we sense when something is not right, identifying forged notes, the are not shown forgeries, they get to know the genuine ones so much better, they know the true notes so well they can spot a fake in a heartbeat, same for us, we become so familiar with the truth of God, we recognise the lies of the world and the enemy straight away.
How do we grow then? Uncovering lies this series of sermons or the house groups have shown the lies you have held to, when you forgive you find not defeat as the devil would try to tell you, but release, we fear that if the things we have held onto for so long are let go of, we will crumble, we need to banish those fears, we will be free to grow and mature as Christians. When you uncover the lies you have to deal with them
Stronghold busting determine the lie, seek out bible verses, write the truth down, write a prayer declaration “ I renounce the lie that……………, I announce the truth that…………………..” read the verses, say the prayer/declaration everyday for 40 days, coffee pot, next to water jug, word of God
Wrecking ball- 37, 38, 39, 40, but all the rest made a difference too!
A long term view Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phil 3 v 13-14, take baby steps, then before you know it you will be walking your walk with God, you will be running with God! Have a long term plan! Deal with one area at a time, think about where you could be in a years time!
Practical steps read devotional, be accountable to someone.
Boy lifting stones, couldn’t manage the big one, Dad comes over did you use all your strength? Yes, no you didn’t you didn’t ask me! You are a product of Christ on the cross, use your father’s strength, find freedom, grow and mature in Jesus
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