Thanks for checking out the Anchor Faith Message podcast
from St. Augustine, FL.
Now enjoy this message. So tonight we're going to talk
about milk and meat. Milk and meat.
We're going to talk about growing in the Kingdom of God.
Amen. Growing in the Kingdom of God.
Last Wednesday night, Pastor ministered in this arena about
the fact that we are all too mature and to grow in the
Kingdom of God. Amen.
When we got transferred from the domain of darkness and and
brought into His Kingdom and now we walk as children of God.
He calls us babes in Christ. Every new born again individual
the Bible calls a babe in Christ.
When we come into the Kingdom of God, every single one of us are
babies. Look at Jasmine's little little
one here growing up so fast. Everything within the Kingdom of
God right when we get born again is placed on the inside of us in
our spirit man. Everything as a child of God is
placed on the inside of me, us when we get born again just like
this baby. All the DNA from Alex and
Jasmine is in this baby from her parents, right?
Her mother and her father. Everything is within her.
Her little personality is already within her.
Everything her, everything that she is going to become as a
child and as a a teenager and as an adult, everything is already
within her. But when now that she's born
again, there's things that she has to discover about herself.
A baby is going to realize that they can actually make sounds
and start what cooing is what they're called, right?
Little Coos. They're going to realize, oh,
there was sound within me. They are going to realize then
how to start speaking. They then are going to start
realizing actually that they are a literal human being.
She does not have any clue what she is right now.
She doesn't know that she's a little girl or a little boy, but
we do. So we as parents have to teach
them what they are, just like the Heavenly Father when we come
into the Kingdom of God, everything within us as His
child is in there. And now it is time for us to
discover what we are in connection to Him and that He is
our Father. She's going to realize that
eventually. Oh, this is my mother and what
the mother is supposed to do for her.
She has no idea that her mother is feeding her right now,
changing her diaper right now. She has no idea.
She is just warm and cozy when she cries.
Someone is taking care of her, her mother.
So eventually she's going to identify who her mother is and
who her father is. Not only who her mother and her
father is, but who her family is, who her family is in the
natural, right in the natural. She will then discover who her
family is in a spiritual aspect if they continue to raise her up
in a godly home, bringing her to church, teaching her that she's
not just part of her natural family, but she's part of a
Kingdom family. So all of these things she still
has to discover in life as a baby.
And that is the same aspect of how we are to look at our
relationship with the Father. We when we get born again,
there's so much that we don't know and understand about our
Father, our Heavenly Father. We don't know about him when we
get born again. The only thing we know is that
we needed Him to save us. And we have learned here that so
many people stop right there and stay at the fact that, you know
what, we are just born again. But they never begin to discover
what else God has on the inside of them.
They never begin to discover their purposes.
They never begin to discover who the Heavenly Father is, that he
is a king. He has a Kingdom come on, and we
are his royal offspring. And there's things in this
Kingdom now, or the family of God now, that we still need to
grow and understand there. This little child is going to
begin to understand the qualities and the behaviors and
the morals and the values that her family upholds.
She's going to discover that what her family believes in,
she's you. She's going to learn to believe
in right If her, you know, and we could go into so many
different directions, but she's going to believe to begin to
believe in those things. She's going to begin to look at
how her parents take care of her and provide for her.
She's going to begin to discover if there's something I need, I
can go to my parents, my mother, my father, and I can ask of him
of them, right? She's going to discover that my
parents are there to protect me and to guide me.
And not only that, she's going to begin to then understand the
character of her parents. She's going to start seeing
certain behaviors. Do you know, and we've said this
before, by the time children are two to four years old, they have
already had, what is it that it's called?
Their brains have already developed and absorbed
everything within them. There's a term it's called, it's
the most formidable years. Do you know that's the same in a
new believer's life? The most formidable years within
a new believer's life as a babe in Christ is the first four
years. And actually we can see and one
of our instructors told us at Rhema over 20 years ago that
within three to five years, if someone is born again, within
three to five years, they would have expected you to have
matured within three to five years of you being born again,
that you could have already matured as a a solid believer.
So why are we not seeing that in believers lives today?
Because one, maybe they've not been in a place in their
formidable years that has actually taught them who they
are and what they are to discover in the Kingdom.
Or two, they have not actually submitted themselves to the word
of God and to the church or the House of God, the family of God,
to be able to help grow them and equip them properly.
Or number three, they have chosen to neglect their growth
and not feed on the proper things.
Because don't we see that happen in children's lives If they
don't have the proper what nutrition?
If they don't have the proper care, if they cannot form,
right? You have children that start
kindergarten and still have language issues.
They can't speak properly and different things.
Why? Because in their first
formidable years, they weren't taught properly how to speak.
You talk to them like they were a baby until they were 10,
right? You let them say Wawa instead of
saying no, it is water. And now it's time for you to say
water and not Wawa, right? Or whatever the case may be.
So we see that in the natural, God uses the natural process of
growth in a human being in Scriptures to show us that we as
believers are to actually grow in the manner like we see in the
natural. We're to grow spiritually just
as we are to grow naturally as a child, as a human right.
And so again, the thing about it is, is that we have to ask
ourselves if we've been in a, in a place where God has actually
put you with pastors to teach you and equip you, where is what
does your growth pattern look like?
You know how when you take these infants to the doctor and they
do a growth chart for them, they'll do their measurements
and they'll let you know if they are in the average of what a
child should be in the age that they are.
There is a growth chart in the Kingdom of God and you may not
be measuring it, but guess who is our Father?
Our Father is always measuring us and looking at us as his
children because he is a good father.
He does not want us to be neglected.
He does not want us to not be fed properly.
He does not want us to be without.
He does not want any of those things for us.
Just like a natural father, that's normal, would not want
that for their own child. Amen.
And so Father God, the King of
glory, the King of the Kingdom, he is measuring his children
just like they do at the pediatrician's office to see if
your growth chart is where it should be.
And do you know what measures that?
The Word of God, the Word of God is our measure so that when we
look at the Word of God and we see what the Word of God says
that our life as a believer should look like in the Kingdom
of God, does it reflect that? If not, then we have to evaluate
ourselves. You know, people go to
specialist. What will that pediatrician do
if they see that for several, several months or even a year
there's been a lapse in progression, They will take you
to a specialist and they will say we need to do some more
testing to see if there's something going on and why you
are not growing normally right? This it happens all the time in
the natural and she and we see in the Scripture it is like a
parable when he says that when we get born again, we are babes.
One translation says infants in Christ.
Then we're going to see that. He also lets us know that when
we thought like a child and acted like a child.
But now it's time to what? Put aside childish things and
mature and grow up and become a what?
A man, right? And so I want to look at a
couple of scriptures because we're going to start looking at
the fact that first we need to know that God expects his
children to grow. Number one, he expects his
children to grow and to mature. And we have to ask ourselves,
have we grown? Are we maturing?
Ephesians chapter 411 through 16.
And he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some
pastors and teachers for the equipping of the Saints, for the
working of service to the building up of the body of
Christ. Do you know how I as a pastor
know that someone's growth has been stunted or that they are
not growing? Number one, they're not serving
because he says right here, right here, we are to equip the
Saints for the work of service. And if you are coming to church
and you can't put your hand to anything and serve the body of
Christ, it is a sure sign that you are not growing properly.
We will not grow properly outside of actually serving, but
we'll get to that later anyway. So then he goes on to say for
the quipping of the Saints, for the work of service to the
building up of the body of Christ, because we are supposed
to be so equipped that we serve, because we understand it's not
about us. It's about us building up the
body of Christ. It's about us building up the
body of Christ until we can all attain to the unity, faith and
to the knowledge of the Son of God.
To a what mature man, say a mature man, to the measure of
the stature. You see that measure of stature
to the measure of stature? This lets us know that God is
measuring up every man and every woman.
He's measuring you up. Yes, He is measuring you up.
He's looking at your stats. The way we know stats about
football players and basketball players.
We know how tall. Well, they're 6 foot 5, they're
225 lbs, blah, blah, blah, right?
They're measuring them up. And God says he measures us up
and looks at our stature because he's expecting us to mature,
which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, what
does he let us know? Because we are actually
maturing. We will no longer be children
tossed here and there by every wave, carried about by every
wind of doctrine, carried about about all the trickery of men,
all the woke agendas, all the things that are being said about
Christianity Today and deconstructing and blood, all
this stuff. You won't be tricked by it
because you've actually allowed the Lord to measure you up and
and to mature you and to grow up.
And we won't be tricked in this last day that he says many are
going to fall away. Oh my goodness, you see this?
And so we are not going to get caught up in the trickery of men
by the craftiness in deceitful scheming that is happening, but
speaking the truth in love so that we are to what?
Say grow up? Yeah, look at your neighbor and
say grow up. Do it again.
Look to the other neighbor and say grow up.
Hey, why don't we stand up? Let's stand up and walk around
to somebody and say grow up. Cuz haven't you all wanted to do
that? Haven't you all wanted to do it?
Come on now, say grow up. You know you've all wanted to do
it. See, you just had great
pleasure, didn't you? Wasn't that great pleasure?
Finally being able to just say to somebody, grow up, come on,
Hallelujah. So we are to grow up in what?
All aspects say all aspects unto him, not just parts of God, not
just what we like about God, but all aspects of God, all aspects
of God, everything about God. He wants us to grow up into
everything, not just the bits and pieces that feel good to us
and and make us excited and and run around and shout and feel
good and all these things, though he wants us to grow up.
And I'm going to tell you what the most of the time that you're
having to grow up is under pressure and under pain and
under suffering and under situations and circumstances.
This is where true manhood or growth shows up.
Come on, this is the reality of how we grow.
How do you how many of you remember growing pains as a
child? Yeah, raise your hand if you
have had growing pains. Do you remember as a child your
legs hurting, your body just hurting and every and your
parents would just say, oh, you just grow this just growing
pains. That pain was real.
It was real pain. But guess what was happening?
You were growing and you know what?
There was nothing you could do to stop it because what was in
you was trying to develop and come out.
Do you know how much potential and purpose and plans and things
that God has within each and every one of us?
And we can stop the pain. We can stop the growth because
we don't want to have to go through what it's going to take
to actually overcome and grow past that emotion or grow past
that hurt. Church hurt.
All this garbage that's being talked about today.
Church hurt. Everybody talks about this
today. Do you think this is anything
new under the sun? No, just more people have
platforms to run off at the mouth.
And, and I've said this before, everybody talks about how the
pastor has hurt people, but nobody talks about all the hurt
that the pastor encounters, but they expect them to just get up
and go on. You want me to cry church hurt?
I could give you a laundry list. Would that, would that help
anyone doom, despair and agony on me?
Does anybody know who that is? Hee Haw?
Who at? Who remembers Hee Haw?
Or how about this one? Winnie the Pooh?
Who remembers Eeyore? OK, everybody knows Winnie the
Pooh, right? OK.
Anyway, again, where to grow up? This just lets me know where
these people's maturity level is at.
Because everyone is going to encounter hurt.
Everyone is going to encounter something that they have to
choose to grow up and overcome in this life period, right?
If there is an earth with humanity on it, there is an
opportunity for hurt, period. And we've got to mature and know
the word enough on how to actually deal with it and
overcome it and not allow it to affect our lives and then be a
stumbling block. Who listens to all this garbage?
Stumbling blocks? Putting a noose around their
neck is what needs to happen. The scripture says that because
how many people have hurt people by thinking they're going to
talk about church hurt to warn people, yet it's become a very
noose around their neck. See that so we have to mature,
so that we see all these wicked schemes of the enemy in this day
that we are living. We are to grow up into all
aspects unto Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the
whole body is being fitted and held together by every joint
that supplies according to the proper working of each
individual part, Causes what? The growth of the body for the
building of of itself in love. So not only does He want you
individually to grow, He wants His body to grow, and His body
cannot grow properly. If we as individuals that are
placed within His body refuse to grow, we will become abnormal
parts of the body, right? What happens when we know, you
know, you get injured in a shoulder, you get something
happened to you and you don't properly work that part of the
body. What happens?
It can become what useless. Some people can't.
You know when you get older, their arm locks up and they
can't, right? Well, what's wrong now?
It's useless. And what is happening to that
useless part now? It's actually aggravating the
whole body. Do you know how many people are
aggravating the whole body of Christ because they refuse to
grow? That is just the bottom line.
They refuse to mature. They refuse to grow and mature.
So let's move on. Look at second Peter.
We're proving that he, our Lord, our King, our Father, wants us
to grow up. Second Peter 318 But grow in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.
Look what He says, grow in the grace.
We were saved by faith. Through what grace we enter into
the Kingdom and He lets us know there is still some more grace
that we are to grow into. There is still some more
knowledge about our Lord and Savior that we are to grow up
into. Not just the fact that He saved
me. He died, He rose.
And when I die one day, I get to go to heaven.
And then we live helpless in this earth.
We live defeated, We live busted.
We live disgusted. We live without.
We complain like everybody else. He did not raise us as children
to behave that way, to act that way, you know, and raising your
own, I mean, now you parents are a lot different than me.
You new age people, you know, half of you don't believe in
spanking. You know, I'm going to tell you
they're not going to grow properly.
They're not going to grow up properly.
You need to just take that up with the Lord.
Physical discipline is required to grow as a healthy child and
the right physical discipline. OK, so he goes on to say, so we
are to grow in this grace that we've been saved by, but not
only in this grace, because when we get born again, He lets us
know we are to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What does that tell us?
That we don't know who our Lord is.
Just because we get born again does not mean we know who our
Lord is. We are now beginning to discover
who our Father is and discover who the Lord is and all that He
has for me as a child in the Kingdom of God.
And that is the journey and the process of growth and, and
actually knowing the Father for who he is outside of us wanting
to grow. You know what that tells us that
we really don't want to know who our Heavenly Father really is.
We just want His blessing. So we want his security for
eternity, but we really don't want to know Him because a
father, there are many that can be right dads, but a father is
actually going to be the one there to actually train you,
develop you, right? All of these things that is
going to be there day in and day out, not leaving you, right, not
abandoning you, but a real father will do the job.
A real father will do the job. Hebrews 6/1 through three.
Therefore leaving the elementary teachings.
Who needs elementary teaching? Children, Everybody that gets
born again. They need elementary teaching
and what is that? Elementary teaching is origin,
foundation, all of these things that are to be laid within your
heart and in your life as a babe in Christ.
While you're you can just say you are in elementary school.
Actually, when you get born again, you're a baby and you're
in preschool, then you can mature to elementary school,
right? And then you go on into middle
school, then you go on into high school, and eventually we expect
after 12 years that somebody's actually going to graduate.
Now you get 12 years in natural schooling, but in God's
schooling, he really only wants three to five years of maturing
and graduating past some things, right?
So it says, therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about
Christ. Do you know simple truths about
Christ, that he died, he rose his resurrection, he poured out
his blood. All of these things are what the
Word of God says is elementary. I did a message years ago.
How many of y'all were here? It's elementary.
My dear Watson, Do you remember that we went through the
elementary principles? These things are elementary.
And do you know what? He expects us to mature and move
on in to some teaching about actually righteousness.
When you're a baby, I expect you to whine, I expect you to cry.
I expect to have to hand feed you.
I expect to have to change your diapers When you mess up, guess
who's going to be right there, Mama to help pick you up, right?
And everybody really has a mentality of what kind of Mama
they want. Isn't this so?
Some people say. Well, I wish I had a mom like
yours 'cause she lets you get away with everything.
Or I. Wish I had a come on.
Why is it that we in the natural say that Because we don't want
the discipline, We don't want the correction in the natural.
All of these things are relatable to our spiritual
growth and development in the Kingdom of God.
So he tells us, listen, we are to move past some elementary
teachings about Christ. Let us press on to maturity, Say
maturity. Not.
Laying again a foundation here is elementary teachings,
repentance from dead works, faith towards God.
You have to believe that he is and that he is the only way and
that's your entrance into the Kingdom of God and dead works is
he did everything for me and when I repent, that's all right
under the blood. faith in God. Instruction about washings.
What is washings? The washing first of the
watering of the Word, the washing second of baptism, the
washing right of what's the next one?
I didn't actually put a list down.
Washing, baptism, washing of the watering of the Word.
Anyway, laying hands. Do you know that laying hands on
people is an elementary principal yet?
You can go to I don't know how many churches in our nation
where. Oh, what are they doing?
Why are they laying hands on people?
That is an elementary principle in the Kingdom of God.
And do you know what? When people say that, you know
why they're they're choosing to not grow in maturing in the
aspect that actually we can lay hands on the people.
We see it all through Scripture. It's an elementary principle
that should not be foreign to us.
But how many churches don't do it?
So you know what that means? They're still in elementary
teachings because they don't believe in laying on of hands.
Let's look out, it says. And the resurrection from the
dead, eternal judgment, you know, there's still people that
do do not believe that there is an eternal judgment and that
there's going to be a hell yet He lets us know this is baby
teaching. This is elementary principles of
the doctrine of the Word of God and they don't believe in it,
which lets you know where they are at spiritually.
There is a measure, there is a measuring tool, and the Word of
God isn't. This is his standard.
And these are the things that He says in the Word of God.
He calls elementary principles. You see that?
And it says this. And this we will do if God
prevents. So look at Hebrews chapter 5,
verse 12 through 13. I said we're going to talk about
milk and meat. Hebrews 512 says this.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have
need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of
the oracles of God, and you have come to what need milk and not
solid food. King James translation says
meat, milk and meat. You need it again.
Look at this, what he's saying for everyone who partakes only
of me of milk. So these are babies who never
want to get off the what? The bottle.
These are babies that never want to get off the bottle.
They never want to get off the milk because milk is warm, milk
is cozy. And when it's coming from Mama,
especially, not just a bottle, there's what safety just feels
so good. Just want to, you know, be on
Mama, do everything for you. The milk, they don't want to
grow up. They don't want to get past the
milk. Have you ever met some like
that? And it says for everyone who
partakes only on milk is not accustomed to the word of
righteousness. What does he call him for?
He is a infant, a baby, an infant.
One translation says he's a baby.
He wants to stay on the milk. He doesn't want to grow.
He doesn't want to properly do what it's going to take.
He doesn't want to have to go through the growing pains,
right? And so we realize that God
expects that. He expects me to grow.
Look at First Corinthians. Three first Corinthians, three,
one and two, it says, And I, brethren, could not speak to you
as a spiritual man, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in
Christ. So he let them know, Listen, I
could not even talk to you as a spiritual man.
Right. When you should have been, he
says, But to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ, I gave you
milk to drink, not solid food, not meat, for you were not able
yet to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not
able to receive it. And actually when you break this
Scripture out, it's talking about you should have been able
to receive it. You should have been a spiritual
man, but you're acting like a man of flesh again and you're at
and you aren't even able to handle the meat.
Do you know what this tells me? You can actually grow and mature
and have some meat and begin to walk into some things, but you
can revert back to a baby. That's right.
Right where you need milk again. You need milk again.
Let me give you the bottle again, right?
So it does not matter how long we've been in the church.
It doesn't matter. You know what we've done what
we've gone through. If we don't continue to grow and
mature and allow God to do what He needs to do to continue to
keep us in a place where we can keep eating the meat, we can
stop that process, Revert back. And he's saying, listen, you
have reverted back to a man of the flesh, a mere man.
You are acting fleshly again, even though you ought to have
been here and you ought to be able to handle this.
You have reverted back to the flesh.
You're acting like a baby, and you really need me milk again.
You need to go back what to the fundamentals, to your foundation
to the first things. Isn't that what they tell you in
football? You know we're going to go back
to the fundamentals when they just keep losing and they just
keep dropping the ball and they just keep doing whatever, you
know that they know they're not wrapping up, right?
And all these things, we going back to the fundamentals and
we're going to pound those fundamentals day in and day out
until somebody gets up there and plays right.
Coaches do this all the time. And we as pastors, we
recognizing and equipping the body, equipping the Saints,
recognize and have the ability to see, you know what we can.
We need to go back to some fundamentals because I hear a
lot of crying and a lot of whining, a lot of fussing.
Come on, a lot of carrying on. So we need to go what we going
back to the fundamentals we were.
We were there. We thought we were there with
some righteousness, teaching righteousness, right living.
But you know what? Everybody's acting a fool,
acting like babies. We going back, going back to the
fundamentals, and we're going to pound those fundamentals.
And you people, some say it's not you people Saints will get
like, oh, I need to go find me. I don't know why pastors going
back over the same old thing. We've already learned that
evidently you haven't, because the pastor is to feed the flock.
What they need? To properly grow, and if he sees
there's been some stunted growth in people, he may need to go
back to some fundamentals. And do you know what most people
say? Then I'm going to go find me
somewhere that's teaching some more revelation, some deeper
truths, not realizing that it's really you that needs the
fundamentals, right? So let's look at First
Corinthians 1420. Brethren, do not be children in
your thinking. Don't be children in your
thinking yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking what be
mature be. Mature.
So he expects and Pastor covered this last week that we are
maturing in our thinking. We're growing and changing our
thoughts and our will and our emotions and all of these things
we're changing. We're allowing God to change our
thought processes by what Romans 12/1 and two, renewing our mind
to the what word of God so that we'll be able to prove what is
the perfect right will of God for our lives.
So again, we are to grow up and he expects our minds to grow and
change, not just us physically, not just our spirit man.
Actually, you know, it was, it's in Galatians where he says that
we are to receive the engrafted word of God, which is able to
what? Save our soul, our mind, our
will, our emotions. Our spirit man is saved.
We get born again, we are there, we're in Christ Jesus, our
spirit man is saved. It's our mind that needs saving.
And if you haven't looked, there's a lot of insanity in the
world today. And I thank God.
Every day that I have a sound mind because I've allowed the
Word of God to change my thinking, renew my mind so that
I don't think like this stinking world, right?
And when we change our thinking, guess what's going to fall in
line? Our behaviors.
Our behaviors because as a man thinketh in his heart, what so
is he? If you have bad thinking, you're
going to become that. If you have right thinking
right, you're going to become right.
So as a man thinketh in his heart.
Now let's look at the Scriptures where he talks about #1 Babes
first, Peter 21 and three. Therefore, laying aside all
malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking.
Do you know these are all signs that you are a baby?
You are a infant in Christ. If you are still participating
and operating in these types of behavior, malice, deceit,
hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking.
If it's so still easy for you to gossip, for you to slander, for
you to act envious, for you to have malice in your heart
towards someone, all of these are signs that you are still a
baby. You're still a baby.
I don't care how many doctorates you have behind your name, you
acting like this, you're acting like a baby.
So he. Goes on to.
Say, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that we
would what grow, say grow thereby.
And if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, have
you all tasted that He is gracious?
Hallelujah. So He lets us know that we're to
desire the pure milk of the Word so that we can grow from a baby
stage, an infant stage to children.
Now look at First Corinthians 1420.
Brethren, do not be children in your thinking.
In your thinking. How can people know that you're
still acting like a child by the way you're thinking about a
situation the way you're thinking about a situation.
You're acting like a child. Selfish, spoiled, wanting your
own way, demanding of things. You're acting like a child right
and so he lets us know and it's and it's a result of how you're
thinking yet in evil be infants, but you're thinking be what
mature did I already read that? I did sorry.
OK #3 here we see that he talks about us growing up to not just
a babe, not just a infant, not just a child.
Here he lets us know in First Corinthians 1311.
When I was a child, I used to speak like a child.
So childish behavior comes out of your what?
So people can know when you're acting like a child by what's
coming out of your mouth, how you talking, what you're saying
about the situation. You're actually acting like a
child. And then then he what did he
say? Thinking like a child, which
goes back with the other one in First Corinthians 13 and or 14
and 20, thinking like a child, reasoning.
What is reasoning? Making your decisions, reasoning
out how you're going to respond, making your decisions and how
you're going to react in that circumstance and in that
situation. Are you acting like a child?
When I became a man, say a man,
one translation says mature perfect man, and I actually like
that. A mature perfect man or woman,
right? We're not talking gender
sensitive here, OK. When I became a mature perfect
man, what did I do? I did away with childish things.
That means I did away with childish thinking.
I did away with childish talking.
I did away with it because I actually became a mature,
perfect man in Christ and allowed God to grow me up and
change my thinking concerning the Kingdom of God and how I am
to operate now as his child in the Kingdom.
Look at second Peter this these are the scriptures we're going
to close with. Pastor preached till one Sunday
so I thought I could just continue on tonight.
'Cause you have tomorrow. Off right, it's 4th of July.
Anyway, second Peter chapter one three through 11.
Yes, three through 11. And I want to read it out of the
NLT, the TPT, not the TPC, the TPT.
And I'll save you from the amplified and just read one
scripture from the amplified. OK, Why?
Because I want you to get a perfect picture of what Peter is
talking about here. It says this by his divine power
God has. Given.
Us everything we need for living a godly life.
Say he's given me everything I need.
He's given me. Everything I need to live a
godly life. You have to tell yourself that
every day. He has given me everything I
need to live a godly life in the earth today.
Everything I need. Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
everything I need to live a godly life.
We have received all of this by coming to know Him.
Coming to know. Him.
That means we had to what? Get to know him?
Discover who he is. We didn't just get born again
and know, as I said, everything there is to know about living a
godly life by everything. Knowing who the Father is, what
his attributes are, what his character is, what his nature
is, how he thinks, how he processes, how he acts, how he
behaves in situations that I see in His word.
I did not know all of that when I was a baby.
Come on. I had to come to know Him.
I had to come and spend time with the Heavenly Father,
getting to know who He is, who I am in the Kingdom of God as His
child. It's not just about coming to
know all the benefits. And do you know how many people
only want that aspect of God? No, I want to know him because I
don't want to be one of those that said that.
He said to them when they said Lord, Lord, didn't we cast out
demons in your name? Didn't we do all these things?
People want to do all these things and look grand in His
name, but not know Him as their heavenly Father, not know Him as
their Father. And you know what he said?
Depart from me. I never knew you.
What do you mean He never knew
me? I did all these things in his
name. No, I never knew you actually.
Means I was. Never intimately acquainted with
you. You knew all about me and my
what I do. But you didn't know me as the
father, as the king. You didn't spend time with me.
Isn't that the number one thing you want from your children,
especially as they get elder and out of the house?
You just want them to want to spend time with you because
hopefully they've known you by now.
Right and. Isn't it hurtful when they don't
want anything to do with you because really they really never
came to know you and look to you as a good father or a good
mother or whatever the case may be anyway?
So he said he's. Given us everything.
We need for living a godly life. We have received all of this
from coming to know Him, the One who called us unto Himself by
means of His marvelous glory and excellence.
And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us
great and precious promises. And do you know how many people
don't even know His promises? That it's His promise to heal
your body. It's His promise to provide for
you and never let you beg for bread.
They don't know their Father that way.
And trusting who He is and knowing that He'll never leave
me, He'll never forsake me because my Father loves me.
And he says these are the promises that enable you listen
to this, to share in his divine nature.
Oh my. We get to.
Participate and share in His divine nature.
His divine nature and escape the world's corruption.
Caused by human. Desires In view of all of this,
make every effort to respond to God's promises.
Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral
excellence and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge
with self-control. This is a biblical picture of
how we are to measure our growth and maturity in him are.
We. With all diligence, supplying
our faith with moral excellence, with the knowledge of who he is,
with self-control, with patience, endurance, with
godliness, with brotherly love and love.
What for everyone? The more you grow like this,
they grow like this. The more you grow.
Like this? The more.
Productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in
this way, say, develop in this way, you won't develop properly.
If these are not attributes of your life as a believer, you
will not develop properly, right?
He says this, let me find where I was at.
I get sidetracked here. Develop in this way.
You are short. Sighted or blind, forgetting
that you have been cleansed from their old sins.
So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you
really are among those God has called and chosen do.
You know, there's this whole. Thing I hear all the time I
don't have to prove anything to God because he approves of me
and he loves me yeah there's some things we have to prove to
God that will be actions of if you really love me you will keep
my. And the way we.
Know this is our measuring stick.
Do we see these things operating in your life?
It says. So, dear brothers and sisters,
work hard to prove that you really are among those who God
has called and chosen. Do these things and you will
never fall away. Didn't we say that in the last
days? Many are going to what and you
know why they're going to fall away because they have not grown
in all aspects and matured as a believer and measured themselves
according to Scripture. And This is why there will be a
great falling away in the last days.
And we're already seeing it all these what do you think people
are saying deconstructing their faith.
This is the big falling away. We're seeing it on.
A rapid level and then he goes on to say you'll never fall away
then God will give you a grand entrance into his eternal
Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Now in the amplified it reads one of those scriptures I want
to read to you because he says you are to supply your faith
with all of these things that are going to help you grow.
He goes on to say it in the amplified second Peter 15 like
this for this very reason, adding your diligence to the
divine promises employ every effort.
He's letting us know, listen, this ought to be our number one
effort in life. This ought to be where we are
with all diligence, pursuing our relationship, relationship and
growth in the Lord Jesus Christ more than anything else he's
saying listen, employ every effort in exercising your faith.
If we do not do the word, if we do not exercise our faith in the
Word of God and how he tells us we are to act, respond, behave,
we will not grow. You can say you have faith all
day long. Isn't that what Corinthians
said? You can have faith to what move
mountains but have not love and you are a clanging gogging
symbol there. Has to.
Be a life of faith, and the only way we see faith activated is by
action of doing. Coming to church, hearing a
message, sitting on your rump is not exercising your faith.
It is actually applying the word when you get into a scenario and
get into a situation where you're being shown really well
in the mirror what it is and how it is that you need to respond
to a situation that just took place.
Then you have to determine am I going to believe what the word
says and how I am to respond to the word and I have a choice
right then. I don't care that you.
Know it. Do you do it?
Do you activate your faith? Because that is the only way you
are going to grow. It's the only way you're going
to grow. You cannot grow outside of
activation of faith in whatever it is, whatever it is, right and
so he lets us know exercising your faith.
This is the amplified to develop virtue.
There's some things we. Have to exercise just like with
me. I can act like I, you know, I
have a a thing on my Pinterest that I've titled it in all my
little things that I put over in it.
The title is Crucify the Flesh and over in my Pinterest is all
of these killer workouts it looks.
So. Good.
When I watch it and I'm like man, this is awesome.
I can do this and yet not have one time done it and I've
probably got 1000 workouts. Guess what I'm not doing.
I got to grow up. Guess what I'm not doing?
I am not exercising. I can look at it.
Come on, I can put it in my Pinterest of crucify the flesh.
Every time I pull it over there, I see crucify the flesh.
And have I done it? No.
Have I activated it? No.
I'm not delusional. I choose to not crucify the
flesh. But it looks.
Pretty all in my Pinterest and all these things.
I'm thinking, man, I'm going to look like that one day.
And never do not. 1. I'm going to just.
Just keep thinking, believing, then it's going to just
transpire. Does it work?
And that's what many believers are doing.
Doesn't work. I'm not delusional.
It's not going to work for me. Hallelujah.
So, but if I meditate on it long enough.
It's going to get in me. It's.
Going to motivate me. Right.
So exercising your faith will develop these things, virtue,
excellence, resolution, Christian energy, the amplified
says. And in exercising these things,
you're going to develop the knowledge.
Do you know what this means? Moral excellence.
These are the things, he tells us that we ought to be growing
in the knowledge of these things.
Moral excellence is a what? A virtuous course of thought.
How's your thinking? Are you thinking on those things
that are above? Those things that are excellent,
pure, lovely, holy? Or are you thinking on all of
these? Million.
Of things that you can think on from the world.
Are we thinking on what is virtuous in thought, feeling,
and action? This is moral excellence, moral
goodness. Amen.
These are things that he tells us that we ought to be pursuing
with all diligence and exercising, and it has to do
with what we are actually thinking on.
Are they of good report? Are they good?
Are they moral? Right.
And then what does he go on to say?
And then in the knowledge, How about knowledge?
What is this knowledge? The deeper, more perfect and
enlarged knowledge of your belief.
Right. More advanced.
That's what these words are talking about.
Are we getting past the milk and into the meat?
Are we actually trying to grow in a deeper, you know, knowledge
of his word? Or are we staying on the bottle
right. And then the other word for the
when it says the knowledge of who he is, deeper knowledge of
him. And your belief is especially
the things that are lawful and unlawful for Christians, which
goes back to how we should be living, what is right living and
what is wrong living according to Scripture, not what the world
is saying that you're going to shack up with somebody to try
them out or you're going to go Netflix and chill with somebody,
right? And all these things that
Christians are doing right. What does this tell me?
That they have no foundation or moral understanding of the word
of God. They've not been being a studier
of the word right? Then it also talks about
self-control. What is this word self-control
mean? The virtue of one who masters,
masters your desire, your passion and sensual appetites.
This is what this word self-control is talking about.
Most of the time when we hear self-control, we're just
thinking about, you know, outburst of anger or whatever.
But he's, this is talking about your passions, your desires and
sensual appetites, which is all right, having to do with your
carnal flesh and what it desires and what pleases it.
And so he's letting us know, listen, there's some things that
we must grow in to mature and realize.
We have to put down those passions.
We have to put down those carnal things.
We have to put down those sensual appetites so that we can
grow properly into all aspects, so that we can grow and mature
as a child of God realizing. And he lets us know we can
master these things. Nothing is to is supposed to be
able to dominate your life. You have dominion over your
life, over your body. You have dominion over it.
And nothing is supposed to master you.
Just like I should not be mastered by my flesh of not
wanting to go work out. Because what do I know?
That it's going to do for me only produce great things for my
body with long life, right? All of these things.
But do you know what? I am still letting that master
me. Now am I going to go to hell for
it? No.
But do I know what's? Right to do and I'm not doing
it. Guess what it is to me?
So guess what I need to do? Repent one more time so His
grace can cover me, right? No.
So again, we all have things, you know, I don't have ungodly
things mastering me because I've learned how to have dominion
over it. And we all can grow and mature
to be able to do that as well. And he lets us know when you
begin to start doing that, you can be assured that you're not
going to fail. Come on, when you learn to
master some things, all right. It also talks about patience.
We've got to learn to operate in a patient's endurance and be
able to endure and persevere some hard times.
All of us are going to go through hard times in our growth
and our walk in our development with the Lord when you don't
want to have to deal with whatever you're going through.
But guess what? He has given us everything that
we need that pertains to life and godliness.
So whatever I need to be able to walk through this situation and
this scenario where I am needing perseverance, where I am needing
patience, where I am needing to be able to endure through this
situation, knowing that joy is going to come in the morning.
He's going to be there to give me what I need in the midst of
that. And when I actually activate in
that process of letting Lord you have your perfect work in me,
help me where I'm weak, you're going to strengthen me.
I'm going to believe you in the midst of all of this.
I'm going to endure. I am not going to let this thing
wear me down, wear me out. I am going to persevere through
it. I don't care how long it takes.
I'm going to still be standing because.
When I've done all the. What?
I'm going to stand. I'm not standing in my own
strength. I'm standing in the knowledge of
the Word of God. I'm standing in trusting in
knowing the Lord will deliver me out of all of my troubles.
I'm going. To endure.
Till the end. So there's some things we're
going to have to endure and walk through and persevere.
And he's letting us know, listen, we ought to be pursuing
and allowing this thing to operate in us so that we can
overcome and grow through the process so that when we come
out, come on when we come out, because we always win.
If you will. Endure.
And if you will activate your faith through the process, we
will always triumph in Christ Jesus, always triumph in Christ
Jesus, Amen. And so then he lets us know,
listen, that we are going to have to write, walk in love,
agape love. We're going to have to walk in
love. How will the world know that
we're truly His disciples? Because of the love for the
brethren, brotherly love. He lets us know this is
something we must pursue. Yes, you're right, you're right.
Yes, this is something we must pursue.
Why? Because it's not just about us
and our relationship with the Lord.
We are all to grow into all aspects so that the what the
body of Christ can grow into the fullness.
And so if I. Choose to stop my growth and not
love somebody. It will be guaranteed a
stumbling block to your brother or your sister.
When I choose not to forgive. When I choose not to love.
Because it's not just about me. What I do effects what someone
else effects someone else. But how many?
Believers are still so selfish that they don't care to grow or
about their behavior because they think this is just a
relationship with them and God. No, it's not.
You are in the family and how you act in your family effects
everybody in the natural. You have family members that you
don't want to be around because every time you're around you,
they causing drama, they're causing problems.
They're always in need, they're always wanting something.
Come on, that is not fun to be around.
You stay away from family reunions 'cause you know you got
some crazy family members now. Tell the truth and.
Shame the devil. And it's a.
Result, especially in the family of God, of brothers and sisters
and all the rivalry that still even in the church among the
family of God. Jealous of this one, jealous of
that marriage, you know, seeing them grow, seeing them get
promoted and you saying, well, when's my time?
What about me? All of that is baby stuff.
It's baby. Wow, wow, wow.
It's baby stuff and people in your family don't want to be
around it. Why you think they turn the
other way when they see you coming?
I mean, this is, you know, we have families that are
dysfunctional. The family of God should have
been redeemed from dysfunction. We are redeemed.
From dysfunction and yet we still act in dysfunctional in
the church when. We ought to be the.
Most functional thing for the world to see so that it would
draw them into because they see all the hypocrisy they.
See. You know, people that say they
believe and they live like the world.
They see the the backbiting, they see all these things within
the Church that ought not be. And it's just a result.
Of people being babies and not growing up.
And not growing up. But we going to have some mature
people in this place because we going to grow up, say grow up,
stand up again and go tell somebody grow up.
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