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Four Steps to Spiritual Maturity Four Steps to Spiritual Maturity
Whenever we become Christians we
are to begin a transformation in our life.
Romans 12:2 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.
However this transformation
does not happen overnight. This does not set well in the society we live
today. We have been trained to believe in instant gratification. All you have
to flip through the channels late and night and watch some of those
infomercials. Most of them have something to do with make you a lean mean
fighting machine. They hire some buff model who has worked for years developing
physic and then they try to play off in your mind that you can look just like that model with in few
months if you simply use their product 3 times a week 20 to 30 minutes at a
time. Another example would be the fast food restaurants. You can run the drive
thru and have you supper with 5 min and
if it take 10 min boy we began to lose our patients and get mad because we have
been trained to expect instant gratification.
However, we cannot have that kind
of mentality when it comes growing as Christian.
1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, laying aside all malice,
all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk
of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the
Lord is gracious.
Peter describes the new Christian as babe. I think
everyone in here can understand this concept. When a baby is born it can do
little on it own it as to have it mother and it farther to care for it. As time
goes by the new baby begins to learn new things. For instance they usual learn
crawl first then sit up and finally learn how to walk on their own. The also move
from milk to more solid food as the mature. This same concept is true with new
Christians they must grow in spiritual maturity one day at a time there are no
shortcuts. Being a Christian is a lifetime commitment and every Christian no
matter how or old they may be should always striving to grow.
2 Peter 3:18 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If we a child that was not growing
physically as it should we would be very concerned and we do just about
anything to give them medical attention they need to grow. In the same manner
we should very concerned with Christian who is not growing spiritual and try to
help them as much as we possible
can. Its really sad when some become Christians and they simply do not desire
to grow and they become stagnate.
The writer of Hebrews ran across
Christians just like this.
Hebrews 5: 12 For though by this time you ought to
be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first
principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of
righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who
are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have
their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
So you see there is great need for
every Christian to grow and to mature in Gods word so that we can be a prepared
people that is pleasing to God.
Ephesians
6:13 Therefore take up the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your
waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the
preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith
with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked
one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
Now that I have pointed out how
important it is that we all grow lets us now take a look a 4 steps to spiritual
maturity. Our four steps come from
Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart
to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and
ordinances in
1. We must prepare our hearts
Preparing your heart is one of the
most important steps to become spiritually mature because if you don’t the
desire or right mind set to do Gods will then you are going to fail and your
going to fall away from God. You see it takes dedication and commitment to
learn more about God and do his will.
Luke 10:27 'You shall love the LORD your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your
mind,'
You have to prepare give all of
yourself to God.
Proverbs
23:7 7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…
Proverbs
4:23 Keep your heart with all
diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
Whatever you harbored in your
heart is what going guide your life.
2
Corinthians 10:4-5 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for
pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of
Christ,
If you do not fully prepare your heart to serve God you
will find very difficult to remain faithful. We can learn about 4 different
types of hearts in the parable of the 4 soils.
Luke 8:4-8 4 And when a great multitude had
gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a
parable: 5 "A sower went out to sow his
seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and
the birds of the air devoured it. 6 "Some fell on rock; and as soon
as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. 7 "And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8 "But others fell on good ground,
sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold." When He had said these
things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
Luke 8:11-15 11 " Now the parable is this: The
seed is the word of God. 12 "Those by the wayside are the
ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their
hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 "But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the
word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of
temptation fall away. 14 "Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who,
when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures
of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 "But the ones that fell on the good ground are those
who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.
What kind of heart do you have
this morning? Are you stubborn like the wayside soil and don’t allow the word of God to sink. Or are you like the rocky
soil you once were excited about the word of God but lacked commitment and now
have just withered away. Maybe your like the thorny soil and you heart is only
kind of prepared for God but you allow the world to choke Gods word. In order
to be pleasing to God and to be successful at becoming spiritual mature we must
a heart like the fertile soil that is fully prepared for God so that we grow in
his grace.
2. We are to seek the law of the Lord.
In order to grow in anything
weather it be the word of God or be a new job or new hobby you must seek out
information and study it so you can become knowledgeable. Now that you have
prepared you heart for God and have passion for doing his will we must seek out
his will by studying his
word.
Psalm
119:10-12 10 With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! 11 Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You! 12 Blessed are You, O LORD! Teach me Your
statutes!
David even though he fell short of
Gods will from time to time overall he loved God so much and tried his best to
seek out God commands and
it even says he has hidden it in his heart. We should be the same way seek his
word and hiding it in our heart because Gods word is precious.
Psalm
119:127 127 Therefore I love Your commandments
More than gold, yes, than fine gold!
There is nothing in this earth that is more
valuable than the word of God because it will leads us to eternal life.
Matthew
6:19-21 9 " Do not lay up for yourselves treasures
on earth, where moth and
rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 "but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 "For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.
Jesus was letting the people know
don’t make monetary gain you focus life instead make heaven your goal and it
will be treasure.
Matthew 6:33 33 "But seek first the
There are no shortcuts to study
Gods word you just have to roll up your sleeves and get to work studying Gods
every opportunity that you have. There not many of us that would miss a meal to
feed our body when it hungry but how many times to skip opportunities to feed
our selves the word of God when we are spiritual hungry? Paul tells Timothy…
2 Timothy 2:15 Be
diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Are you studying the word of God
on daily basis? If neglect to feed yourself spiritual notice what can happen to the child of
God.
Hosea 4:6-9 My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject
you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I
also will forget your children. 7 " The more they increased, The
more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame. 8 They eat up the sin of My people; They
set their heart on their iniquity. 9 And it shall be: like people, like
priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And reward them for their deeds.
3. We must do the
commandants of the Lord.
Its not enough to just know the
word of God you must also obey what you have learned otherwise you will not
grow. Let me give you a worldly example. Lets say that you read up and study
how to do heart bypass. You can learn all the ins and outs and learn all the
technical names but would you want this person to perform the surgery on you
when they have never cut a
person open before? Of course not. You want the person that has both the
knowledge and experience one who has already done several heart surgeries.
Its one think to have knowledge I t’s another think to practice it and
to gain experience from it.
James put it best in..
James
1:21-25 21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and
overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is
able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word
and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away,
and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law
of liberty and continues in
it, and is not a forgetful
hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
If want to become mature you must
practice what you have
learned in the word of God. If are not doer of the word then James tells
you are deceiving yourself.
Jesus had very important question for those who were not being doer of the
word.
Luke 6:46 "
But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I
say? The word of God tells us many times in one way or another
that if we love God we will obey his commands. How can we say the Love God and
call him lord lord if we do not obey his commands. Notice what Jesus goes on to
say in…
47 "Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does
them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 "He is like a man building a
house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood
arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it,
for it was founded on the rock. 49 "But he who heard and did nothing
is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against
which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that
house was great."
Friends you have a choice you can either be a doer of Gods which will
lead you to spiritual maturity or you can do nothing and find yourself swept
away with life of sin which
lead to your destruction.
Sometimes following God’s command can be very difficult for us especially
when it comes to us giving up what we hold dear to our heart but if we are
going to be pleasing to God we must sacrifice those things so that these temporary
things do not separate us
from God. Notice what the people of Ezra time had to do.
Ezra 10:2-4 And Shechaniah the son of
Jehiel, one of the sons of
God had commanded them not have
foreign wives but many them disobeyed this command and married them anyway. But now they realize that this
was wrong and even though I am sure they love their foreign wives they were
showing that they God more so the sent these wives away so that they could be right in the site of God. To
many today fall away from God or will not become a Christian because they are unwilling
to give up what they hold
dear.
Matthew
10:37-38 37 "He who loves father or mother more
than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is
not worthy of Me. 38 "And he who does not take his
cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
We must love God first by obeying his commands then let everything else come
2nd, 3rd etc…
4. We must share the truth with
others.
Mark 16:15 "Go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature.
All of us should be prepared to
teach those who ask us about God.
1 Peter
3:15 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you
a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
Whenever you teach someone about
the word of God it helps you to become spiritual mature because you learn how
to speak to a person more
effectively each time you do it. A person who teaches learns a great deal more
from their preparation those who receive the teaching. Try to use every opportunity you have to teach others
about God either by example in the way you conduct yourself or sitting down
opening up the bible and sharing the good news with them. Parents are teach
their children about God.
Ephesians
6:4 And you,
fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the
training and admonition of the Lord.
Paul taught Timothy to teach the
word of God to others so that the word of God would be taught from generation
to generation.
2 Timothy
2:2 2 And the things that you have heard
from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to
teach others also.
Listen to the 4 steps to spiritual
maturity one more time from Ezra 7:10 For
Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and
ordinances in
If you will work these 4 steps in
you Christian life you continue to grow and become more spiritual mature
everyday.
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