Are You a Mature Christian?

all right Robert breaker here and get out your Bible if you will let's have a Bible study today we're going to go to 2nd Peter today and this will be our sermon for Sunday I want to teach you a little bit give you a little bit of Bible teaching but I also want to preach to you today we're going to look at this topic of Christian maturity Christian maturity and I want to ask one question are you a mature Christian I mean that's a really good question it are you a mature Christian we live in a day and age of very immature people unfortunately my generation and the ones after that there wasn't that much maturity they a lot of the kids they don't they don't grow they don't become adults quickly enough oftentimes they live at home till they're what 20 30 40 years old and so what the world needs is what Christianity needs maturity every individual person needs to mature and grow up and become an adult so today we're going to look at this and I'm going to teach you something I'm looking forward to this as a Bible study but I also want to preach to you today about this and let me just say if the shoe fits wear it amen if this is a message that is for you then please accept it and take it and learn from it and use it in your daily life so let's start in 2nd Peter chapter 3 and verse 18 2nd Peter 3:8 teemed of last words of the Apostle Peter in which the the Apostle Peter says this but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever amen so the Apostle Peter here in 2nd Peter 3:18 tells us and actually you can you can argue that this is a command grow in grace so what we need is Christians you see we're saved by grace grace through faith now we need to grow in grace after we're saved we need to grow as Christians and that was the last words of the Apostle Peter his desire was I want to see people who claim to be Christians who are saved to grow in grace so how's the first way to grow as a Christiaan well the first thing is get saved now what does the Bible say well the Bible says that Jesus Christ died on the cross and this is the gospel 1st Corinthians 15 1 through 4 and the gospel is how that Christ died for our sins and was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures this is the gospel so before anyone can grow as a Christian they need to be saved and the Gospels found the 1st Corinthians 15 1 through 4 it's all what Jesus did it's all about the blood that He shed and how the Bible says there's no forgiveness without the shedding of blood and it's the blood atonement of Christ that saves us and Romans 3:25 says when God said were to be a propitiation through faith in his blood salvation is by trusting in the blood the Bible calls the gospel the gospel of the grace of God so we're saved by grace so the first thing you need to do to be to grow and mature as a Christian is to be a Christian are you saved are you trusting only in the finished work of Christ are you trusting in the blood atonement of Christ are you trusting the gospel if not you'll never grow as a Christian you've got to be saved first but after you're saved there's seven stages of Christian growth 7 this is what I'm gonna call this today the seven stages of Christian growth and it's interesting to me that this is actually in the Bible we're going to take all five are all seven of these these stages from the scriptures themselves and I'm going to show you what the Bible says about them and I want you to ask yourself which one are you are you number one are you number two these are all progressive these are all growing you start at one and you end up down here at seven some people are still at the first step as Christians they haven't grown and I want to ask you what do you want to be as a Christian you should strive to be number seven and we'll get into this here a little bit today so we're going to look at this today Christian maturity are you a mature Christian how do you line up as far as in God's eyes when you're saved you become a babe in Christ and I have three kids I would have four we lost one when my wife was eight months pregnant and that was our first and we lost it in Honduras and so she's buried over there somewhere in Honduras and we named her Esperanza which means hope and we lived in a little village called allies but Anza the hope so we have a hope someday that when we get to heaven we'll see our first baby who was born into this world not alive but I do believe she's alive up in heaven and I can't wait to see her someday but I've had other children we have three kids two girls and a boy and it's amazing to me the oldest is 10 the youngest is a year and a half and it's amazing to me to see the stages of growth of a person and how they start out as babes and his children so the first thing I want to say is the first thing that happens is you're a babe in Christ you can say you're a baby so the first of the seven stages of the Christian growth is you start out when you're saved as a babe in Christ let's go to first Corinthians chapter 3 now I'm just going to give you as many verses as I can because I feel like my words are so inadequate when I stand up and I speak I just feel like my words are meaningless but the Bible says the Word of God is powerful so I want to give you as many scriptures as I can I want this I want this to be the Word of God speaking to you so that's why in many of my sermons I do my absolute best to give you as many verses from the King James Bible that I can now 1st Corinthians chapter 3 verse 1 through 4 we read and I brethren could not speak unto us sense of spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ so when you first get saved in the Bible you're called a babe you're a babe in Christ you're a newborn babe and we'll see another verse alone that here in a second and what a babies do well the first thing a baby does when it comes out usually is it Christ I remember when Emma was born she came out and she just looked around and didn't even cry I never saw a baby that was born it first thing he didn't do was cry she's a good girl she's been a real blessing our other baby came out the youngest Conrad he came out he cried but his little lungs were so small and he just his cry wasn't that loud so that was kind of nice did not have to put up with a really loud loud loud cry our middle one she cried like a normal baby when she came out but what a babies do they cry well they're needy they just don't know what else to do but just go away and they just cry cry cry cry cry cry cry and that's what babies do babies cry often and look what it says here Paul is speaking to these people in Corinth and he says look you're you're just babies you haven't matured you're still babies in Christ look what he says here in verse two I fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto you were not able to bear it neither yet now are you able for ye are yet carnal for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are you not carnal and walk as men for why one saith I am of Paul and another of Apollo's are you not carnal so the Apostle Paul says when you first get saved well you haven't learned a lot of Bible and the Bible is like milk and you need milk in order to grow a lot of times as soon as the person gets saved while they're still in the flesh a little bit they don't understand a lot about what the Bible says yet they've understood the gospel they've understood enough to get saved they're trusting in the blood atonement of Christ but now they've they're still in this body of flesh and part of the Christian life is fighting the flesh and living a holy life and that's that's hard to fight against the flesh because the flesh is carnal and it wants to do certain things and so we see that Paul says look you guys are a bunch of babies so what babies do all they do is just cry cry cry cry cry cry cry and Paul is saying to these converts of his in Corinth look you guys are a bunch of babies you're just crying you're just envious strife and you're causing divisions he says you need to grow in grace and you have it let's go over to 1st Peter chapter 2 sadly it seems like today a lot of people that claim to be Christians they don't grow past in this first stage and the way we can tell who or what they are is by the way they act first Peter chapter 2 verses will verse 2 as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby so the Word of God is like milk so the Word of God is like milk okay so the Word of God the Bible is like milk and our little boy he's still breastfeeding he's a year and a half but how often does he breastfeed two three times a day and he needs that milk to grow well the Bible is our word we need the Word of God we need at least once a day to eat usually we two three four times a day some of us are the only two meals a day sometimes three but we need to grow and how do we grow through the milk well the way you grow as a Christian is through the milk of the word you need to read the Bible get more of the scripture and you understand what the Bible says and if you do that then you will grow as a Christian but if you're not studying the word and reading the Word of God and learning and desiring it like a newborn babe desires milk then you're going to be still a babe in Christ now look at verse 1 1st Peter 2:1 wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envies in evil speakings so we're supposed to lay aside some some some things as a Christian what are we supposed to lay aside what is one of the things we need to do after we get saved in order to grow up we need to lay aside all guile what does guile guile is trying to deceive people we need to lay aside all malice malice is like hating someone because of they do something you don't like or vice versa all hypocrisy we need to lay aside all envy and we need to lay aside all evil speaking see I've met some people out there that claim to be Christians while they even claim to be King James Bible believing Christians and all they do is they sit around they speak evil of other people because they're envious of them and with their heart full of malice they try to deceive other people as they talk bad about other Christians in Christ that's not a mature Christian that's a babe in Christ that's some it needs to grow up you say you speak from experience Robert breaker oh yeah yeah my whole life ever since I've been saying there's been people that talk bad about Robert breaker you know what I could care less but I wish they would grow up and I look at that and I say well I don't want to be that I want to be grown up I don't want to be a baby babies are needy we just saw that also when we just read in first Corinthians chapter 3 that such people the reason they're like that is their carnal their full of in beings they're trying to stir up strife so you monitor down if you find someone that's a Christian and all they're doing is going around and trying to cause division in the body of Christ and let's say they are saved then what are their babes in Christ that have not grown up yet and the Bible commands us in 2nd Peter 3:18 to grow in grace if they have no grace then they haven't grown yet and they're not even following the scriptures it's like they're they're looking at the milk and they're going at that I don't want that they're malnutrition Christians if you will they're not studying the scriptures and following what the Bible says look at Ephesians 4:15 so what I want to do is I want to be a true Christian I want to be a mature Christian I don't want to be a baby that just cries and screams and hollers and and that's what a lot of so-called people that say their King James Bible believers do they're still babes in Christ they're in the flesh they're carnal and all they know how to do is attack and put down live out other people and I look at that and said man why don't they grow up go to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15 Ephesians 4:15 it says but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ the Bible tells us what we're supposed to do we're supposed to speak the truth and love why because verse 14 that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive there are some people out there that just wanted to see people with guile with malice with hypocrisy with envy all they want to do is is stay in the flesh and cause strife and division and speak people of other people they just want to be a babe in Christ they don't desire to grow in grace because they don't have any grace and I don't want to be a person like that I want to grow I remember in my life I can still hear my father he's been gone now for over 10 years but I can still hear his voice in my head as so many times in my life when my father said son grow up just grow up already so I won't you just grow up it has helped me over the years and made me think look as a crit as a man I want to grow up and that's that's a physical I want to physically be a grown man but spiritually I want to grow and I want to be a strong mature Christian so the first thing is grow up don't be just a babe in Christ as soon as you get saved start learning the Bible start study and don't be somebody that just as a Christian lives in the flesh and continues on acting the same way you did before you were saved don't be a critical spirited mean person learn to have some grace and don't do these things the Bible says to lay these aside so anytime you find somebody says they're a Christian all they are is a mean-spirited hateful person that just talked about about others and it's they're just a baby they're just it's like grow up already why don't you well let's go to first John chapter 2 the second stage of Christian growth is little children first John 2 verse 1 and 2 first John chapter 2 verse 1 and 2 says my little children these things write I unto you that she's sending on and if any man sin we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for something for our sins and not ours only but also for the sins of the whole world as you grow as a Christian you become a little child you know you you go on from the first stage of just being a baby and the more you read the word the more you study the more then you start to care about other people and you say wow I really want to tell them about Jesus and and you get this desire in your heart to want to witness to people and tell them about the propitiation for our sins propitiation and that's what we should do propitiation and you should go out and tell them the gospel and tell them how to be saved and that's one of the things I love to see is when somebody gets saved and then they're a babe in Christ but I like to see them say you know what now that I'm saying I need to witness to my parents I need to witness to my friends I need I need to tell others about Jesus and that's something that I enjoy I see they're starting to grow and not just be mean and talk bad about others know they're starting to say you know the Bible says I shouldn't do that I'm gonna try to live a godly life I'm gonna try to live in such a way that I'm living a holy life and I'm serving the Lord and so I see that and say amen so what you need to do is you need to grow and in my ministry I've seen a lot of folks get saved and their babes in Christ for a little while but I can see they're starting to grow because they say brother breaker you know now I'm saying I want to see other people say what I need to do I said well there's place to go get tracts and go pass out tracts go to fellowship tract league dot org and I don't like all of their tracks I only like the one all this I did for thee and I say get those pass those out in and you're starting to see someone starting to grow and they're caring about other people and in the passage here in 1st John 2 1 & 2 it says little children and then it says we have an advocate with the father he's the propitiating well should we do we should tell everybody about our propitiation or substance about Jesus Christ who died in that I see that desire in people when they get saved to want to win other people to the Lord that's good it shows that they're growing the next stage is children now if you've ever had children you see those stages of growth and how they go from from a newborn babe to to a bye to a child and then they begin to become a toddler and when they first learn to walk and first learn to talk and all these things it's a wonderful thing to see a person going through this and growing it's very sad to see their growth stunted so I'm using this illustration of the physical growth for a spiritual growth and want to get more into that but I'm probably gonna give you a little bit of stories about my kids and things that I've seen in in this life having children and it's a wonderful thing to have kids but children go to lazy Galatians chapter 3 and verse 26 the Bible uses the term children Galatians 3:26 in Galatians chapter 3 verse 26 the Bible says this Galatians 3:26 says for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus so when we're saved we become a child of God but where does the child come from well he starts it's a baby so you start out as a babe in Christ when you get saved I will save July 29th 1992 and then you come become a little child and you start to see some growth there and some desire to want to see other people become saved then you become a child of course when you get saved you're automatically a child of God but as you grow when you become a child and so the word child now notice what Paul says in first Corinthians 13:11 I wanted to get to that look at what it says in first Corinthians 13:11 in 1st Corinthians chapter 13 verse 11 look at what Paul says when I was a child I spake as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things so we are all children for a time but the good thing about being saved is you can grow rapidly the more you study the more you read the word the more you try to live a holy life and please God the more you attempt to serve Him the quicker you grow and one thing we need to do is we need to put aside our childish stuff now I've met a lot of Christians in my life that were childish they were very childish they were not mature spiritual godly Christians that were walking in the spirit they were childish and because of that they they lived a very childish lifestyle they weren't very nice Paul says no let's let's put away our our childish things and let's put God first I like what Jesus says in Luke 6 let's go back to Luke chapter 6 and verse 35 so as a Christian we're supposed to grow Luke chapter 6 in verse 35 we read but love your enemies and do good and lend hoping for nothing again and your reward shall be great and he shall be the children of the highest for he is kind unto and thankful into the evil kind unto the unthankful and to the evil for he is merciful so God is a merciful God and God says look we need to learn to love and his children children learn to love and it's interesting to see children loving little boy Conrad of mine when he was little I told him I'd love to hold him this time gone I went on he doesn't want to be held he doesn't want to be held he just wants to run and play now he's getting a little older where he'll come to Daddy on his own and get up in Daddy's lap and I said I love you and he said Laroux and it's just wow you mean and there's some love there and what a great thing to see him he's a child and children need to be loved and then we teach them to love and they'll love others unfortunately there are some people that claim to be Christians that all they want to do is fight and sadly what do we see what we see a lot of times children fight I've got my girls ones ten one seven and sometimes they fight and we hear you know one of them happy it's like okay kids what's going on no fighting you're supposed to put away childish thing you're not supposed to fight it wasn't say here you're supposed to love your enemies well that's a hard lesson to learn isn't it I mean there's a lot of people out there there are our enemies how do we love them well part of the way of learning to mature as a Christian is learning to love your enemies those that do evil toward you and say bad things about you guys so you know I love them anyway that's the mark of a mature Christian but someone that claims to be a Christian and all I do is attack you and put you down and lie about you to say dirty things about you why they're just they're just a child they need to heed what Paul says they need to put up side their childish ways and grow up as a Christian Galatians chapter 5 verse 13 look at what Galatians 5:13 through 15 cents for brethren you've been called into Liberty only use not Liberty for an occasion to the flesh but to but by love serve one another we there are Christians we need to learn to grow up we need to learn to have love we don't need to follow the flesh and be carnal you see it's babes that are carnal we need to learn to walk in the spirit that we fulfill not the love of flesh we need to learn to love one another and serve one another verse 14 for all the law is fulfilled in one word even as this in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself now begin verse 15 but if you bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another yeah yeah because why because a lot of people that claim to be Christians while they just act as children all the time just fighting one another that's not very mature see we still got four more to go so you need to grow up don't just be a child there's a lot of Christians they're just a bunch of babies then they grow a little bit they become little children and they begin to grow but but they don't let go of their childish ways what's the next one the next one in the Bible is young man the Bible talks about young me so what does this correspond to will a babe in crisis what since he's born till I don't know a year or so maybe two little children what three four five six seven children what 8 9 10 11 12 then you got young men well that would be more like you're teenagers that would be more like you know starting to become a man starting to learn to put aside your childish ways and learning to grow in which you're starting to become mature mature enough where you can get some responsibilities you know where you can be depended on where you can be trusted where you can look at you and go yeah he's not somebody that we can't trust it's just some some crazy person that they can't even do anything right they learn to do some things for themselves let's go to first john 2:13 in 1st john to 13 it says I write it to you father's because you have known him that it's from the beginning and I write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked when I write unto you little children because you know the father so many times he's going back and forth using these terms but after you're saved you should learn you should grow and you come to a next stage and you come to the neck stage where you learn to love other Christians and then as a young man you come to this point where it's like wow I'm learning to get victories against the devil and against the flesh and I'm learning to to quit this sin and to do this and and not act like that and to be responsible and to do right let's go to Titus chapter 2 as I preached this message I want to ask you what stage do you feel that you as a Christian are in a lot of times Christians say well I want to be one of these but it's very hard for me to forgive my enemies okay you're still one of these are you not I can't stand that guy over there and I can't stop calling him names I hate him well you're still a babe in Christ your carnal learn to grow learn to grow in grace Titus chapter 2 verse 6 Titus 2 6 says young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works in doctrine showing uncorrupt this gravity in sincerity and look what it says here sound speech that cannot be condemned that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to save you as you grow and as you mature as a Christian you your goal should be to get to a point to where your you can beat a pattern or an example to others of how they should live the Christian life you're not falling off the deep end in the sin you're doing your best as a Christian to try to grow every day and you're reading your Bible and you're becoming trustworthy as a Christian and other people can depend on you and you're an example of what a Christian should be have you got that far yet well unfortunately no a lot of times there's people that claim to be Christians and they might be old men you know in their 50s or 60s but they're a bunch of babes in Christ because they're full of the flesh they're carnal and all they do is go around a name call and it's because of these things right here all they want to do is stir up strife and division that's not very nice the Bible says here you're supposed to have good works uncorrupt this gravity sincerity you're supposed to be sincere and grave and intemperate and you're supposed to have sound speech you're not supposed to just say stupid things you say you know the Bible says this bob says this and whatever problem in your life you always go back to the Bible say you know the Bible has the answer and you're able to teach other people how to be a Christian and you're a good example of a Christian you're growing up like a teenager that finally gets the trust of his parents you know the greatest thing a teenager can do nowadays is get a car and so you get to be 16 17 years old and your parents say well you're mature enough now son that we're gonna give you the keys and you can you can drive well you now have the power of life and death in your hands because you could literally kill somebody or kill yourself driving but you have reached that level of among young enough I'm mature enough I can take this responsibility same thing spiritually have you ever reached the level as a Christian where you're mature enough that other Christians say you know we can trust him he's an example to us of how to be a Christian hope so the next one I want to put up here is father's father's first john 2:14 now was there in verse 13 as well I write unto you father's but first john 2:14 says for I written unto you father's because you have known him that it's from the beginning I have written unto you young men because you're strong in the Word of God abideth in you and you help overcome the wicked one so father's a father is more than just a young man a father is someone who's now well if you look at it physically is no longer a teenager you you you reach eight ten nineteen twenty you get married you be you get more responsibility than you had before and you've got a you got to take that responsibility you've got to understand okay now I've got duties that I have to do people's lives are at stake a father usually has children so now I've got to work hard I've got to do these things because they're counting on me to feed them and things like that so even more responsibilities and duties and things that you have to that's a real mature Christian do you feel like you're one of them let's go to first Corinthians 4:15 first corinthians 4:15 spiritually you should be a father when it comes to leading other people to the Lord look at what Paul says first Corinthians 4:15 for though I have ten thousand instructors in Christ yet have not have you not many fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel Paul says look whenever I led you to the Lord you spiritually are my sons in Christ can you ever say that you've ever led somebody to the Lord have you ever won somebody else to Jesus Christ I have I mean I'm not bragging I thank God for I remember the first time I got to win someone to the Lord I was so excited I took him to the scriptures I showed him as many verses as I could and they understood and they believed and it was just like praise God wellness spiritually that's my son in Christ and I hope that person will mature to a level to where they go out and when somebody else to the Lord so spiritually now I don't like the term father you know the Catholic Church likes to use that term I got an email the other day where someone says father breaker thank you so much for this like oh no no no please don't don't call me that okay um that that's the Catholic term yes I know in the Bible it's spiritually when you lead someone to the Lord you're their spiritual father in Christ but I'd rather not use that term because that's it's something the Catholics have hijacked and use for themselves so please don't call me father breaker but in Christ when you win someone to the Lord they're your spiritual son or daughter in Christ now first let's see Ephesians Ephesians 6:4 so spiritually you can become a father in the sense that you're winning people to the Lord but physically in your physical life if you are a man and you are a Christian and you are married and you have children how should you be as a Christian well Ephesians 6:4 says and you for father's provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord let's go to Colossians 3 21 in Colossians 3:21 look what this says Colossians 3 21 says father's provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged so one of the things that we as Christians who are fathers that do have kids should do is sure we're supposed to discipline our children and teach them and raise them in the nature nature the admonition of the Lord but we're not supposed to in the flesh act like a bunch of babies and just put down our kids and make them feel horrible and and discourage them supposed to encourage we're supposed to edify so that's the physical realm then how about spiritually our Christian is supposed to go around and just discourage other Christians all the time what's sad to me is to see men who've been saved for years older men who claim to be Christians and all they do is talk bad about other Christians and put them down and say horrible things about them and mock them and laugh at them and all it does is discourage them our we as Christians supposed to walk around discouraged all the time no we're supposed to encourage one another but unfortunately we have some people who claim to be Christians they they want to say that their spiritual fathers in Christ but they're a bunch of little kids spiritual a bunch of carnal little people that do these things over here to try to discourage other people look I need all the encouragement I can get people say what about these people on the internet that that say bad things about you yeah whatever you know I do my best to stay away from that because I don't care people send me their videos and send me in the comments and say look at what these and I say why that's discouraging I need encouragement as Christians we're supposed to be mature and encourage one another not discourage one another especially in these last days when there's so much evil we need more to encourage in Spanish there's a word that we use called animal anima means get excited get get encouraged I guess and so whenever I go down to Mexico to our church down there I always hear the pastor say I need more money more encouragement brother be encouraged love the Lord and unfortunately in the world we live today many Christians all they want to do is put you down and work you up into a into a into this this little pity party which you're walking around all the time going on worst Christian that ever lived uh no good well how you're gonna grow like that we should encourage one another we shouldn't if I one another help each other to grow in the Lord not just go around talk bad about others and discourage one another that's very sad very sad next one I want to say is elders an elder is an older person who's been a Christian for some time and has grown throughout their entire lifetime as a Christian they haven't stopped or other a growth wasn't stunted and they just stopped in one of these they've grown and I love elder Christians I love people that have been Christians for 40 50 60 years that know the Bible some of them call me on the phone and we talk and it's so encouraging to me to hear an older man who's who's read his Bible for many years and who is a really mature Christian and I love to learn from them one of my favorite things to do is I would travel around and preach in different churches is whenever I'd meet the pastor who's usually 20 30 40 50 years older than me I would always love to say pastor as a young man tell me what is the greatest advice you could give me from your years of experience as a preacher one pastor says well I wish I prayed more alright put that my head said I can make sure I remember to pray another pastor says don't ever get discouraged say hey man I'm it's so easy to get discouraged now the pastor says whatever you do don't quit God wants us to be faithful he doesn't want us to quit so David and I just showed up one of my favorite things my whole life has been to be around older men and learn from them I remember my uncle he used to take me fishing I remember my grandpa used to take me fishing he showed me how to fish take me do this take me do that my dad wasn't with me for four years my mom divorced my dad and so for four years I had to live in Oklahoma without my father and that was awful that was devastating I wish a man hate divorce I wish it never happened but it did and I didn't have any one around for four years to teach me thanks and that's when I turned 16 I got in a car and I didn't know how to change the oil I went across the street to an old man named Marvin and I said Marvin I need to change my car do you think think you could show me how and Marvin showed me how to change the oil in my car now to this day I don't even know if he was a safe man or not I don't know but I'll think fondly of him as as even though he wasn't a Christian elder I look at him as an older man that I could learn from physically and he taught me how to changed it all my car and every time I changed you own my car I always think Oh Marvin you taught me how to change the oil in my car so we need elders we need Christian men who have been Christian for many years who've lived right and who have grown that are able to teach others we got enough babies where are the elders where the older men in Christ that are teaching and edifying and encouraging others in Christ verse 75 one rebuke not an elder but intreat him as a father and the younger men is brethren first Timothy 5:17 let the elders that rule we'll be counted worthy of double honor especially they who labor in the word and doctrine while these elders would be like ministers or pastors or deacons they would have shown themselves to have grown and matured so much that they were given in the church responsibilities like a deacon and such verse nineteen against an elder receive not an accusation before two or three witnesses I mean if a man has been in Christ for many years and has shown himself as a mature Christian with the last thing the Bible says you're supposed to do is some other guy who claims to be a Christian to come over and say well I even did that that who would be that that's doing that a babe in Christ now if it's true plus all right you're supposed to bring two or three witnesses so look you're doing this wrong and we've got two or three witness here to prove it but I don't see that often today off and I see people that claim to be elders there are a bunch of babes in Christ and all they do is talk bad about others they're childish grow up be a real arrow there being a teacher be somebody that people look up to and say man I want to be like him I want to learn from him because he's got so much knowledge and wisdom be somebody like that don't be somebody like this it's just a carnal baby that that all you can do is just talk bad about other people 1st Peter chapter 5 legal what the Bible says first Peter chapter 5 verse 5 through 8 first Peter 5:5 says likewise ye younger submit yourselves into the elder yea all of you be subject to one another be clothed with humility for God resisteth the proud and give us grace to the humble well there's a lot of people in this world that claim to be Christians that are full of pride while they are so proud of themselves that they think they're right and everybody else is wrong and they're just chomping at the bit to go talk bad about somebody else because they think there's so much better than that person you mark a down that's not a mature Christian that's somebody still up here as a babe the Bible says to have Grace and to be huge humble humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time verse 6 for 7 casting all your care upon him for he careth for you God wants us to do right what does it say casting all your care upon him for he careth for you verse 7 verse 8 be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walking about sinking whom he may devour but what does it say verse 9 whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world so the devil is the one that comes and accuses and attacks what we're supposed to do just resist them why would a Christian attack and make fun and cause division and strife among the Brethren if you're an old man in Christ then learn to be a true Bible believer and a true elder and learn how to edify and encourage other Christians grow up don't be a babe in Christ that just goes around to try to stir up the vision you carnal carnal person the last one here I want to say is the aged the aged or the aged in okay let's go to Titus chapter well let's go to Philemon first right before the book of Hebrews is the book of Philemon so right before Hebrews is the book of Philemon Philemon verse 9 Paul is speaking of himself this chapter is about a person who is a slave a person who is a to his master who has run away from his master and the Apostle Paul says now you go back to him because he's a Christian you're a Christian and in 1st Timothy chapter 6 we see the rules in the Bible of how God said if men are saved they're supposed to rule their house and how they're supposed to treat their servants and how the servants are supposed to serve their masters and here in verse 9 it says yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee being such a one as Paul the aged and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ Paul calls himself Paul the aged Paul says look I'm getting older and I have grown my whole life as a Christian it's interesting verse 10 I beseech thee for my summon onesimus whom i have begotten in my bonds he said I've been gotten him through the Gulf I led him to the Lord now this guy who NISS honest this is the servant the slave is saved now he's growing now you as the his owner his master you grow as well and so he's telling people grow up Paul says I'm the aged I'm one that has gone through so much and I want to encourage other people to live right and do right let's go to Titus chapter 2 so I'm not aged yet I mean old 40-something years old I mean I guess when I'm 60 or 70 I guess I can say I'm aged but I want to be one of these spiritually I want to be the best Christian that I can be someone that others can look up to and they can say hey this guy is alright he's trying to teach the Word of God he's trying to encourage he's trying to edify he's trying to be a true spiritually mature Christian so that's my goal that's my goal is to be like Pope Titus chapter 2 verse 2 through 5 that the aged men be sober all right grave temperate sound in the faith in charity in patient how are we supposed to be God wants us to me as Christian if we are Christian God wants us to be like this alright this is how every Christian should act and it says there in verse 2 that we should be sober well sober means you don't go around drunk right and then it but also sober means your you're awake to the truth you know the truth grant Eve all right temperate grave temperent doesn't say temperament doesn't mean angry temperate means you you don't fly off the handle and I crazy it's stupid I'm sound in the faith so you got sound doctrine you're sound in the faith he says you're supposed to be have charity it wants us to be charitable where's the charity today I'm a born again child of God I'm saved by the blood of Christ and I can't tell you how many times how many times people that claim to be Christians have lied said horrible things about me wrote me dirty letters we're mean were unkind lying slandering my good name saying things that weren't true and I look at that and I say well why aren't they like that God said a Christians supposed to be the only thing I can figure is they're back here somewhere they're going backwards when they're aging they're not a growing in grace as the Bible says so that's what a man's supposed to be in verse 2 verse 3 says the aged women likewise that they be in behavior as becometh holiness not false accusers not given to much wine teachers of good things first for that they may teach the young women to be sober to love their husbands to love their children to be discreet chaste keepers at home good obedient to their own husband's that the Word of God be not blasphemed so God talks about the aged it's it's men and women I mean this isn't just stages of Christian growth for men men and women both need to grow in the Lord and women need to understand that if you're a godly Christian woman and you're up in age and you've been saved for many years your responsibility is to teach other women how to love their husbands and how to follow the Bible and how they're supposed to be a keeper at home and and do good things and to be chaste and be discreet and not be given to whining and doing these other things that's what the Bible says now let's go to Hebrews chapter 5 so what I want to be and I hope you do too is a godly Christian I want to do my absolute best to keep growing every day as a Christian with the goal of becoming one of the agent now if the rapture comes first and amen I'll be happy with that I was a babe once in Christ and I was a child and I did my best to put away my childish ways and mature as a young me as a young man I went to Bible School and begin to learn more and then I was able to to learn enough to be able to go with other people to Lord and I have spiritual sons and daughters in Christ that I've led to the Lord the Lord called me into the ministry to be an evangelist to be a missionary and be a pastor and I've done that and now as a Christian I want to make sure that I'm doing everything that I can to encourage to edify to help other Christians to lift them up and say hey this is how you're supposed to be not put them down and discourage them and talk bad about them and lie about them and really kill them and mock them and say horrible things about them Hebrews chapter 5 Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 12 for when for the time ye ought to be teachers you have need one that one teach you again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe but strong meat belongeth to them that are full age even those who have by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil the Apostle Paul is writing here to the people in the Hebrews writing the people that were saved Jews I'm probably writing to some that weren't saved as well but he's writing them and he says look what you oughta be is a teacher and you ought to teach what the Word of God so when a person first gets say we teach a milk we try to show them what the Bible says and the hope that they'll grow on that milk and then when you get older then you get a meet now I'm older Christian so I love the meat I love to do Bible studies about the profound deep things of the Bible and talk about that and I enjoy talking about you know who is the hundred and forty-four thousand who are the two witnesses you know getting into the deep things of the Bible to me that's fine but I can I can only do that so much because people pop up and they're carnal and there were little children or their babes in Christ and they come along and say they're Christians and all they want to do is attack and name-call and ridicule and put down and say oh this breaker guy city needs a liar he's innocent and all they want to do is fight and close division and strife and they're so full of pride it shows and I look at that and I got wet oh yeah god bless them I guess I'll have to preach a message like today get back to the milk you know where the milk says look this is uh this is how the Bible says you're supposed to be as a Christian it's fun to talk about the things of the Word of God it's fun to deal with the meat but if a person not growing in the Lord then we got to go back to the milk there's some folks out there that they claim to be Christians and it's obvious there are babes in Christ because they haven't grown up yet they're acting like a bunch of babies claiming to be Christians and yet they're just screaming and hollering against other Christians that is not what the Bible says let's go to Romans chapter 12 and verse 16 let me give you a little bit milk a little bit of milk today about how a Christian is supposed to act so that they grow up and they quit being a bunch of carnal babies okay Romans chapter 12 verse 16 be of the same mind one toward a number another my not high things but condescend to men of low estate be not wise in your own conceits some Christians are they think there's a smartest guy that ever lived and their job and did their ministry is to go around and correct other people well good luck with that because I don't see a ministry in the Bible of that in the Bible there's a ministry of edifying but not tearing down but they said oh my ministry the tear others down will help yourself I'll see hit the judgment buddy and when you get no rewards don't you say it's my fault I tried to warn you I tried to help you I tried give you the milk of how you're supposed to live and grow as a Christian and it says here in verse 17 recompense to no man evil for evil provide things honest in the sight of all men yeah so if someone does evil or says evil or speaks evil of me and they claim to be a Christian I don't need to sink to their level and do the same back I've grown up a little bit I'm a little more than mature than they are so that's why I don't fight back people say all the time by the breaker these people on YouTube are attacking you why don't you make a video and tell them where they're wrong and fight back why they're name-calling they're ridiculing they're lying about me and you want me to stoop to their level god bless them I hope they grow up that's all I say then it says here in verse 18 if it be possible as much as life then you live peaceably with all men okay I'll live as peaceable as I can verse 19 dearly beloved avenge not yourselves so it's not up to me to go and tell where they're wrong where they're lying let God handle it but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord so they're in God's hands it's not for me to sit back to their level and become a babe in Christ and then go out and speak evil and be angry and hateful and mean and talk bad about them because they're talking about about me now I'm a little bit more mature I've grown up and I look at that and I say huh grow up I was a second grader once and in second grade you know we did childish things that we fought as kids but now I'm not gonna do that when I'm older I'm gonna grow up a little bit verse 20 therefore thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt see he calls a fire on his head be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good so that's always been my desire is when someone says they're a Christian and they do evil toward me I just say well god bless them I'll let God take care of that I'm not gonna try to defend myself am I gonna attack them like a stink down to their level not gonna make videos against them when they make videos against me and vice versa not gonna write them a dirty letter when they write me a dirty letter if I do write to him I just say look the Scriptures say this and I'm praying for you and I love you and that's the right way to be that's the mature way to treat this let's go to 1st Thessalonians 5 in verse 11 first Thessalonians 5:11 through 15 says wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another even is also you do Paul is writing to the Church of Thessalonians he says you're to edify and to comfort one another where is that today a lot of people today claim to be Christians they're not out there edifying one another and comforting one another and loving one another rather they're out there attacking one another speaking evil one another lying saying dirty hateful mean name-calling it's like dude wake up and grow up you're definitely not following the Bible look what it says here verse 12 and we beseech you brother to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly in love for their works sake and be at peace among yourselves I've had some people email me and say brother breaker there's this guy or actually there's several people and several guys there's these guys on YouTube and they're saying bad things about you why don't you contact them and reconcile with them and get right with them and it's like why don't they do that to me I don't have a problem I love them in the Lord if they're saved and I say what a shame they don't want to grow up if they want to grow up and they want to contact me my home phone is on my website they can't call me up and say you know I have this one problem with you and this problem with you and we'll talk it out but I don't see why they think they need to go the entire world on YouTube and tell the entire world that they don't have a problem with me I don't see that in the Bible matter of fact jesus said if you have a problem you're supposed to go to the brother first and then if he doesn't listen you take two or three other brothers then you take it to the church so I don't understand these people except that they're babes in Christ and they're not spiritually mature and that saddens me I pray for them I don't put them down I want to edify them prior to lift them up and try to say hey come on come on over to the side of the scriptures have a little milk from the word learn a little patience and love look at verse 14 now we exhort your brother and warn them that are unruly and comfort the feeble and support the weak be patient or domi so I try to be a spiritual godly mature Christian and I have patience people want to say bad things about me that can help themselves it says to warn them that are unruly so let me warn you today if you claim to be a Christian and you're over here doing all these things then you now have not obeyed the scripture you've not laid aside what God said to lay aside so if you are saved then you're up here but I would like to warn you that God is gonna avenge you God will get you if you're not living the lifestyle that you're supposed to as a Christian no you can't go to hell if you're safe but you can sure pay for your sin today why don't you grow up learn to be like the Bible says that you ought to be have a little bit of love and patience toward all men well let's go to 2nd Thessalonians and in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 look what it says here 2nd Thessalonians 1 verse 3 and for the sake of the Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 3 and 4 we read we are bound to to thank God always for you brethren and as it is me because that your faith groweth exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth the apostle paul says wow it's so great to see a Christian gets saved and grow because the more you grow the more charity you'll have I've met people that claim to be Christians are the most uncharitable people they're angry they're hateful they're mean they're full of haughtiness and pride and anger and all they live for is to speak evil of others because they're full of malice and in the end by guile they want to deceive people into thinking that some other Christian is just the worst person in the world they want to call strife and division and what are they they're a bunch of babies just like a newborn baby they're just and they haven't even grown as a Christian that's sad that's sad look at verse 4 so that we ourselves glory in you in the Churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that she endured Paulsen Paul said when I saw a Christian that was patient and charitable that's the ones I glory and I said thank God those are true Christians those are the ones that have grown because they've learned what it is to be charitable and have patience with others well they know what it is to have grace somewhere up here I put grace we started with the verse 2nd Peter 3:18 but grow in grace what is Grace putting up with other people you don't like Wow yet there are people out there to claim to be Christians they have no grace none not one ounce not one drop of grace do they know they might be saved they claim to believe in the blood of Christ but their babies they've not grown as they should a mature Christian has Grace charity patience and love they live to edify and to comfort and to build up and encourage other Christians because as we looked at today that's what the Bible says that you're supposed to do an aging Christian they want to do that they live to edify the word edify means to build up my desire as a minister and a preacher is to build up Christians and help them grow and become mature but these people that don't ever come past this one all they want to do is tear down and tack and ridicule and I don't know much about them except they are carnal they're walking in the flesh and not in the spirit and the Bible says that we that are mature Christians we're supposed to walk in the spirit that we fulfill not the lusts of the flesh now there's a whole lot more that I could say about this but I think I've made my point I think I've said enough and the question that I had from the beginning of this is are you a mature Christian or are you very very immature a lot of people claim to be Christians and they're just as carnal as they can be and they walk in the flesh and it shows and everything they say shows that they're not reading their Bibles otherwise they would do their best to be sober and grave and temperate and sound in the faith and charitable and patient and and love to edifying to teach and to be patient but they don't do that no they don't want even the milk in the scripture because the milk is learning to be without these things learning to lay aside guile and malice and hypocrisy and envy and evil speaking in carnality and strife and division and pride so my question is are you mature Christian maybe you just got saved but you're you've gotten past a lot of that you're just a little child or maybe you're a child and you're struggling with learning to love other Christians so that's something you need to do maybe you're only young man and you've been shared enough to where you're a Christian and you're starting to get some responsibilities maybe you've led someone to the Lord maybe you're a pastor maybe you're a Bible teacher maybe you're amazing you're at your Evangelist that's great strive to be like the Apostle Paul to do everything you can to live like him so you can actually start teaching the meat of the word God look I thank you for watching today I did my best to give this sermon in love I'm not preaching against anyone in particular I love all Christians I just want to see them love one another and with charity with patience with love edify edify I thank you for watching God bless we'll see you next time

Channel: Robert Breaker

Views: 21,467

Rating: 4.921824 out of 5

Keywords: Christian Maturity, Are you a Mature Christian?

Id: 0V_xilZI6Wo

Length: 59min 31sec (3571 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 06 2019