"Milk or Meat" - Pastor Raymond Woodward

through Scripture and want to talk to you about a very particular subject one that probably a lot of people in this room you've already got this tackled but just in case there's a few people that have slipped out of perfection and kind of just drop down a level we're gonna talk about this subject in Bible study tonight in first Peter chapter 2 and verse 2 Peter says as newborn babes desire somebody say desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby and that is how we start every one of us our Christian life it is by a sincere desire for the sincere milk of the word of God and as we desire God and as we get into the word and by the way it's not just about getting into the word when you're in Bible study or when you're in church on Sunday but it's about getting into the word for yourself and by yourself that's so very important to your Christian life and so this is how we all start we start as newborn babes we're born again were babies the new birth is not the beginning its errors not the end it's the beginning it's not the new graduation it's the new birth and then we begin our walk with God and as we desire the word we begin to grow the challenge comes later on as God begins to deal with us and it could be in a sermon it could be in a service or it could be when you're praying and reading the word by yourself that God just challenges you he pricks your heart about something and that happened to me today I was reading in Jeremiah it's kind of my daily Bible reading and I'm in Jeremiah this week and I thought oh my goodness that's that's something and and and you need to get in the habit of when something comes to your attention if you mark in your Bible underline it started write yourself a note make your Bible your Bible that's so very important don't let your Bible be just pristine and if you're a compute guy or gal then shot it down somewhere but make it a point to two things that the Lord talks to you about how many of you have ever forgotten anything we never get a hundred percent on any question in this church how many are human not a hundred how many are breathing not a hundred how many are glad to be here never a hundred on them but if you've ever forgotten something and I've forgotten a lot you need to get in the habit of writing it down if the Lord speaks to you the margin of your Bible is a wonderful place to write yourself a note because here's what happens as we begin to study the word for ourselves we hear the word God begins to talk to us and now we come to Hebrews chapter five and this time the writer of Hebrews is not talking to babies who've just come into the church who are desiring the milk of the word now he's talking to people that should have grown up and should have developed and should have matured and here's what he says for when for the time you ought to be teachers you should be teaching somebody else by this stage you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God so you're a grown-up but you need a baby bottle again look at this and you are become such you've reverted to such as have need of milk and not of strong meat for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness now there's nothing wrong with him if he's a baby it says for he's a babe so there's nothing wrong with a baby having a bottle of milk that's a wonderful thing but if you're 60 years old and we're still feeding you a bottle of milk something is wrong so he's unskillful we need to have a lot of patience with new members and new believers that come to see CC because they don't know yet they they haven't learned yet and they haven't grown yet and so we need to have a lot of patience with them they're a babe they're unskillful in the word of righteousness if they get something wrong that's not their fault they're a baby if they get something wrong and they need to learn it or develop in it later that's okay because they're very young but but notice this then the next sentence but strong meat belongeth to them that are a full age once you've grown up it's not even talking about chronological age just that you've grown up you've been around Church for a while you've known God for a while even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil they've been around God's presence they've been serving God they've been in church they've studied and read the word long enough that their senses should be honed and sharpened to discern what's right what's wrong what's wise what's unwise they should be there and so the writer of Hebrews is just addressing a little group within the church and he's saying you know you should be there you should not be making all of these mistakes because by now your senses should have been honed your senses should be sharp you should know what's wise and what's foolish you should know what's good and what's evil you should know what pleases God and what displeases him but you've reverted back to just the milk of the word and there's nothing wrong with milk if you're a baby but it's kind of pathetic to look at somebody that's adult and could eat strong meat but they've reverted back to milk now in Scripture the word mature it's not in the English but the the word is there in the Greek New Testament the word mature or seasoned those that are a full age is what Hebrew says here the word mature comes from the same root word as the word ripe fruit ripens and humans mature if humans get ripe it's not good but humans mature that's good okay it indicates that word indicates something that has been completed or grown up or fully developed and in the scripture it comes from the same root incidentally as the word jesus said from the cross when he said finished or accomplished or completed that's the same word that we when we talk about Christians being matured and equipped and grown up and a full age and so that's a sermon in itself Jesus did all that so that we could grow up in him and be effective for his kingdom now let me give you a couple of things that we do know about spiritual maturity we don't know everything there is to know that's for sure there's a lifetime of study in the Bible but here's some basic things we know about spiritual maturity if you want to be used by God if you want to please God if you want to grow in God here's what we know about growing up in God number one it is not automatic you are not just gonna automatically grow up and be healthy and effective for God growing larger humanly speaking if you've got all the food and everything you need and the care you're gonna grow naturally but spiritually spiritual growth is not automatic John chapter 8 jesus said to all the Jews that believed on him here's what he said if you continue in my word somebody say if so so it's not automatic if you continue in my word then are you my disciples indeed and that's when he says this phrase that we love to quote but we need to watch the context and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free what a powerful scripture but can I tell you that Scripture is not automatic either because it's all prefaced by Jesus saying if you continue in my word then you'll be my disciples and then you'll know the truth and then the truth will make you free so it's just not automatic that I say yeah I believe in Jesus or yeah I went to church a couple of times I even went to the altar and pray and so now I'm assured that I'm going to grow not not necessarily jesus said if you continue in my word if you get yourself in my word if you become my disciples through that word then you shall know the truth because the truth comes from the word and then the truth will make you free if you want to be free then you need to start by continuing in the word god this is Paul writing his second Corinthians chapter six and he says this is a famous passage he's really pushing the corinthians strongly because this is a church with a whole lot of problems if you ever have thought our church has problems if you ever have been part of any church that you thought had problems they pale in comparison I promise you to the problems that were in Corinth and here's what Paul said wherefore come out from among them and be separate don't you keep living like the world while you're saying you're a disciple of Jesus don't you keep doing all those actions that bound you when you were in the world and still coming to church and saying I'm a disciple I'm a saint I'm a child of God he said no here's what you need to do come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you in other words the the reverse is true I'm not going to be receiving you if you're still all polluted by sin because you know better now I delivered you from that i freed you from that I put you in my family so if you turn your back on me and you go back into the beggarly pathetic elements of the world and you start dabbling in them again it's not me leaving you it's you leaving me and so you need to come out from among them and and don't touch unclean things and I got to tell you if there's any generation that has ever had a lot of uncleanness around that we could touch it's so easy to brush up against uncleanness today you can do it at work you can do it in the city you can do it in the mall you can do it online you can do it with all kinds of people that you meet there's a whole lot of uncleanness in the world today and we don't hate unclean people we're told by scripture to love them because God loved the world so I'm not talking about being office with people I'm talking about the things that people are bound by you need to have a dividing line so you don't get sucked back in to all of that mess that God brought you out of and he said I will receive you if you'll do that I'll be a father unto you and you'll be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty now then Paul loves to do this he'll teach us something and then he'll say because of that here's what we need to do having therefore these promises what promises the promise is that if we'll leave the world if we'll let go of the things of the world if we'll put a dividing line between us and uncleanness that God will receive us and be our Father and we'll be his sons and daughters having those promises Paul said dearly beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh somebody say outside and spirit somebody say inside perfecting holiness in the fear of God so it's not automatic if you'll do that God will welcome you and embrace you and be able to teach you and Paul said so because God gave us that kind of promise we need to make every effort to cleanse ourselves from the things that defile our flesh and the things that defile our spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God the word perfect when it refers to God means perfect the word perfect when it's used in reference to humanity means mature complete fulfilled grown up developed and so Paul said holiness isn't something that's just automatic you've got to develop it you've got to grow it you've got to mature it you've got to let it fulfill itself in your life and it happens as we do these things so one thing we know about growing up in God one thing we know about spiritual maturity is it's not automatic it is not going to happen without your direct involvement I love church I love coming to church I love coming to church when I was a kid I loved coming to church before I went to a Bible College I loved coming to church long before I was ever employed by a church or called a past I love Church but it's not enough just to show up at the building a couple of times a week that is not going to mature you in fact that may actually mess you up if you just don't do anything else besides showing up at the building we show up at the building to rally the troops to focus our energy together to be able to collectively pray and collectively worship and collectively give and collectively minister so it's really important to be part of a local church but you've got to have more than just showing up at the building and saying okay pastor what you got that's not gonna do it in fact what we need to be doing is talking to Jesus and saying God what do you got for me today and that needs to be Thursday morning and Saturday morning and all kinds of mornings that we're not here at the building here's something else we know about spiritual maturity spiritual maturity not only is it not automatic but it's a process we sometimes if we've been around church for awhile we kind of put this dividing line and we say that's a mature believer and that's an immature believer or that's a saint and that's sort of somewhere between an ain´t and a saint or that's a grown up christian and that's a baby Christian can I tell you we're all growing and we're all going to be growing until we get to heaven and so it's not a dividing line like they're in category a but now they've graduated a category B there's no such thing in God's eyes my friend pastor Duane McCarty in Stitz Ville Ontario their church slogan their church vision statement is everybody growing and I love that because that's the goal for everybody to be growing if you've been at CCC three weeks or four months our goal for you is for you to be growing in God and if you've been here 40 years or 55 years our goal for you still the same everybody growing in God and we're never gonna stop that because it's a process 2nd Peter chapter 3 Peter said but grow in grace how many need more grace than they had yesterday I sure do so there's always room to grow it's a process grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever Ephesians Paul writes he said but speaking the truth in love here's his goal here's his prayer for us that you may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ I would hazard a guess that everybody in here you've grown up in some ways you've grown up in some areas and here's what we have to be careful of is that judgmental kind of attitude that says well I tackle that years ago you might have tackled that issue years ago but maybe you've got another issue or two that God's still working on you and so just because you've tackled something you've got through something you've grown beyond something and it's no longer a struggle or a temptation don't you look around behind you and look at somebody else you still struggle and say what's wrong with them they're just struggling in a different area than you're struggling they're just growing in a different area than you're growing I missed something I need to go back if you'd put it back up on the screen for me if you would second Corinthians 7 verse 1 I don't ever do this I just keep plodding but I just feel push to go back there everyone say cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh everyone say flesh or we say outside and spirit everyone say inside it's often true because of the nature of the world and sin in the world and addiction and bondage and all the filth and sin and garbage that's out there it's often the nature of things that when new Christians are born again the early things they struggle with are the sins of the flesh because when they were in the world they just gave their flesh permission to do whatever it wanted and certainly every message they would ever receive today from the media and from culture and from everybody else would be just indulge your flesh do whatever you want to do and so if you watch this and I've watched this for years and I'm kind of a student of this thing called the church and I noticed that young Christians often struggle with what we would call the sins of the flesh all of the passions and desires that are resident in the flesh years later sometimes it's because God has intervened can I just be real transparent here tonight or would that bother somebody okay thank you somebody said go ahead only one but we never get anything unanimous here anyway so if I could just be real transparent sometimes later we grow up and we tackle we conquer we overcome those sins of the flesh sometimes can I be real transparent we just get to poop to party and we just kind of settle into the routine to serving God and it's not that God gave you some such a great miraculous deliverance it's that you've grown older and wiser and you think oh my goodness that was stupid thank God I never get caught thank God I never did this thank God that never happened thank God and and you get old enough and wise enough that you don't want to do that anymore and I'm it could have been a miraculous deliverance it could have just been common sense finally kicked in I say this to Beverly all the time in different situations common sense is not all that common fact is actually quite uncommon and so sometimes we when we get older we look with disdain or scorn or judgment on somebody that's battling the sins of the flesh and it's just that my goodness we should have overcome them by now we've been serving God and going to church and around good godly people and in God's presence for years surely we would have conquered that by now so don't look with judgment on them you were there and you could still be there except for the grace of God but as we get older sometimes it's sins of the Spirit and by the way being judgmental is one of those sins and as far as God's concern when you're critical and judgmental and and and hypocritical and all kinds of those things those aren't sins of the flesh per se they're sins of the Spirit and it's been my observation that as we grow older the battle moves inside and sometimes it's the sins of the Spirit for those of us that are older Saints we have to be really careful that we don't get critical we have to be really really careful that we haven't been around so long that we got it all figured out and we can just snap judgment on everybody and I know what's wrong with her I know what's wrong with him and we need to be very very careful that we don't switch battlefields and still do damage to ourselves Paul said we need to cleanse ourselves from the filthiness all filthiness of the flesh and spirit I already say flesh and spirit inside and outside it's got to be both and so that's what God's doing in us so spiritual maturity back on track here it's not automatic it is a process and a final point tonight somebody's like having heart palpitations final point pastor Rickman are you sick but this is the long point okay just so you don't think Pastor Jack's here tonight okay so he's the nice pastor remember he's not here it's just me thirdly spiritual maturity growing up in God it's not automatic it's a process so it's gonna take a lot of time and thirdly it's the one we don't like it takes discipline it takes discipline to grow in God and that's what frustrates a lot of people it's like I thought this would be easier I thought if I came to church and went to the altar and cried three tears and wave two hands and and and jump three times and you know I thought it would be easier it takes discipline to grow up in God first Timothy now remember Paul's right into a young man and here's what he says chapter 4 but refused profane and old wives fables that's probably a Bible study right there but we'll pass and exercise here's what I'm after and exercise thyself rather unto godliness for bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is it benefits you now and of that which is to come so it benefits you now and it benefits you in eternity now I know I have the older end of the church tonight the young people are over there and the kids are down over there I know I have the mature end of the church but can I just ask you a question and I know we won't get 100% and we've already established that has anybody here ever undertaken some kind of self-improvement a diet and exercise program a resolution a new year's resolution or whatever now I know we're not gonna get a hundred percent I'd have my hopes are firmly in the basement I have not raised my hopes okay so but how many have ever started something along that line would you raise your hand if your spouse has started something like that and they don't have their hand raised would you point at them right now you have my permission okay good thank you okay now here's what Paul said to Timothy he said Timothy when we try to ramp it up physically bodily exercise that profits us some but godliness when you ramp it up for the spiritual realm when you ramp it up and you discipline yourself and you push a little harder than you were pushing in the spirit realm that is profitable unto all things because it doesn't only affect here and now it affects over there in heaven in eternity and here's here's basically the fundamental point of tonight's lesson I cannot be a disciple without being disciplined it's impossible I can be a church member and not be disciplined I can call myself a Christian and not be disciplined but disciple that means discipline so I can't be a disciple and by the way Jesus called us to be here disciples physical fitness is not automatic it's hard work diets and at any given time we have half the church coming off a one kind of diet and the other half going on another I just kind of try to keep tabs on everybody so I know who's gonna pass out from what whenever okay so I just I'm praying for y'all and and here's here's the thing that's hard work it demands a lifestyle change it demands a commitment it even sometimes demands you to do things or do things in a certain way that other people are not doing them and and and it just feels odd for a while physical discipline and spiritual discipline are not very much different sometimes God leads us into a place where we have to literally push change modify our behavior and it feels awkward and odd for a little while that's all part of being a disciple Luke chapter nine words of Jesus he said to them all If any man will come after me let him deny himself and let him take up his cross daily not Jesus cross your cross and follow me for whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever will lose his life for my sake the same shall save it the mark of a true disciple is bearing your cross what's your cross it's your own desires it's your flesh Jesus died on his cross your flesh and your desires have to die on your cross being a disciple is making the choice to put God first everyday in everyway that's being a disciple I've said this many times before growing old without growing up is a tragedy in the church and tonight we're talking about babies and mature people it's natural that babies should own desire milk that's natural we would expect a baby to be limited in their ability we would expect a baby to be deficient in their maturity we would expect a baby to need a whole lot of help and assistance but if those things are still happening years later there's a serious problem and it doesn't matter whether you talk in the physical realm or spiritual realm there is a time in every Christian life God's gonna be patient and loving your church family's gonna be patient and loving I'm not talking about that we're always gonna love you you can't do anything to make us stop loving you you can't do anything to make God stop loving you but there comes a time in every Christian life when God nails it down and said it's time in this area he won't do every area all at once you couldn't take it but heels nail down an area of your life and he'll say it's time for you to graduate from milk to meat it's time for you to stop sipping on the bottle and it's time for you to start chewing on some solid meat in this area of your life you've coasted long enough you you've claimed well I'm just a baby I'm just new I'm just weak I'm just young you've you've you've written on that slit a whole long time and it's time for you to stand up and say you know what I'm not new I'm not weak I'm not young I'm not any of that anymore God has done too much for me for me to just coast when he went to Calvary for me so I'm gonna stand up and I'm gonna take this issue and I'm gonna mature and I'm gonna handle it like a Christian disciple like an adult spiritually there there's a time it's at that stage that we become more than just believers North America is full of believers in Jesus but Jesus isn't wanting just believers I believe in Air Canada doesn't help me spiritually I believe in Fredericton doesn't help me spiritually jesus said there's a time when you graduate from me and just a believer to being a disciple a mature disciple anything in the physical realm scientists will tell you this anything that doesn't change dies in fact a clinical definition of death is a body that is no longer changing if a body doesn't change it's dead and that's the same thing in the spiritual realm if you're not moving forward in your Christian life you've shifted into the reverse gear there's no neutral setting you're your life on the side of the road you're going forward or you're going backward and there are no options when it comes to discipleship first Corinthians Paul Wade's and again this isn't just one little obscure scripture in the Bible and I brethren I couldn't speak unto you as unto spiritual I couldn't talk to you like spiritual people I had to talk to you as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ I had to dumb it down to talk to you I have fed you with milk and not with meat for up until now hitherto up until now you weren't able to bear it yet neither now are you able I thought by now surely I could start giving you some of the deep things of the Word of God and you start eating them and you'd start living them and you start doing them but I'm still feeding you with milk because a baby that's brand-new in the church for them to drink milk that's wonderful but for somebody that's been around serving God so called for many years and for them to still be on the milk of the word Paul said that's that's carnality you're allowing your flesh to get the victory too many times a month you're allowing your flesh to keep overcoming the spiritual work God's doing in you and so you're still on the bottle and you need to be off the bottle you can take that whatever way you want that might be a word for somebody okay what does the Bible mean when it makes this comparison between milk and meat what are the characteristics of mature Christians taught in Scripture and let's kind of flesh this out for a few minutes milk is given to a child by its mother whereas meat is something that you've got to get up and go hunting and you've got to go prepare it by yourself or speaking in Bible terms Bible times milk is given to the child by the mother when you're new the church gives you everything you need they give you fellowship and they give you prayer and they give you teaching and then but when you start to grow God's wanting you to do more than just come and hear pastor Raymond or pastor Jack or one of the other pastors just give you everything you need that's for babies but you're gonna need to have more than that if your life is going to count for God somebody anybody here still though you're older used to like milk and cookies anybody we can't even get unanimous on milk and cookies my goodness well I got two hands from Mike Hennessey so let me hit Mike and see milk is a comfort food milks all about meeting my needs that's why babies need milk meat is a strength food meat is the person saying I don't need somebody to help me what can I do to help I don't need somebody to minister to me all the time God I want you to use me to minister to somebody else that's the difference between milk and meat if you study it scientifically milk is a predigested food cows give milk and and if you look back in the scripture you have people like Aaron Moses was God's voice to Aaron Aaron when Moses wasn't around to tell him what to do you know what Aaron ended up doing Aaron ended up leading Israel to worship around a golden calf you know why because Aaron was used to getting everything through Moses Aaron was used to getting every word through Moses and when Moses wasn't around he was a disaster and and there are Christians hopefully none at CCC but there are Christians that they get everything they need from their pastor they get everything they need from the church service they get everything they need from the worship team and the only time they really feel God's presence is when the worship team that's got like six people up here hands lifted music going everybody singing people cry people stand that's when they worship you need to worship more times than when you're in this building God's worthy of worship when you're not anywhere near 71 Downing Street there are people that they get every word from God through their pastor and through a sermon you've got to have more than that we respect pastors around here I submit to my pastor Pastor Jack submits to me we have we believe in pastoral authority and pastoral gifting and we believe that God speaks through pastors but there are times your pastor is going to be a hundred miles from where you are and you're gonna need a word from God so you better have opened the Word of God when pastors not around and be used to getting God speaking to you from his word that's meat versus milk milk supriya jested food meat has to be digested and so it takes more work it's you know it's it's easy to come to church and have somebody preach a sermon it's more difficult to sit yourself down and say I'm gonna read this chapter and I'm gonna read it until I understand it and if you can't if you can't focus on a whole chapter read two or three verses and focus on it let God speak to you from his word if you'll pray and you'll read God will speak but you've got to do the discipline of it every everybody knows this milk is good for your bones and your teeth milk builds up the framework of your body the bones and spiritually the milk of the word the basics of the word the the new things the early things of the Christian life they build up your structure your foundation they build up the skeleton of your faith and everything else will need that skeleton later but meat it builds up the muscles meat is not just the framework of the spiritual life it's the activity of the spiritual life it's actually doing something more than just being saved I want to be saved but I want to be more than just saved I want my life to count for God I want to do more than make it into heaven squeeze in the front door and collapse on the streets of gold as how I made it I hope that somebody else will be in heaven because of something I said or did somebody I led to the Lord somebody I prayed for some missionary we supported I sure hope that there'll be more than just me getting inside the pearly gates and collapsing on the streets ago and kiss in the street I don't think I'm gonna be kissed in the street I think I'm gonna be saying where's the throne I want to go worship Jesus but I want to go worship Him and I want to have some crowns to cast at his feet that's that's me not milk let me just give you this one last deal and and we'll conclude here tonight if you have breakfast I know a hundred percent of people have not had breakfast today because that's just CCC if you had breakfast this morning and you had milk and eggs and bacon is there anybody in the house I just need one person nobody anybody have milk eggs and bacon for breakfast this morning nobody ghee thank God Oh bro we got your mics guys okay so we're good we got a couple in the mouth of two or three witnesses what are you all eating for breakfast carrots oh the diet the diet yeah right okay okay sorry quinoa I'm eating quinoa for breakfast bastard I have my quinoa toast in my quinoa tea yeah bless you in Jesus name may you may you shrivel up and never mind okay if you have that was not part of the Bible study that was just if you had milk eggs and breakfast think with me the cow and the chicken they were involved but the pig was committed to your breakfast everybody understand what I'm saying see is that what he's talking about the meat of the word I don't understand that nothing has to die to produce milk but guess what something has to die to produce meat that's maybe one of the biggest pieces of Paul's little analogy here that to get the milk of the word and the milk of the word is wonderful when we first come from the world and God saved us and freed us and broken bondage that's so wonderful and we're so excited and we should be and by the way just because you graduate to meat doesn't mean you stop thanking God for the milk of the word I'm gonna thank you for salvation every day that I live until there's no more breath in my body so we don't leave the milk but we graduate to meat and can I tell you something has to die to produce meat and if you're going to mature in God the real mark of a Christian that matures is they let their flesh die in fact they just don't let it die because if I could tell you something about your flesh your flesh you can let it die it's not gonna die you have to actually die daily that's what the New Testament talks about now somebody's gonna pop up here somewhere or somebody online and say well that sounds like legalism to me doing good works and killing your flesh and reading your Bible and having to do this and pray that's legalism but that is not legalism discipleship and legalism are not the same thing the Bible doesn't tell us to work for our cell ovation but it does tell us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling please hear me we talk a lot about grace the Christian world at large talks a lot about grace and if we're not careful we say this is grace over here and this is effort over here so if I'm living by grace I don't have to put forth any effort can I tell you effort is not the opposite of grace earning is the opposite of grace if I'm trying to earn my salvation if I'm trying to earn points with God that's the opposite of grace but effort that's not the opposite of grace in fact grace will allow you to put forth an effort that will mature you and grow you up working for your salvation that's heresy but working out your salvation that's just basic Christianity folks we've dumbed it down so much just like Paul said I couldn't talk to you as under spiritual I had to talk to you as under carnal that's probably the majority of Christendom today we can't talk to people about spiritual things or deep things of the Word of God we've got to just kind of entertain them with pablum it's the milk there are several new testament scriptures that tell us that because god has given us so much we need to make an effort effort is not the enemy of grace in romans 14 verse 19 paul says make every effort to do what leads to peace and edification in Luke 13:24 Jesus says make every effort to enter through the narrow door in Ephesians 4:3 Paul says make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in Hebrews 12:14 the writer says make every effort to live in peace with men and be holy in second Peter 3:14 Peter says make every effort to be found spotless and blameless and at peace with God and in Hebrews 4:11 the writer actually says this make every effort to enter into God's rest that's kind of unique work to enter into God's rest but see it doesn't happen automatically this maturity thing it is a process it's gonna take you some time but most of all it's gonna take you some effort its effort to be a disciple and effort is not the enemy of grace grace gives us the strength to put forth the effort that we need to develop last scripture passage 2nd Peter chapter 1 we did a whole series on this a few years ago beautiful passage 1st Peter or second Peter rather chapter 1 verse 3 according as God's divine power has given unto us god's power gave this to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us unto glory and virtue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that's in the world through lust pause right there you've escaped God did it he gets all the glory you're partakers of the divine nature you've done it God's done it through you it's amazing you've got it and so now you just sit back and rest now you just sit back and forget it all that's not what he said next verse and beside this so once you got that nailed down that's the milk of the word that's the beginning of your experience you know the end of the Christian experience is not you know coming to church for 50 years and then finally getting free of sin know the Christian experience is getting free of sin and then living for God for the next fifty years and and I'm not saying you'll be perfect I'm not saying you won't ever make a mistake but but this isn't just kind of hanging around until finally it kicks in this is letting God do a divine supernatural bondage breaking addiction shattering work in your life making you a new creature then you start to grow up and Peter said beside that once you got that giving all diligence making every effort add to your faith virtue add to your virtue knowledge add to knowledge temperance add to temperance patience and to patience godliness add to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity for if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ he that lacks these things if you don't develop in those areas if you don't develop in faith and virtue and knowledge and temperance and patience and godliness and brotherly kindness and charity if you don't develop in those things if you don't he that lacks these things is blind can't see afar off and he's forgotten that he was purged from his old sense he's still way back there at the beginning you say well God's supposed to do all that it's God's responsibility to do all that if God hasn't done it then I guess I get off the hook if God hasn't delivered me if God hasn't put that in my life I guess I'm off the hook that's not what Peter said wherefore the rather brethren give diligence pay attention work at it make every effort to make your calling and your election sure for if you somebody say me if you do these things I thought God was gonna do it all he didn't he do enough when he saved us delivered us freed us from sin do we have to expect God to be to put us on autopilot for the rest of our life or can we appreciate what he did so much that we want to give our lives and do something to give him back just a little fraction of the glory and the praise and the honor for what he's done give diligence to make your calling and election Shore for if you do these things ye shall never fall if you do these things if you add if you make diligence if you make every effort if you add to your faith these things you won't fall that sounds pretty preposterous I'll never fall see you'll be so busy serving God you'll be so busy developing in God you'll be so busy getting in the word and getting in prayer you'll be so busy adding to your faith the devil can't get his slimy fingers on you people we live in a strange age we live in an age where everybody talks about how busy we are it's a badge of honor it's like receiving a medal if you can just say I'm busy and we play one-upmanship with busyness well I'm busy well yeah I know you work a 40-hour week but I work a 50-hour week well I know you work at that place but let me tell you about my boss it's like one-upmanship to try to tell everybody how busy we are we wear our busyness like a badge of honor and so everybody's so tired everybody's so wasted everybody's so just huh and if we're not careful we can make all kinds of mental gymnastics and excuses and we end up falling make your first priority your relationship with God God's house God's people God's Word God's work because if you'll add to your faith you know if you've got time to sin you got too much time oh that was good that was the best thing I said all night I'd ask you to raise your hand if you believe that but I wouldn't get a hundred percent so I'm not gonna answer if you got time to sin too much time volunteer for your church go do something that benefits your community go pray get your face in the word better yet get your face with somebody else's face in the word or in prayer because if you do those things you won't keep falling I don't want to live my whole life on the milk of the word and never graduate to the meat because the meat builds up muscle and lets us do something that impacts the kingdom of God so I want to grow I know I've got the most mature end of the church tonight I know I've got people here that were serving God before I was even born and I thank you for that those years of service faithfulness to God but if you're still breathing you're still supposed to be growing if you're still breathin you're still supposed to be carrying this church and other people and needs of people in prayer if you're still breathing God left you here so you could do something for him not so we could just coast till the rapture or til a funeral God left us here to grow up and do something everybody say milk or meat it's your decision would you stand with me right now thank you for your kind attention tonight would you let pastor pray for you I love you if you'd lift your hands and you'd pray with me tonight and I think we could probably get pretty close to a hundred percent on that would you lift up your hands and would you lift up your voice in Bible study Lord Jesus thank you for your word I thank you for the milk of the word I thank you for the precious truths I learned when I was just a young person thank you that I learned about repentance and baptism and the Holy Ghost I thank you God that I learned that you'd forgive me of my sins and wash them away and I thank you for all that I thank you I'm not leaving that I appreciate that I'll thank you forever for that but God I want to grow not not away from it I just want to grow beyond it I want to grow up and I want to eat the meat of the word I want you to talk to me from Jeremiah and Isaiah I want you to talk to me from Matthew and Mark I want you to talk to me from Ephesians and Colossians and Genesis and Exodus God I want the meat of the word in my life I don't want to coast I've been part of this too long to coast I've been around here too long to coast I've known you too many years to coast I pray too many prayers to coast so god I don't want to just sip the milk of the word I want to eat the meat of the word grow me up and use my life I pray in Jesus name in Jesus name in Jesus name

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 8,823

Rating: 4.9056602 out of 5

Keywords: pastor, raymond, woodward, preaching, preach, sermon, ccc, capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, milk, or, meat

Id: LBWbkHMYjYY

Length: 50min 59sec (3059 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 08 2018