Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
and i think it's appropriate message this morning seeing that we are uh ending a year and moving into another year i think it's good to evaluate where we are on some things let's pray over the word and we will get into it this morning thank you heavenly father we just pray in jesus name today lord that you will give us ears to hear and hearts to understand your word lord that you will anoint our hearts and anoint our years and lord enable us to be honest with ourselves to accept what your word says and to determine and examine where we are individually in our spiritual growth lord we thank you for your word that's true and we pray that you will help us to understand it to absorb it to apply it in jesus name amen what i'm going to speak to you today is about um the stages of spiritual growth uh we're going to look at the differences between spiritual maturity and spiritual immaturity but the bible is very clear matter of fact there's quite a few words i actually taught on this 20 say 20 three years ago 22 years ago except uh i had the four stages of spiritual growth now i think there's about five that i've discovered but this is going to be a little different than what i preached years ago because back then i was 24 years old 23 years old i've learned a little bit since then amen hallelujah i want you to take your bibles and we're going to read a few passages before we get into this breaking it down but i want you to go to um first of all the first peter chapter two first peter chapter two and really in the bible the bible does mention four different words for spiritual growth but actually there's five they sound similar but you will see these terms in the bible you will see people referred to as babes in the lord you see um the term children and you see the term young man and you see the term father used in in relation to spiritual growth but this the verse i want to get to we're going to read verse one and two first peter two one and two just as our beginning spot here but this is what it says it says wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speaking as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby
now this verse right here implies that we should be growing right that we shouldn't we start out when we are born again through faith and repentance in jesus christ and and we know we're saved and we have the witness of the spirit that were born again it says from that moment on we should desire and i love what this word means in the greek it it means to earnestly desire it means to crave intensely the sincere and it's interesting this word means the unadulterated word of god you see this is one thing that i've never understood about so-called converts in christendom that don't want to read their bibles and don't want to pray and don't want to go to church and hear the word preach because if you're born again you know when a newborn baby comes into this world guess what they're hungry they want milk they want to be satisfied and because their stomachs are so small they have to eat frequently they have to eat several times i mean every every few hours they need to be getting that pure milk that they need to keep them alive and what happens if they don't they begin to die right some babies get in critical condition if they cannot feed early on and have to be hooked up to feeding tubes and all these different things but the bottom line it says desire as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word now in the greek this word babe here this is what it's the greek word it's pronounced brephos and what it means is an infant literally a babe a young child or one newly come to the faith okay so we see that this is a person who is just you know he's talking about people who have just been born again okay and that's important because there's another word in the bible used for babe as well but it's not the same greek word this greek word is it's napios that sounds funny doesn't it napios this word it's translated babe sometimes it's translated children sometimes it means this it means a simple-minded person an immature christian and i think it's interesting because i this is the first time i really noticed that this is two different words here see there are people who are babes in christ they've they've newly been saved and of course they're not going to know a lot of things they're not going to know how to live the christian life they're not going to know how to act they're not going to know a lot of scripture they're not going to know things but that's not because of any fault of their own that's just because they're newly come to the faith everything's brand new and and they've got a lot to learn but then the reason i believe it uses a different brephos and this napios i
believe it uses this different word to show that there are people who are still babes that shouldn't be babes yeah and that's a fault of their own that's people who should have matured should have grown up spiritually should have done something but they have either done something or allowed things in their lives that stunted their growth and they're still babes in the lord they're immature and um it's it's interesting because this word napios um it means even not speaking it means simple-minded person an immature christian do we know some like this well we may be surprised at our own selves in a minute right now i wanted you to we we read that word and that's the word in in uh first peter 2 2 here when it says as newborn babes desire sincere milk of the word that is one that's newly come to the faith a babe a young an infant again a completely different word now i want you to go we're going to read a couple of passages go to hebrews chapter 5. hebrews chapter 5. everybody there hebrews chapter 5 we're going to go down to verse 11. [Music] and he's speaking of some well we'll back up and read a little bit because he's speaking about jesus and just some awesome revelation about jesus let's look at verse 5. so also christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest but he that said unto him thou art my son today i have begotten thee as he saith also in another place that art of priests forever after the order of melchizedek speaking of jesus who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard and that he feared and though he were a son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered and then it says in being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him called of god a high priest after the order of melchizedek look at verse 11. now paul's trying to teach some deeper things to these hebrew christians and look what he says to him here he says of whom we have many things to say speaking of jesus and the deep revelation of him that's in the old testament he said of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered seeing that ye are dull of hearing for when the time ye ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of god and have 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 belongs to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil now i want you to see that the word in hebrews 5 here for babe when he says someone who is unskillful in the word of righteousness he's using this term napios which is that simple-minded immature christian this is the christian who has not grown up in the time that they should have grown up this is the christian that that has not learned some things that they should have already learned and this is the the context also what paul is saying the time had come you ought to be teachers but now you need someone to teach you again the first principles the foundational doctrines of christianity and look at chapter six verse one he goes on to say here's these foundational doctrines you should have these down pat he's saying to them and he says therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of christ let us go on to perfection or maturity not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward god and of the doctrine of baptisms and of the laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment so he says these are the principal doctrines of christianity and he's telling them you should know these you should know these we should be able to move on into deeper things we should be able uh to give you some meat these are foundational principles but you know what i'm discovering and i'm just going to be honest that most of christendom right now and especially in america are not even grounded in these foundational doctrines of repentance of faith of the doctrine of baptisms that there's more than one baptism a baptism in water baptism in the holy spirit with speaking in tongues a baptism of fire that there's the the operation of the laying on of hands to ordain to impart spiritual gifts for healing and for deliverance that there's a whole ministry of laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the dead which speaks of the day of of the rapture and the the second coming and all the events that surround that and of course of eternal judgment of heaven and hell and of the saints that will be judged and given rewards or not and of those who will be damned and eternally punished in the lake of fire i mean these are foundational doctrines and yet many are moving away from these things or never here's the sad part never got established in the truth never got firmly established part of it was because something was something was wrong and i honestly think let me just say this i honestly think that many of the people we say or the church world says that their converts are not you hear me but that still doesn't mean there are some who get converted and the parable of the sower plays this out they get converted and it says they begin to grow spiritual growth happens and let me just preface this with this that there is no
spiritual true spiritual growth unless you are born again that is the starting point right all right you must be born again jesus said or you will not see the kingdom of god you must be born of the holy ghost you must be born of the blood of the lamb the blood of jesus you must be born of the seed of the word of god you must be you must be brought forth of that but when you begin to grow the parable of the sower said that the the one that fell among the stones began to grow so that means they were born again right they began to grow but what they had no depth of root and so when persecution arose and trouble arose it says they withered away and died right same thing he talks about the in the parable he talks about those that fell among the thorns it began to grow but what the thorns the cares of this world the lust of other things the deceitfulness of riches came in and choked the word out and they what became unfruitful you know and that and again that just blows out of the water that once you get saved you're always safe no matter how you live or what happens to your life just the very basic parable of the sower shows you that that cannot happen that you can fall away you can be lost you can let your growth be stunned to the point that you die spiritually so this is a serious matter so we we we go on and we see where he says you ought to be teachers you ought to have these things down in you but do you see there there's a part of me i would like to just test everyone in here on foundational christianity if i made you put up your bibles and take out a piece of paper could you by memory give me verses to prove that jesus christ is god that jesus blood is the only thing that can wash away sin you know what i'm saying the trinity and how that worked all these foundational doctrines repented so on down the line you should be able without your bibles especially in this room if not it's time to get on with it right we run out of time now let's go to first corinthians chapter 3. now we may come back to the these verses in a minute and i'll give you some definitions of words but i want you to see these passages and really i'm pausing through them more than i want to first corinthians chapter 3 paul speaks to the church of corinth or you'll get a shocker here okay let me give you before i read this let me give you a little shocker did you know that operating in the gifts of the holy spirit tongues and interpretation of tongues and prophecy and discerning of spirits and word of knowledge and word of wisdom and gifts
of healing and working of miracles and oh that's all wonderful but do you know that that is not a sign that you are spiritually mature because god in his wildness of doing things will let babes in christ operate in the gifts i mean i started operating the gifts right after i got saved but it doesn't mean i was a mature christian yet right so you've got to remember jesus well not jesus but here but but of course jesus through paul was writing to the church at corinth and he said in chapter one matter of fact just back up to chapter one when he he started writing to them he made a statement that they came behind in no gift let's let's find that i didn't even plan on turning to that one where is that verse ah yes verse seven and world verse six well back up to verse four he says i thank my god always on your behalf for the grace of god which is given you by jesus christ that in everything you are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge even as the testimony of christ was confirmed in you so that you come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of our lord jesus christ so they came behind in no gift they spoke in tongues that means now listen that that means in the church of corinth the gift of tongues work the gift of interpretation of tongues the gift of prophecy the gifts of healing and working of miracles the gift of discerning of spirits the gift of the word of knowledge all nine gifts of the holy spirit work he said you come behind in no gift yet they had problems look what he says chapter three verse one and he said and i brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual they see hold on a second do you see that everybody say look at me and say this with me operating in the gifts of the holy spirit does not mean i'm spiritual oh now we're pentecostals around here we believe in the gifts of the holy spirit we believe you need them we believe you should operate in them it's not what i'm saying but here paul's talking to a church that has all the gifts of the holy spirit he says i could not speak unto you as spiritual christians this is what's made a lot of the church world that's not spirit-filled and pentecostal stumble because they think that if you talk in tongues you should be you should be mature and act like a mature christian and they just don't understand that we got our babies just like they got their babies right okay but let's read it he said and i brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in christ
i have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto you were not able to bear it he said neither yet now are ye able now think about the apostle is telling this church that he planted that he started and this is years later he's telling them you know what i can't even talk to you i can't even talk to you about certain things you cannot handle them i fed you with milk i gave you the basics and you still can't handle it now i want to say this i'm not saying that about us today i'm just giving you we're gonna we're gonna look down i want you to see all of the scriptures where he talks about what it means to be a babe what it means to be mature you're going to have to decide where you are right see i'm going to be honest with you i think what we've got now when i came here some of the those we've talked about this when i came here in the beginning many of you were just babes in the lord right you hadn't really been taught it some things you needed to be taught but now what some of you you've grown and that's good because you should have grown spiritually but now you're teenagers you've got other issues spiritual teenagers we'll talk about that in a second too [Music] all right because it's in the natural boy it's in the spiritual as well as the natural i assure you so he said verse two i fed you with milk and not with me for hitherto you were not able to bear it neither are you now yet a before you are yet carnal now the word carnal means you are more geared toward your fleshly nature you're more after carnal temporal pursuits and you're more ruled by your flesh than you are your spirit may be talking to tongues you may be prophesying you may be casting out demons you may be healing people but if you lean more to your carnal nature you're a babe this is what he's saying to them do you know that i mean can you imagine these people and we know they had pride issues because he talked about their pride can you imagine the slap in the face they were getting here from the apostle you guys think you're all that and a bag of chips and you're not i can't even talk to you about things certain things think about that i don't know about you but if i was in that church i'd be like man i wonder what in the world that man's talking about i want some of that meat right look what he goes on he said for you are yet carnal verse 3 for whereas there is among you envying strife and divisions are you not carnal and walk as men for while one says i'm of paul another says i'm of apollos he says are you not carnal he says who then is paul who is apollos but ministers by whom you believed even as the lord gave to every man i planted apollos watered but it is god who gives the increase amen now i want to look at over in in chapter
four i want you to look at this verse he tells them because all this i'm going to come back to and he says let's go back to uh in chapter 4 over to chapter 4 and he says this to them verse 14 he says i write not these things to shame you but as my beloved sons i warn you for though you have ten thousand instructors in christ yet you have not many fathers for in christ jesus i have begotten you through the gospel so now we see two of the terms we've seen babes and we've seen fathers okay i wanted you to just see that he tells them though you have ten thousand instructors in christ you don't have many who have reached the level of being a true spiritual father okay we've got people all in between see i'm going to be honest with you just because a man's in the ministry or or a pastor in a church does not mean he is a spiritual father yet he might just be at the child stage remember there's four stages spoken of well we'll just say five there's the babe the newborn babe i'll give them to you right here there's the newborn babe that's just been born again just newly converted there's the babe who's not newly converted but has grown up and is still immature there's the young man stage or what i would call the spiritual teenager and there's good aspects to that and there's bad ones and then there's fathers and sometimes i'm going to tell you why the church can't tell the difference between a leader that's a young man and a leader that's a father okay but listen all of our goals should be to keep growing until we reach that father stage that mother stage all right mature father mother state can i just say this i wasn't when i was a father at 24 years old i'm not even though i was a father to to my firstborn i'm not the same father see at 24 as i am now at 45. i hope i've grown and matured a little bit learned a few things right you get what i'm saying the same thing it works in the spirit realm and i'll tell you something else about the spirit realm the spirit realm and the natural realm there are some similarities in the sense of now god can do a quick work and god can speed some things up but there still is no substitute for time something it just takes some time amen we want everything quickly you know i wanted my trial that began in 2001 to be over in a year
it wasn't right now go to 1st john chapter 2. i hope you're remembering these verses we're reading because all of it's going to tie it together first john chapter 2 you're going to see these terms put together by the apostle john babe children young man fathers actually he doesn't mention baby he mentions children and actually the word children you're about to see here is a different greek word it's called tech neon that's a different greek word for a child i mean there's a difference between uh baby luke and faith right or baby baby luke and say aaliyah see that's a baby and now we got we got a child she's not a baby anymore right but she's not a teenager either so so god covers these stages so first john chapter 2 and this is what he says here let's start reading at verse 12. he says i write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake i write unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning i write unto you young men because ye have overcome the wicked one and i write unto you little children because you have known the father says i have written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning and i have written unto you young men because you are strong and the word of god abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one then right in the middle of all this he says love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and this is not of the father but is of the world and the world will pass away in the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of god shall abide forever but if you notice there he uses these three terms children young men and fathers now let me show you what's beautiful about this what's beautiful about this is he pulls out the positives here he says even the children even children both in the natural and in the spiritual realm the children these technion even the technion can know the father intimately listen that's what's so beautiful about the kingdom of god is that what christianity is all about is to know god through jesus christ to know him intimately and personally and what's beautiful the good news is through the blood of jesus and through the mercy of god and the love of god from being a spiritual infant to being a spiritual child to be in a spiritual young man and
to be in a spiritual father you can know the lord intimately it's a wonderful thing amen it's wonderful and he says that you have known and then you know what's interesting i think he talks about when he talks about the children stage here he mentions this thing about your sins are forgiven you i think about when we're first babes in the lord i remember when i first came i didn't have a hard time when i repented and going wow god you know that was one of the first concepts i got was god has forgiven me all of this wickedness that i was in i was in awe and wonder that god loved me and would forgive me of all that terrible stuff that i was in but then as you grow a little bit and as a christian and you start you you you repent and you grow a little bit into the child stage and and i mean into the young man stage and you have some struggles i love it this is where you you have to learn to fight the devil that's why he says you are strong young men the next stage of growth should be becoming strong learning how to let the word of god abide in you and overcome the wicked one overcome the devil this is where you learn spiritual warfare amen and then what's what's wild about that is you can see yourself learning learning learning and what's dangerous the dangerous side of the young man stage which i'll call the teenage stage as teenagers they're growing up they're growing up and they're learning more things and they're smarter and they're you know they can do things you can they can drive a car just like i can drive a car right they can do some of the same things right so that's good you know they can help you out and go to the store and get your groceries for you when you're at work even though it scares us sometimes right i just don't think about my driving just pray and believe right but they can do some of the same things but here's what happened the young man's stage of growth this is where a lot of y'all are you you've learned to let the word of god abide in you you've learned how to fight the devil and start resisting the devil and binding the devil and overcoming the devil and you've learned a little bit oh but that young man states what do we have a problem with teenagers what's the other state they actually start to begin they think they know more than the adults know see a little knowledge is dangerous right this is why the bible says first corinthians chapter 8 it says that knowledge puffs up when you first start getting knowledge about things what happens you start getting prideful about what you know listen you know i've walked through this
i know god's in this dilemma with us he's got to teach us stuff for so we can grow he's got to reveal things to us he's got to use people to teach us things he wants us to know spiritual things and the word of god and understand it and and know how to operate he wants all these things but he knows once he starts giving us knowledge and revelation and understanding the next thing is coming is pride in our life a new attack of pride see before when we were in sin we had a different kind of pride we had a pride as i can do what i want but then there's a different kind of pride when you grow up and get a little spiritual knowledge all of a sudden you think you know and now you've got spiritual pride that was a little harder to overcome what is another problem teenagers have besides a little thinking that they know more than they really know they have a problem with authority right they want to start bucking the rules because they think they know ah dad you don't know mom you don't know i said i find amazing that my you know my teenage daughter thinks that i don't get it i've done everything she can think about doing and more i i've already been there already done it and done it more than she has done i'm just sitting there going well you can learn one of two ways you can learn by me teaching you and warning you and you listening to the advice of your father or you can learn the hard way but see that's in the natural guess what it's in the spiritual too i love it i love watching people grow i mean it's a good thing but there are growing paints [Music] even in a church right now there's some churches they just keep pulling out the bottles and that's what they keep giving okay they don't like it when it gets messy they don't like having to deal with t you know raising kids the little ones and children is kind of easy when they start bucking the system they start getting teenagers start bucking the system and you know a lot of people's like if we could just skip you know if we could just jump from like 12 to 20 maybe things would be be a little better right anyway i wanted you to see that now i'm going to read you something here before we get into these i want to give you a little list i made now that we've read through these scriptures and i want you to write them down i'm going to give you i think it's 11 11 signs of spiritual
immaturity and all of these are based on these scriptures that we've read you can go back and look at them yourself 11 signs of spiritual that you're spiritually immature okay number one you are not able to handle the strong meat of the word of god now sometimes that is just because you haven't had enough teaching or explanation but then there are people for other reasons like traditions doctrines of men selfishness fleshly things but for some reason or another they're not able to handle or bear the strong meat of the word of god i can't tell you how many people through the years have said this to me i know the word of god the bible says that but i can't do it or i won't do it or that's just not my interpretation of it i don't want to hear about end times i don't want to hear about deliverance i don't want to hear about holiness i don't want to hear about obedience i don't want to hear about submission to authority there's things i don't want to hear i don't want to hear about tithing i don't want to hear it because i don't want to do it i don't want to be responsible for it and that's what he was telling the corinthians you guys speak in tongues and you prophesy and you come and have a a hoot nanny in church but you can't handle the meat of the word of god because all you want is a little pentecostal pep rally a little pentecostal party a little something to make your emotions feel good a little joel osteen a little rick warren feel good type message and type meeting you want you want to feel good but you don't want to grow up i mean what is meat build meat builds muscle protein builds muscle and muscles to do something with but what we've got is a bunch of spiritual video game addicts want to sit on the couch eat cupcakes spiritual cupcakes from joel osteen and not have to tithe and not have to obey and not have to stand up not have to get sin out of their lives right can't handle the meat you know i mean i've had people leave here because i told them they could not
divorce their husband they want me to okay adultery an affair i say like no no no you can't handle the meat frankly that's not even handling the milk right so number one sign they're not able to handle the strong meat like little like a little baby you try to put some in solid food in there for the first spin it out number two everybody got the first one not able to handle the strong meat of the word number two well let me let me back up because i said it but not able to handle astronomy i promise you well well my church doesn't teach that that's another reason they can't handle meat my church said teach me that well maybe your church is wrong you ever thought about that maybe your church has a bunch of spiritual babes that don't know anything oh no my church has been around 150 years napion or whatever napios right come on y'all don't look at me like a dog looking at a new dish all right i know i'm telling you the truth all right number two i'm gonna get i gotta get through this quick number two falling away from or never fully grasping the fundamental principles and the doctrines of christianity falling away from or never grasping the fundamental principles slash doctrines of christianity and this is the scriptures you know that we went through a minute ago and i you know i didn't read but we'll go to ephesians four in a minute where it says if you are easily and i wrote down here if you're easily blown about by every new wind of doctrine or the latest popular preacher or book i mean how on earth how on earth are christians buying millions of joel osteen and rick warrensburg how in the world did christians and christian pastors make the purpose driven life a cotton candy gospel message focused on numbers and looking good how in the world did did christians make that the best-selling book of all time only second to the bible just because it's a big church just because it's a big ministry just because they have flash and marketing does not mean it's of god
i mean now everybody's on joseph prince he teaches you don't even have to confess your sins heretics and if you gonna fall away from the fundamentals or you can't get established in the principal doctrines of christianity you are a babe you are spiritually immature if you're going to be blown about by every new wind of doctrine and in the latest preacher in the latest book you're going to be in trouble number three being lazy in maintaining what you hear in church or from the lord by prayer and study now there's a word the reason i say this is you remember a minute ago when he told the hebrews he said you are dull of hearing the word dull in the greek there nothros it means to be sluggish lazy or stupid and it means to be stupid because you are luck you're too lazy to get the knowledge you need right that's the word dull and so that's why i put this in number three being lazy in maintaining what you hear in church or from the lord by having a prayer life and studying the word yourself in other words you are lacking a fervent desire for the word of god and what it takes to have a real relationship with the lord jesus christ you are dull of hearing you are lazy how many listen listen to me how many of you really go back and look at your notes from sunday and look at what you know the lord has said in church and really try to to see what god is speaking to you and then how to apply it in your life if you're not doing those things then you're you're being lazy i'm not here to to create a spiritual buffet for you to pick and choose what you like right eat it and what is the process of eating the reason we take food and chew it up that begins the digestion break it down and get it in you right the only reason we don't do that is out of laziness and the lazy person he's going to be an immature ignorant stupid christian who's not going to go far and they're not going to grow and they're probably going to end up falling away from god
right sorry people don't like it when i use the word stupid but that was the definition in the greek dictionary stupid right there i'm looking at it okay all right number four number four sign of the signs of spiritual immaturity number four lacking in mental and moral character oh lacking in mental and moral character wrong attitudes towards sin and compromise being worldly and carnal you hear what i'm saying how do i know that lacking in mental or moral character because in hebrews 5 where we were a minute ago when he says those that are of full age and i see y'all writing i'm going i'm gonna slow down i'll give you number four lacking in mental and moral character i.e wrong attitudes towards sin and compromise being worldly and carnal this is a sign that you're spiritually immature christian why because when he says in hebrews chapter 5 that there are those who are of full age those who are mature christians he says that they have the ability to discern good and evil right but here's what it says the word full age is a is a hebrew word telios and it means complete it means growth in mental and moral character completeness so the sign that you are growing and becoming more spiritually mature and reaching full age is that you have strong you have grown in both mental and moral character that means in your mind and in your life because listen what happens in your mind will happen in your life what dominates your thinking that's why it says as a man thinks in his heart so is he right that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee all right isaiah 27 3 i believe right all right and this is this is why listen sin compromise constantly feeding on worldly entertainment and worldly things finally it stunts your growth in the lord you cannot progress in your relationship with god you can't be sensitive to the holy spirit his voice not not you might for a little while but eventually the heart gets hard and the spiritual senses get dull
and that's why that's why i don't even understand churches if they want their people to grow but they don't talk about sin they don't talk about dealing with it how to deal with it what god expects how to overcome it right so this is is absolutely imperative number five sign of spiritual immaturity oh this one's this one's gonna be a little touchy this is gonna touch on that teenage spiritual teenager problem all right envy and jealousy when you see others blessed are god working through them or they are recognized or promoted rather than you ouch envy i'm going to say it again envy and jealousy and those are two different things by the way envy and jealousy when you see others blessed or god working through them or they are recognized and or promoted rather than you i mean this happens in church a lot but it can happen at work school let me give you the webster's definition of envy a resentful awareness of another's advantage or perceived advantage they may not even have an advantage let me read this number five is envy and jealousy when you see others blessed or god working through them or they are recognized and or promoted rather than you oh remember where did i get this from first corinthians 3 he said why am i saying you are carnal in babes why because there's envying among you and the webster's definition of of envy is a resentful awareness of another's advantage or perceived advantage resentful envisa is entity is a sneaky dirty little sin that the church is full of jealousy the definition of jealousy is basically having suspicion and possessiveness and suspicion really without proof i call them two little twins of destruction there's been more divisions and problems caused in church by these two little monsters
than a lot of things i'll tell you where i've seen it i've seen one of the major trouble spots in a church of any size i mean you could go ask a hundred pastors and 99 of them will tell you out of the ministries in your church where do you see the greatest amount of envy and jealousy and strife worship ministry every single time second would be the youth and third the women and that's just the truth right i i'm telling you talk to just go go sit down and pastors got a church of any size or ever pastored one of any size what's been your number one problem and i'm talking about pentecostal mainly pentecost that have praise and worship teams you'll find out why i sing better than she does well my god i can play the guitar better than that why is he playing the guitar he must be the pastor's pet i'm telling you why did he get to preach and she or she get to preach why don't i get you you said we're saying all this stuff among the women well she called me but she didn't call her i mean we know what i'm talking about she must not like me you don't know that's jealousy that's suspicion without proof right because of envy they're two little devious little monsters they're twins they run around jump on people's heads right all right number six this is when jealousy and the envy really take root here's what happens the sowing of strife and division in a group are separating yourself from the company of spiritual people who convict or correct you ow read it again sowing strife and division in a group that's one part or separating yourself guess what if you separate yourself from a group or leader you're supposed to be with you have you may not have caused division in the group but you have divided yourself from that group right so sowing strife and division in a group or separating yourself from the company
of spiritual people who convict or correct you for instance i had a guy this is no joke south africa that sent me a friend request on facebook because he saw some stuff i guess or that he liked that i said and he he really wanted my my book the polluted church and he had been out of work for two years he had no money so on my dime i sent him a book shipped to south africa and um and anyway i've noticed after you know in the between time i don't know why it took several weeks for it to get there but anyway i noticed that he kept posting stuff that was extremely harsh and you guys know that if i say it's harsh it's it's really harsh because i got so sick of seeing his harsh mean spirited stuff over and over and over again i finally just deleted him right so then i get an email from him that he finally got my book i have it in my my phone i got an email from him that he got my book he's reading he loves the book loves it great information great stuff loving the book he and i guess he thought because he deleted his account somehow we i deleted him by accident so i told him why i deleted him guess what and i corrected him as gently as i possibly could boom dear friend he probably used my book to start a fire with why because he couldn't take someone who would correct him and i just said hey man i'm all about confronting error confronting problems but you don't always have you know you don't always have to throw the bat the kitchen sink the refrigerator at them you really don't always have to do that right so anyway but if you separate yourself from spiritual people who convict you or correct you you're headed down a road and it shows you have no spiritual maturity if you can't handle some correction or conviction right and you want to sow strife and division we've had those people run through here right okay that's always a good sign all right now number seven bad attitudes like pride about one's knowledge or gifts bad attitudes like pride about one's knowledge or gifts that lead to negativity or outright rejection of godly elders and those in spiritual authority
bad attitudes parentheses like pride about one's knowledge or gifts that lead to negativity or outright rejection of godly elders and those in spiritual authority let me give you an example this happens in church all the time you start learning some things it's that teenage issue like we've been talking about that spiritual teenager you start getting some knowledge you start operating in the gifts and all of a sudden all of a sudden this little negativity comes up well well i can do it like i i can do what what's pastor dean talking about preaching stuff i could do that with one hand tied behind my back and blindfolded and on no sleep and knock yourself out chief right but this getting a bad attitude because you think you know something or because you operate in the gifts and not recognizing i know there's a lot of younger christians today well alan my brother is here and he's dealt with this but a lot of younger christians they start having some spiritual experiences that may be from god maybe god gives them a vision maybe god use them in the gift of prophecy maybe god uses them to to speak into somebody's life an amazing revelation and it just you know makes them cry and maybe somebody gets saved and all of a sudden they think that they are you know on the same level as the pastor who's been saved for 40 years uh wrongo no no son sit down shut up right i thank god for what he does whether it be through a babe a child a young man or a spiritual father i thank god for what he does through people but don't start thinking you're something more than what you are which is why paul said if a man thinks himself to be to be something when he is nothing he deceives himself you can be nothing you can have nothing and frankly you have you you don't have anything unless god gives it to you right but like one of you right now could go out into the street and start healing everybody you saw let's say you've been saved five years and you go out on the street and everybody you lay hands on gets healed guess what that doesn't mean you're my elder all of a sudden but folks start thinking that and i'm gonna tell you the ones that start getting in pride about their spiritual experiences their spiritual gifts and their spiritual knowledge and don't respect their elders and those who've been saved a lot longer than them and won't listen to counsel or advice are headed for shipwreck and destruction and this young man that we tried to
counsel and disciple and minister to he had a zeal for god he was on fire for god god was using him but he stopped listening to any advice to any counsel he thought he had it all and now he is a complete universalist doesn't even believe in hell don't even believe the foundational doctrines of christianity this is why i preach on this stuff this is why i teach this stuff it's not how you start it's how you finish amen and god wants us to grow up number eight we're about there number eight this will this will be easy overly focused on money success [Music] numbers are being liked by others instead of standing for the truth that's a good sign you're spiritually immature and guess what there are churches with thousands of people in them with these kind of people i'm going to say it again overly focused on money success numbers are being liked by others instead of standing for the truth of god's word because let me tell you if you stand for the truth of jesus christ that he is the only way the only truth the only life that you must turn from sin that you must live a holy life that you must obey god in the gospel that you must believe this the scriptures and believe that they are infallible and inspired word of god and that jesus christ is god in the flesh if you take a stand for the truth you will be persecuted you will be rejected you will be hated by some everyone's not going to like you jesus himself said if woe unto you if everyone speaks well of you for so did they the false prophets that were before you but this is some ministers and some christians go they want money they want success they want numbers in their in their church or in their youth group or whatever it's all about numbers it's all about money it's all about success they want to be liked by everybody they don't want to make anybody mad or offend anybody you cannot stand for the truth and grow in grace and righteousness and in the word of god you cannot grow spiritually and want everybody to like you ain't going to happen so you just go ahead and accept it my wife was talking about the other day asking she said you think you have rejection issues i said if i do i went in the wrong line of work i said no babe i'm used to it it comes with the territory
all right number nine oh and this is the one here a dangerous lack of spiritual discernment between good and evil involves the sheep's clothing where did i take this one from here hebrews 5 again when he said that those that are of full age have their ex their senses exercised to discern good and evil and good and evil folks listen to me is not always obvious at first we forget that the tree there were two trees in the garden of eden and one was the tree of life and one was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you all need to hear me on this one the tree that adam and eve were not to eat from was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they weren't to touch it why you say what man ain't good good well what are you doing no no no there is that about satan about lucifer where he can appear as an angel of light he can he can have the biggest and best charity and feed the children and love the children while he's teaching doctrines that will damn them to hell for eternity mother teresa comes to mind mother teresa said all religions lead to god but she loved the children she fed the children no what she was was that nasty tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil it had good and evil in it see jesus tree is life it's truth it's righteousness you pick that tree so many people are going to bust hell wide open because they are playing the games with what they see as good and don't know that lucifer is behind it all i mean i saw i was sitting here at christmas time and bethany was sitting in here and and the unicef commercial came on about oh you need 50 cents to feed this child and i'm like and that's the united nations that worships lucifer that's the united nations that the troops the blue helmets go in and they're not peacekeepers they go in and they're known for raping and molesting children and killing people and they're going to do far more than that in the days ahead and i'm looking at that nasty tree and it's got this what appears to be a good side to it and it's the good side of that tree that
the devil uses to deceive people and then he slips the evil in behind it beware of good there's good things and then there's god things you better stick with the god things amen but the number nine was a dangerous lack of spiritual discernment between good and evil and wolves in sheep's clothing we could spend some time on that but i'm not number 10 fearfulness and this is the last one actually number 10 fearfulness and neglect to share the true gospel of jesus christ with others until you are reproducing and making disciples fearfulness and neglect to share the true gospel of jesus christ with others around you until you are reproducing and making disciples see here's the thing the term father what does that imply a father implies someone who has reproduced are we leading others to jesus christ and not just leading them to say a prayer are we making disciples out of them i want to explain something to you one of the reasons why i nearly wore myself out in these last few months doing these two bible studies in church and working full-time one of the reasons that i kept going to these bible studies when i was exhausted after work and i would go to the the bible study or work bible study and then go to valley on thursday night do you know why i knew it was important and still is and why we're going to keep doing it because people are sitting there wanting to study the bible for two or three hours it's not me keeping them there they want to be there and what is happening and what has happened to people is that they've come out of being spiritually immature or being unsaved or being a baby and they're starting to become disciples and what i am doing is literally taking what god is giving me and reproducing it in them and they're getting the truth about things that they need and they're becoming true disciples of jesus that is what makes you is one of the signs that you're mature that you are reproducing we got a lot of young bucks out here in the ministry they think because they got five or ten people up at an altar call they got somebody saved he didn't say get them to an altar call
altar calls are good he said go into all the world and make them disciples teaching them to observe all things that i have commanded you meaning you're gonna have to spend some time if you're gonna make disciples of people that is why church is important that's why church attendance is important it's why you need teaching and bible studies is because that is what transforms you from a babe a convert into a disciple of jesus christ that's why you've got to be around spiritual people and elders and fathers in the lord that's why you have got to go to church that's why you need to be in bible study that's why you need to read your bible that's why you need to pray you have got to become you have got to get to the point that you're reaching people and making disciples now here's here's something else i want to say guess what a young man now children you know an infant boy or a child boy doesn't have the ability yet to reproduce but there are teenagers can have babies right so in the young man stage is a little dangerous because we can reproduce we can't get somebody saved i got some people say when i was 19 years old but didn't mean i was a spiritual father yet what's the difference between the young man and the father one word one word wisdom and another word we'll give you another one wisdom and responsibility a young man may make a child it doesn't mean he knows how to be responsible for that child yet he doesn't know that he knows even knows how to raise that child he might have to learn quick you know what i'm saying but a father someone who had years of wisdom of both knowing how to reproduce a child how to teach a child how to be responsible for a child how to raise a child wisdom now can i be honest with you 15 years ago i would have told you that i think i had reached the stage of being a spiritual father and again this doesn't mean perfection don't you don't get what i'm saying but i hadn't i thought i had but i had do i think i'm there now i think i'm a whole lot closer i know there's a different it's a different dean at 45 than he was at 23. amen are you reproducing are you making disciples are you a
disciple and are you making disciples it ought to bother you as a christian if you're not amen [Music] because it's a sign and i mean it doesn't mean you know okay why did he lead anybody to jesus so that does that mean i'm going to hell no but it's a sign it's a sign you know what i need to grow i need to grow until i am reproducing i am bearing fruit i am making a disciple it may be somebody's already saved but they're a babe and you you know the spirit of adoption you don't always have to birth them but sometimes you have to raise them amen because there are other the ones that led them to the lord maybe not be able to raise them or may abandon them or may if they raised and might destroy them so again sometimes it's good you didn't have to birth them but god will put you around some christians that you need to raise right and can i say this it's just as important to raise the spiritual child as it is to birth this child hear me we get all this focus on are we getting people saved no the question ought to be are we making disciples out of people you see you want to know something you want to know why and i'm going to end with this you want to know why fire in grace church is not a waste of time yet we hadn't seen the multitudes come in and get saved yet we hadn't seen the the altars full of dozens or hundreds of people like the brownsville revival but let me tell you what's happened in four years some people have been made into disciples some people are growing and learning things that they had no comprehension of men that is as important as a matter of fact i have a book on my shelf back there i can't remember who it's by a dear brother gave it to me that was he was he's spirit-filled but he was strong when he was in college in the navigators you remember david shropshire don't you he gave me the book the master plan of evangelism do you know the master plan of evangel jesus's plan right of evangelism do you know what it was was it to go out and preach to the thousands and heal the sick no he knew that wouldn't last the crowds left him y'all what was his master plan of evangelizing the world 12 guys 12 guys that got it and he lost one of them 12 guys
and he got the truth in them he got them full of the word full he reproduced himself in those eleven men and they added one more and those are the men birthed the church and reproduce themselves and then those people reproduce themselves amen yes is it do we need to get people saved and do they have to pray that prayer to start that journey yes you got no problem with an altar call i got no problem with saying are you ready to follow jesus let's pray all that's fine danny if they're ready but i always stay at altar calls you know what it's not what you do right now is what you do tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day see that's the problem we got people thinking they just have to believe and not that they have to follow amen a convert believes a disciple follows amen let's read this one verse i'm going to read this this is for everybody here first corinthians 13 11 i love it's one of my favorites paul wrote when i was a child i spake as a child i understood as a child i thought as a child when i became a man i put away childish things and that's in the natural and that's in the spiritual put away childish things what were those childish things laziness envy strife pride amen you can go down through the list let's pray heavenly father we thank you so much lord for your word let it become part of us help us to take it in to chew it up to digest it to get it into our into our system until we are we are what we eat from your word god help us to move from the milk into the meat lord help us lord to grow spiritually god from a child to i mean from a babe to a child to a young man or woman into a mature father a mother in the in the spirit where i'm lord help us to be christians that reproduce ourselves that make disciples help us lord to do these things in these last days our time is running out and we must
do all that we can do now we must work while it's day because the night is coming when no man can work so lord we ask you for your blessings and your help upon each and every person in jesus name amen