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All right, keep your place there in 1 Peter chapter 2. So this morning we're talking about a certain subject. This is kind of a prerequisite to the upcoming series as I mentioned. We're going to have a couple sermons today that talk about prerequisites for the upcoming series that we're going to be doing next Sunday evening. But this morning what I want to talk to you about is this idea, this Bible concept of Christian maturity. I want to talk to you about Christian maturity this morning. So what does that mean? In 1 Peter chapter 2, you know, there's some verses in the first part of 1 Peter chapter 2 that deal with Christian maturity. Now this idea of Christian maturity, you'll hear people use this a lot and I kind of want to address this this morning in a couple different ways and I'll get into that in a minute. But basically you'll hear people say this a lot in their life. They'll say, well, you know, I'm just a babe in Christ, you know, I'm just growing and all this kind of stuff. But the idea is that, you know, you should be growing in your Christian life. And you know, if you're saying, if you're several years into your Christian life and you're like, you know, I'm just a babe in Christ and you know all that, you know, that excuse is something that really can't be used if you're properly, you know, prosecuting this Christian life. Look down at 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse number 1. The Bible says, wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby, if so be ye that ye have tasted the Lord, that the Lord is gracious. So it's saying, look, the milk of the word, you know, you start out in the simple things. You know, you start out with the easy things of the Bible, the easy doctrines of the Bible. Look, the easiest doctrine of the Bible is salvation. You know, it's the simplest thing in the Bible is just, you know, how to get saved, you know. So I mean, thank God that it's simple, but that's why it's simple. Because it's, you know, everybody can understand it. It's for everybody. You know, the Bible says that, you know, the simplicity that is in Christ. So look, there's very simple things. That's called the milk of the word, but we're supposed to what? We're supposed to grow thereby, okay? We're supposed to grow so we can then start understanding and start applying the more difficult things and the more complicated things that are in the Bible. So this morning, I want to just give you an example from the Bible. I want to kind of do a little bit of a study on the disciples in the Bible and see if we can look at the disciples on how they grew, you know, in their Christian life. Because you can, I mean, it is very clear from the Gospels and then to the Book of Acts and onward in the New Testament that there was some serious growth going on with the disciples, if you've read that. Okay, so let's look at this process. First of all this morning, through the eyes of the disciples. Let's look at, if we can see, I'm going to give you three points where it's very clear to see that the disciples grew. They grew in Christ. Three traits that we can look at from the disciples on how they grew and how, you know, they were very clearly, and here's the key, they were very clearly different people after Christ was gone. So you could very clearly see that these are not the same men that we read about. I mean, they were the same men, but through growth in the Christian life and through that maturity that they gained, and this is why I also want you to see that as Jesus was talking to the disciples and he would bring up all these different things to the disciples, that he was trying to get them to the place that he knew that they would need to be. So it's important that we mature, not just for ourselves, not just for our families, but as we go through this Christian life, it's where we're literally going to need to be in order to continue in this Christian life. Jesus knew when he was rebuking the disciples and he was teaching them all these different things, he knew the goal, he knew the place that they needed to be when he was gone. He knew it. So first of all, let's look at just a clear example, just a general example. Turn to John chapter six. Let me just give you an example of this difference. Let's look at Philip, for example. Before we get into the actual specific traits, let me just give you this contrast that I'm going to show you that you can see in the disciples. I'll just give you one clear example. Look at John chapter six and look at verse number five. Look at John chapter six and verse number five. The Bible says here, it says, when Jesus lifted up his eyes, he saw a great company come unto him. He saith unto Philip, whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? And he said this to prove him. So this is what the Bible is saying here. He said, look, Jesus knew that he was about to perform a miracle and he was about to feed thousands of people. He knew this, okay? But he said this to test Philip. He was testing Philip to see where he was at. In verse six it says he said this to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. Jesus knew he was about to perform one of the greatest miracles recorded in the Bible. Philip answered him, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may take a little. So here we see that Philip, you know, Jesus says, you know, we're going to go and, you know, we're going to get, where are we going to get food for all these people? And he's like, I don't know. He's like, we don't have any money. We can't feed all these people. How are we going to get all these people food? It's impossible. There's not even bread here. There's no, I mean, he's just, you can just see it in it. He just has that doubt. He just doesn't understand, you know, what's happening. He doesn't have that faith that Jesus has everything taken care of, you know? So Jesus went to prove him and he came up lacking in this case. Now turn to Acts chapter eight. Now turn to Acts chapter eight. So I mean, that's just an interesting little back and forth between Jesus and Philip there. But let's look at who Philip was in the book of Acts. Look at Acts chapter eight and look at verse 26. The Bible says, and the angel of the Lord spake unto who? He spake unto Philip saying, arise and go towards the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. So I mean, here this angel of the Lord now comes to Philip and he says, hey, he says, go to the south from Jerusalem unto Gaza. So he basically tells him, you know, he doesn't tell him to go to Jerusalem. He tells him to go to Jerusalem. He's like, go to the way from Jerusalem to Gaza in the middle of the desert. And if you look at a map, this is like 50 miles. So I mean, these guys are walking. Okay, he's like, hey, what I'm going to need you to do right now is go and walk 50 miles into the middle of nowhere, is what he says to him. Look at verse number 27. And he arose and went, he just went right away, no matter what. And behold, a man of Ethiopia and eunuch of great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem, to Jerusalem for to worship. Look, he wasn't in Jerusalem, and was returning and sitting in his chariot, read Esaias the prophet. So this is, of course, when Philip gets the Ethiopian eunuch saved and baptized, but look, the Bible tells, I mean, the angel tells Philip to go, just go out in the middle of the desert, please. And he's like, okay, and he just goes. So this is quite a different man than we saw in John chapter six, he just had no doubt, he just went, he just arose, and he went. I mean, look, the point I'm trying to get you to understand, and the point that we're going to see through these different traits that we look at, is that the disciples literally changed. They changed who they were, okay? They came with Jesus, they met Jesus, and they traveled with Jesus as certain types of people, and they grew into completely different people, okay? So look, what are these traits? The first trait I want to look at, I want to look at some before and after comparisons. So what traits are we talking about this morning? Now I'm messing myself up. So this morning, I want to talk to you about three traits, and the first one that I submit to you that you can see a major difference with the disciples is in compassion, in their compassion towards people. Go to Matthew chapter 19, Matthew chapter 19, and look at verse number 13. So you're going to see a difference in the compassion that the disciples had before, when they were with Jesus, and the compassion that they had after Jesus was gone. Look at Matthew chapter 19. Look at verse number 13, and the Bible says, then there were brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them and pray. So here, I mean, just think of the scene here. People are bringing their small children to Jesus, that he may put his hands on them and pray for them. I mean, that's kind of a nice scene right there, right? I mean, you have these people, they're bringing their children to Jesus, and then the next thing says, and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, suffer the little children and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven, and he laid his hands on them and departed thence. Turn to Mark chapter six. So Jesus is trying to teach them, hey, suffer the little children. He's like, have some compassion for people. Have some compassion for these people that are bringing their children. Have some compassion for the children and the people. Look at Mark chapter six, and verse number 35. And the Bible says, now this is right after the disciples, you know, they come back from, you know, Jesus just sent them out two by two, and they came back, they've been out soul winning, and the Bible says that there was a great multitude, look, they were looking for a break. John the Baptist had just been killed. They're looking for a break. They wanted to sit down, and they just wanted to have some time with Jesus. Okay, and look at verse 35 of Mark chapter six. And the Bible says, and when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him and said, this is a desert place, and now the time is far past. Send them away, that they may go into the country round about and into the villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat. Look back in verse number 34. Look at Jesus' attitude. Go back a couple verses, Jesus' attitude was this, and Jesus, when he came out, saw much people and was moved with compassion towards them, because they were a sheep not having a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. So Jesus saw this group of people, and they were scattered, they didn't know where to go, they had no leader, and he had compassion on them. And the disciples were just like, man, Jesus, can't we just have some alone time? We're tired, we've been out, we've got to tell you all these things that have been happening. Imagine all the stories they must have had to tell Jesus. Imagine all the things that they wanted to share with Jesus, from John the Baptist to all their soul winning stories. Just think of us on a Sunday here, on a Sunday afternoon at 3.30, 4 o'clock, 4.30, right before church, we've all just come back from soul winning in Fresno, and there's always awesome stories to tell, there's always great stories to tell. Look, these guys haven't seen Jesus, they just want to sit down and rest, it's late, and Jesus is like, no, we need to have compassion. He has compassion on the people. It's interesting to note, you know, that they were out soul winning before this, so it's interesting to note that it takes more than just soul winning to be a mature believer, by the way. You say, oh, man, I thought I had this thing, I thought I was done. No, you're just getting started. These guys were soul winning, they're immature believers, they were immature Christians. Now let's look at who the disciples become, turn to Acts chapter 3, just the entire book of Acts itself. Acts chapter 3, Acts chapter 3, and there's so many different stories that we could go to in the book of Acts, I'll just give you one, but basically the entire book of Acts, if you read through the four gospels, and then you read the book of Acts, you're like, who are these guys? What happened to these guys? You know, they're completely different people. Look at Acts chapter 3 and verse number 1. This is later on, this is after Jesus is gone. So Jesus is having compassion, just compassion, compassion, the disciples, they're impatient, they're intolerant, they just, they want what they want at that time, which will lead into our next point that I want to make. But look at Acts chapter 3 and verse number 1. The Bible says, now Peter and John went up together in the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked an alms. So here he asks money from these guys. He asks for a donation or whatever, and this is a guy, you know, this isn't who we see out here today. This is a guy that's, he's disabled from his, his, from birth. And he literally, he can't work, and he's just, he's asking alms of people. And the Bible says here, it says, this is interesting, it says, Peter fastened his eyes upon him with John and said, look on us, and he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have given, I, such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Look, these are the same guys, they're now mature, they're now having compassion on people. They could have walked by this guy and went into the temple and preached the gospel like they were going to do. But instead, you know, they were compassionate towards people. That's the whole book of Acts. They're healing people. They're casting out demons in the name of Jesus. This is why Jesus needed them to grow, by the way. He needed them to grow, and he needed them to start caring about other people, okay? The second point is this, it leads into, you know, right from this point, and it's, and it's, I guess, this idea of selfishness, or this idea of pride. Turn to Matthew chapter 18. Turn to Matthew chapter 18. Let's look at who the disciples were as far as being humble or being prideful at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, or when Jesus was with them. Look at Matthew chapter 18 in verse number 1. The Bible says, at the same time came the disciples unto Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto them and set him in the midst of them and said, verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever there shall shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Look, so there's a lot here, first of all, and like, you know, maybe it takes humility to get saved. You know, maybe that's the biggest thing that you have to get past is people's pride to get saved, but the disciples here, what were they looking for? I mean, they were just looking for the preeminence for themselves. That's what they wanted, and it was an extremely immature thing. They turned to Luke chapter 9. They just wanted, hey, who's the best? Hey, at the end of the game in heaven, when we're all in heaven, am I going to be better than John? Am I going to be better than Peter? Who gets to sit at the top seat? These guys, they were concerned with having the preeminence. Look at Luke chapter 9. Look at Luke chapter 9. And they wanted to have the preeminence over other people. They thought that they deserved the preeminence because they were with Jesus. Look at Luke chapter 9 and verse 49. I mean, these guys were a little bit prideful. They were a little bit arrogant. I mean, granted, they were walking around with Jesus, so you could almost give them a pass on that, but the point is that they were prideful, and Jesus didn't like it. He knew that they needed humility. Look at verse 49 of Luke chapter 9. And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us. So here they're like, hey, we saw somebody else doing this stuff without us. And Jesus is like, hey, if they're with us, they're with us. What's the matter with you? He's like, look, just because you're the one with Jesus, you know, they had a little bit of a pride complex here. They had this attitude that because they were with Jesus, they were better than everybody. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. We see that again with some new believers in the Corinthian church. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 in verse number 1, where the Bible says, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. So that means that, look, first of all, if you're carnal, you're a babe in Christ, is what it says. If you're doing carnal things, you're a babe in Christ. That's the opposite of being a mature Christian, by the way. So I mean, who in the world would want to go around, by the way, saying, I'm a babe in Christ. You know, who would want to do that? Because you're basically saying, look, I'm just carnal. I'm carnal. I know nothing. I don't listen to anything. I, you know, I read the Bible, but I'm just a babe. You know, you've been saved for 10 years. I'm a babe in Christ. What in the world are you doing? Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 in verse number 2. The Bible says, I fed you with milk and not with meat. He's like, I'm teaching you the simple things. For hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able. He's like, I'm teaching you the simple things and you still don't get it. I mean, he's rebuking these people here. For ye are yet carnal. He's like, you're still carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions. Don't, I mean, underline those three words right there. Envying, strife, and divisions. Are ye not carnal? And walk as men? And then he gets more specific in what they're doing. For one sayeth, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos. Are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos? But ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. He's like, you guys are arguing over who follows who, when it doesn't even matter. That's just who was appointed to give you the gospel, just appointed to teach you the milk, appointed to teach you, to feed you the simple things which you can't even handle. Because you're all carnal. He's like, he's feeding them these simple things, and they're just running off on all these carnal things that don't matter constantly. I mean, dividing people over stupid things, that's what they were doing. Babes in Christ, that's what they are. Babes in Christ. And it all comes from a place of pride. It all comes from a place of pride. We're with Jesus, who's this guy? We're the ones with Jesus, who's this guy? Look, they're in it for themselves. The entire book of Acts is about, I mean, at this point, we see that these people are in it for themselves. The entire book of Acts in the New Testament is about service and humility, is what it's about. So Jesus must have just been like, I mean, that's why you see Jesus talking in such strong language constantly to the disciples, because he's like, you can't be like this. You can't be like this. It's not going to work if you're like this. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. First Corinthians chapter 15. I mean, you want to talk about humility, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. First Corinthians chapter 15. I mean, Paul, Paul was, he was the man. He was a Pharisee. He was the son of a Pharisee. He was the, I mean, if you know, I mean, look at Paul's personality. First of all, that guy was top of the game. I don't care what he was doing. He was winning because that's who he was. That's why he became such a great evangelist. That's why God, that's why Jesus is like, you know what, we've got to get this guy on our team. Period. I mean, Paul, and out of all that, you would think Paul would get saved and he would walk into the disciples and he would walk into Jerusalem and he would walk up to those guys and be like, do you guys know who I am? It's like, we're going to run this thing the right way now. Let me, let me tell you how I run things because he knows how to win, Paul. You would think he would be like that, right? But look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Look at verse number eight. And Paul is talking about, you know, the people that have seen Jesus. He says that last of all, he was seen of me also. He's like, I was the last one to see him as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles that I am not meet to be called an apostle. He's like, I don't even deserve to be called an apostle. The apostle Paul, he's like, I don't even deserve this because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, by the way, you're not supposed to get hung up on your past life. But if you can use your past life to keep you humble, do it because that's what Paul did. He kept his past life to keep him humble. He never forgot that he didn't deserve to be there. Don't ever forget that you don't deserve to be here. Don't ever forget even down to your salvation. Don't even forget that you don't deserve any of this. You don't deserve the chance to become a mature Christian. You don't deserve it. But it's there for you. But it's there for you. Verse 10, but by the grace of God, you know the grace of God doesn't stop when you get saved. You know the grace of God is the fact that you have the ability, that you have the choice, that you have the opportunity to listen, to read the Bible, to listen to what the Bible says and actually move your life forward towards Christian maturity. But by the grace of God, I am what I am and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored. He's like, hey, He gave me grace, I'm not going to waste it. He's like, He gave me this grace. He's like, it wasn't my choice that He chose me, that God knocked me down and made me blind and I got saved. He's like, that wasn't my choice but for that grace I'm going to do something with it. But I labored more abundantly. That's what He did with it. He labored more abundantly. He's like, I'm going to work harder than anybody else and I'm going to use this grace. But the grace of God which was with me. So He went from, you know, the disciples, they went from pride to humility into service is what they did. And that, by the way, so humility, humility. You say, okay, because the world doesn't teach this today either, okay? The guy that walks in and runs over everybody and pretends like he knows, the guy in the meeting that's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and is trying to shout the answer first, he's the guy that's uplifted today in the world. But the Bible says that humility is a sign of maturity, not pride. And that leads to my third point which is this, strength. Look at Luke chapter 9. The disciples matured from weakness to strength. Look at Luke chapter 9. Look at verse number 1. Luke chapter 9 and verse number 1. Then He called, the Bible says, then He called His 12 disciples together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases. And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And He said unto them, take nothing for your journey, neither staves nor script, neither bread, neither money, neither have two coats of peace. And whatsoever house you enter into, there abide and thence depart. At the beginning, when He sent them out to preach the gospel, He provided everything for them. He made it to where they didn't have to bring anything. And they would just go out and they would just be provided for. They would just be provided for by the people that they would meet in the city. He took care of it. He took care of it. Now turn to Matthew chapter 8. At the beginning, they needed nothing. Because Jesus knew that they were not strong at that point. Look at Matthew chapter 8. Let's see another point of weakness. Matthew chapter 8 and verse 23, the Bible says, and when He was entered into a ship, His disciples followed Him, and behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves, but He was asleep. And His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish. And He said unto them, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then He arose and rebuked the winds in the sea, and there was great calm. Turn to Luke chapter 22. So we see that they're just, they're very, even like Philip at the beginning, they were just very doubtful. Very easily shaken is a good way of putting it. They were very easily knocked off the path that they were supposed to be on. But turn to Luke chapter 22. This is right before, look at verse 35, right before Peter, you know, Jesus, right after Jesus basically tells Peter, you're going to deny me. And Peter's like, I'm not going to deny you. Right after that, He says to them, He says, here's what you're going to have to do. He's like, here's what you're going to have to do. Here's what it's going to take. And He said unto them, when I sent you without purse and scrip and shoes, lacked ye anything, and they said nothing. He's like, I took care of you. He's like, I sent you out and told you to bring nothing. It's like, I took care of you. He's like, did I not take care of you? Did that not happen? Did I send you out without shoes and scrip and all these extra things that you should have normally taken? You know, you say I'm going to go out camping or I'm going to go on a trip or I'm going to walk 50 miles. Bring nothing, please. Like, don't bring enough water. But here's the point. Here's the point. Okay? He's like, it all worked out. I told you to not bring all those things and it all worked out. They lacked nothing. He's like, I didn't let you down. But He says now, He says, okay, so you trusted Me then, trust Me now. Look at the next verse. Then He said unto them, but now he that hath the purse, let him take it. And likewise his scrip, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. He's like, now? He's like, what's coming? What's coming when I'm gone is you better bring some money, you better bring some things, you better even bring a sword. He's like, that's what's coming. Do you trust Me? Do you believe Me? Do you believe Me? He's telling them, hey, you're going to be up against some hard times here. You better be strong now. He's giving them final advice before He leaves them. And look, from here on out, after the whole thing with Peter, from here on out when Jesus leaves, those men were unwavering unto death. Every single one of them was unwavering unto death. So you say, you know, what's the point? What's the point of these stories? I'm trying to get you to see the changes in the disciples that took place. They went from hard-heartedness to compassion. They went from pride to great humility. They went from weakness to strength. So here's the thing, you know, we didn't just start this church five seconds ago, right? We've been here for over a year. Have we not? I remember we started out and everyone's like, oh, this is great to have a church and it's great to hear preaching and all this. You can't really say, well, you know, I'm a babe in Christ and I'm just growing. You should be growing at this point. There should be, I mean, look, there should be some time, and this is what I'm trying to get you to do this morning, there should be some time of reflection at this point in your life. You say, you know, sometimes I'll walk into, in my past life I'd walk into a power plant and somebody would say, this machine's not running right, and I'm like, well, I need to see some trends, I need to see some graphs, I need to see some things on how the machine was running before, and then I can see the trends and I can see where it all went wrong and then I can find out what went wrong. Look, we got some trend lines now, folks. We've been here for a year and two months, a year and three months. We got some trend lines. Are you growing? Is the question this morning. So let's look at some applications to us of these signs. Look, I mean, from my perspective, it's easy to see who's growing and who's not. What I need this morning is I need you to see this. So let's have some reflection this morning. Let's look at compassion. How is your compassion on people? Look at the change in the disciples. Jesus in all his rebuking, look, Jesus was yelling a lot. Jesus in all his rebuking of the religious leaders and all the wickedness that was going on in his time, he always had compassion on the people. He always had that, even when the disciples didn't want to. So are you this ultra-judgmental person? If you are, it's a sign of immaturity. I hate to break it to you. You know, look, you have to be careful with negativity, folks. You got to be careful with negativity because look, there's a lot to be negative about. There's a lot to be negative about today. But there's plenty of, I mean, just because there's plenty of things to be judgmental about, being aware of it and dwelling on it are two different things because it can change your heart. It can make you have a hard heart towards people. If you just become this ultra-judgmental person on everything and you're just, it can make you lose your compassion for people and it's a sign that you're not a mature Christian. So be careful on how negative you are. By the way, it's also contagious. A bad attitude is like a cancer. How about pride, selfishness? How's your selfishness doing this morning? Are you this person like the disciples were? Are you this person that has to have the preeminence in everything? Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Are you this person that has to have the preeminence in everything? You always have to be the one talking. You always have to inject your opinion to things even when it's not even asked for. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse number 16. Look what the Bible says. I just love Ecclesiastes. There's nothing like a guy who messed up his whole life teaching us how to not do it. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse number 16. The Bible says this. It says, be not righteous over much. Neither make thyself over wise. Why shouldest thou destroy thyself? I mean, come on, he's like, don't make it sound, don't try to make yourself sound smarter than you are. He's like, don't be this guy that just has to be the person that has the preeminence over every situation of everything. He's like, you'll destroy yourself. I mean, that's pretty strong language. I mean, thinking you know everything is a sure sign that you don't, by the way. It's a sign of immaturity. These are the people, you're like, oh, you know, I'm taking my kid to the dentist this weekend. Oh, dentists are wicked. Like, what? You know, I mean, I mean, whatever, maybe dentists are wicked. I mean, maybe they aren't. I don't know. But I mean, why in the world would you try to, you're trying to have the preeminence over people. Yeah, I went to Taco Bell yesterday. Oh, you know what they put in the meat there? You should never eat there. I mean, you know the stories, you could come up with dozens of these stories yourself. This is just a sign of an immature Christian, a sign of an immature person. How about this? More on selfishness and pride. Is your life, is your life all about what people can do for you? Is that your life? You know, here's one of the things that one of the coolest things for me to see about Christian growth is watching someone go from having people do things for them to doing things for others. That's really cool to see. That's one of my favorite things about Christian growth. But look, that's how it should work, by the way. It should lead, that leads us right into our third point, which is from weakness to strength. Turn to Romans 15. Look, I mean, it's okay to come to a church and start out and come a mess and need help and all these different things. But you should go from a mess to becoming strong, to becoming someone that can help other people. Turn to Romans chapter 15. A sign of a mature Christian is not only personal strength, but using that strength. Look at verse number one of Romans 15. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. So here's the, turn to Luke 22. Here's the methodology, folks. Here's the methodology. Here it is. You get saved, okay? You get saved. You start, you know, you start getting your life together. You start following the Bible. You know, you go from this weak, you know, mess that's just a tangled up ball. And you get strong and you start untangling some things. And then you benefit others, James chapter two. You become a prophet, not a prophet, you become profitable to people. And you know, you'll benefit others. But here, look, some people, they just, they just don't seem to grow. They just always require help. And it just doesn't seem to work. And why? So ask yourself why, I'm going to give you the answer here in a few seconds. So you have these people that they just don't seem to grow. And they're like, it's like they're running in place. And they're getting nowhere. And you're like, why? Why is that? Here's why. Here's why. 100% of the cases where someone's running in place and they're just not growing, not growing, not growing. Why? Sin. That's why. That's it. That's the reason. If you're not growing as a Christian, and you know, I mean, because what you're saying is that the Bible is not working or something. The Bible works for everybody. Remember the miracle, the Bible, it applies to everybody, it works for everybody. There's no other book like that. There's no other book like that that applies to everybody that'll work for everybody, no matter what, who you are, where you came from, boy, girl, male, female, whatever time you grew up in, the Bible will work every time. There's nothing that's not wise about what the Bible says. There's no advice in the Bible that's wrong. There's no advice in the Bible that if you follow it, it won't work. It's the miracle of the Bible. So if you're like, you know what, I'm running in place and I'm not moving and it's just nothing's happening, sin. That's it. It's sin in one form or another. I mean, they're simply not following the instruction that they're being told. So if you're at a pause in your Christian growth and you feel like I'm just a babe and I'm just a babe and next year you're a babe, something's wrong. There's something sin that is going on. But ah, with that immaturity also comes pride. That's the kicker, right? So a lot of these people won't realize, a lot of these people won't realize they'll never humble themselves enough to realize that it's sin or to realize that maybe they need guidance or to realize, you know, some people just simply don't want to know. That's why I'm here this morning. So if there's something like that that's holding you up, I'm here to tell you this morning. Look, that's not a great place to be in your Christian life where you don't want to know. Where you're running in place and you know what, you know if you're running in place. You know if there's a certain area in your life that you're running in place and I guarantee you, you're running in place because of sin, somewhere. Not a great place to be. Divisions, that's another thing. These are also the same people that will cause divisions over stupid things just like we saw in 1 Corinthians. I mean isn't there plenty to be divisive over constantly if we wanted to look and find things? I mean the modern Christian busybody by the way will be the person that goes on YouTube and finds every single thing that every single pastor or every single person said on YouTube or Facebook or whatever and they'll just try to like exploit those divisions. It's crazy. That's the modern Christian busybody today and you say well why in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3? It tells us why because they're working not at all. Where are you getting all this time? Where are you getting all this time to just sit on the internet all day long? Where are you getting all this time to just look at all this stuff and just find all these you know and then you're immature so you just find the divisions. You find some stupid divisions between two people online and you take a wedge and you're just like ding, ding, ding and you just drive those wedges. You go find another one and you just drive another wedge. People are all over the place. It's the same people. It's almost like it's the same people that 1 Corinthians was talking about. It's almost like the Bible is true. It's almost like the same thing was happening then that happens today but let me say this. Let's get back to the sin problem of sin hanging people up. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 5 and I want to give some advice to people that are constantly giving support, constantly giving support to this Christian that won't move, this Christian that's in sin. Let me just give you some advice, a methodology on how to deal with this, okay? 1 Timothy chapter 5. Look at verse number 20. I mean this is what the Bible says. I don't even think we do this. I mean I'm doing it right now but I don't think we do this here. I don't think we do this in the Christian life today and you know maybe that's a problem but look the Bible says them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear. That's a pretty, that sounds mean but look some of you ought to consider who you help because the Bible says if somebody's in sin they should be rebuked, not helped. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Here's what I'm trying to get you to understand. Somebody who needs help because of sin, they don't need help. They need to stop the sin. They need to get out of sin. They need to have that pointed out to them. They need to stop that. I mean look this is the world we live in today. It's just nothing but excuses. Oh you're a drunk? Oh you have a disease. You have a disease. Oh you know you can't stop you know getting drunk all the time and you're destroying your whole life and that of your family. You know you're just suffering from alcoholism. No you're a drunk and you're in sin. It's that. That's it. What do you need to do? What do I need to do? Is there a pill? You need to stop sinning. That's what you need to do. You know working, men and working. I mean I'm just shocked beyond my mind every single day the lengths that men today will go to to not work. It sickens me. It makes me sick to my stomach. You don't need to be told oh you know you need to be told to get to work. That's a serious sin. That you're worse than an infidel the Bible says. Look you're worse than an unbeliever. When you're saved and God says you're worse than an unbeliever that's bad. It's about as mad as God can get at you. When God says you know what you're saved and you're going to go to heaven but you're worse than an unbeliever buddy. You're worse. Look they need to stop sinning. So here's a two step plan for you. Here's a two step plan for you on considering these people. First of all consider why this person needs your help. That's step one. And if that reason is no fault of their own then default to compassion part of this sermon. But if it is due to the fact that they are not following the Bible. Look at the disciples. Who did they help? The blind. The lame. The dumb. The demon possessed. I mean if it is it is something due to sin look but if it is not something that is of no fault of their own and it is due to sin you're helping them is hurting them. You are I mean think of it this way. You are literally working against this ministry. If you are helping people that are in sin you are undoing the point of this ministry. Let me give you an analogy. Let's say you have a job. Let's say someone has a job and your job is to build paper airplanes. Your job is to produce a paper airplane every day. Jacob and Josiah are like where do I get this job? Your job is to produce one of these every single day. This paper airplane. When you produce or this person produces this they are like here we go. I got one. I'm done for today. There is my paper airplane. And they are about to go turn this into the manager. Into the boss. And you get in front of them and you say I don't know go brother. See how fast they can make a paper airplane. And you say no brother don't go to the boss. Here go turn that in. Go turn that into the boss. And you know what it's not great. Okay. It's not great but it will work. The boss won't fire you because it sort of flies. Sort of. But you intercede and you build that paper airplane for them. You know what they need? They need to learn how to build a paper airplane. They need to not have somebody do that do it for them. They need to learn how to build a paper airplane and by you sitting there and intercepting them and doing it for them you're hurting them. You're hurting them. Hebrews 10. Are you there? Go to verse number 26. I mean the Bible has some pretty strong language on people that will just not stop this sin that's stopping them in their life. Look at verse number 26 of Hebrews chapter 10. The Bible says for if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. You know what that means? It means Jesus died on the cross once. Like that's the only sacrifice. That's the whole point of Hebrews is saying you know they used to do all these sacrifices. Jesus did it one time and it's done. That's it. Look at verse 27. But a certain fearful looking for judgment of fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. All that is waiting for you if you sin willfully is just fiery indignation. Verse 28. He that despised Moses's law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much more sore or punishment suppose ye shall you be thought worthy who had trodden underfoot the Son of God. If you're just like you know what I understand what the Bible says and I hear the rebuke and I'm not going to listen. You're trotting underfoot the Son of God. That big. It's like you're just you're just stomping over the sacrifice of Jesus. But helping these people that will not get out of this sin that's stopping them in their Christian life is cursing them. That's what you're doing. I mean you would be better off rebuking them before all. And look that's kind of what I'm doing is I'm rebuking. So I'm not saying you need to go around being a jerk to everybody but the point is that they need to be rebuked not helped because that will curse them. That will just put them under I mean it'll put them in this situation where they're just trotting underfoot the Son of God. That's bad. You don't want to be there. So look here's the spectrum okay to wrap things up here's the spectrum. The mature Christian through their strength their character through their compassion through their humility will be an extreme blessing to others will be an extreme profit would be extremely profitable to others. I mean can we not can we not see this today. Can you not see this in this church. Can you not see people that have grown in this church that are just becoming extreme blessings to people. It is one of the most encouraging things in this ministry for me to see. And I thank you for listening and growing. People that are doing so. But look think of the disciples they went from immaturity from needing constant support you know they went to supporting all these churches throughout Asia. Think of the job that they had. Think of the job that the Apostle Paul had. That's why he's traveling all the time. He's just constantly supporting supporting supporting supporting and I mean it was just disappointment after disappointment more support disappointment more support disappointment more support. He just never stopped. That's why God chose somebody like the Apostle Paul. We'll talk about that this evening. We'll talk about that this evening. But look you will see that here as well people maturing and just becoming a great blessing to others. Others you know not so much. So what to do. You know you say you say this is me. I'm not growing. I'm offended. Good. Good. That's what I'm trying to do here is I'm trying to wake you up. I'm trying to open your eyes and get you. It's like maybe I'm growing too slow. Maybe you need to grow faster. Maybe you're missing 80 percent of the stuff. Try try try just missing 30 percent of the stuff instead of 80. Find your whole points. I mean look seek counsel. It's here. Seek counsel. By the way some of the people I mean we'll talk about this at night tonight as well. But I won't even I won't give that preach the whole sermon tonight right now. But the point is get past the pride and get moving. Get past the pride and get moving around it. Look I don't like wasting time. I don't like wasting time. And you know we didn't just open five minutes ago. You know none of you should be at the point where you're babes in Christ. Right. We've been here for over a year. Look around you. I mean if you're running in place and you're not moving you need to do something different. You ever heard the saying you know the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. It's crazy. Whatever you're doing is not working. Start listening. Seek counsel. Ask questions. You'll get you'll get those answers. But that's how you got saved by the way. That's how you got saved. That's what we all no matter what your situation or what your story was or where you came from or when you got saved early or late you all had a point in your life when you were looking for the truth. That's what you need to get to in your Christian life. If you're stalled in your Christian life you just need to look for the truth. You just need to look for the answers and look it's here. That's why we are here. That's why I'm here. So check your growth this morning. How are you doing? Check your growth. Fix your hold points. Seek counsel if you need to and then this series that we start next week is going to be a great blessing to you. But if not it's all going to go over your head and it's just going to be a huge you know breath of hot air from me is all it's going to be. But if it helps one person it's worth it to me. Check your growth this morning. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.