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We are looking there at 1 Peter chapter 2. I had mentioned on Sunday that this is part 2 essentially of my, or the follow up sermon on the sermon that I preached on Sunday. And as you can see there in verse number 2, 1 Peter 2, it says, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. The sermon title on Sunday was The Illusion of Christian Maturity. And the title for the sermon tonight is Develop Christian Maturity. Develop Christian Maturity. I've got 10 points for you tonight. Obviously, each of these points could be its own sermon. And to give all these points great depth, I'll just run out of time, okay? So we're just going to hit these 10 points in snapshots. My goal tonight is, well, my goal on Sunday was essentially to challenge you on asking yourself, are you as mature or as perfect or developed as a Christian as you think you are? Maybe you are. Maybe you're not. You might have said, yeah, pastor, I'm a babe in Christ. I still have a lot to learn. Or maybe you've said, yeah, you know, I've deceived myself. I thought I was much more advanced in my spiritual walk than I was. And I realize that now. And what I want to do here, Reverend, is that, you know, we're all growing at different levels. We all have different points that we do well at. And we may not do so well at. And so what I want you to do, obviously, you're not going to remember all 10 points. I'm not asking you to put all 10 things into practice today. But if you can say, yeah, pastor, I have areas that I need to grow. Then all I want you to do is to take one or two things from the sermon today and say, these are the areas that I'm going to apply to my life that I can start to grow, that I can start to mature. OK, don't apply all 10 things because you'll fail. You can't do all 10 things at once. All right. Do a few things. Grab what you think is most necessary in your life today. And we can go from there. But let's start there in verse number one. First Peter chapter two, verse number one. Notice before it says as newborn babes, in verse number one it says, Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings. We saw that envy is a sign of Christian immaturity. We saw that on Sunday. But laying aside all these things, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. So if you've tasted that the Lord is gracious, if God has shown his grace to you, he has saved you, has loved you. He didn't reject you. Know that you know that he received you even in your sinful state. He received you, forgave you. Christ died for all of your sins. You've tasted the grace of God. And because of that, you know, as newborn babes, you ought to desire the milk of God's word. But I want you to notice that the things that you need to be learning, like you say, what is the milk? What are these things that helped me grow as a Christian? You know, and I'll share some thoughts to you. But just the very primary passage that we're seeing here is that we need to learn how to lay aside, verse number one, malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies and all evil speakings. What this tells us is that if your life, if you still struggle with malice, that's just doing the wrong things, guile, like that's kind of deceptiveness, maybe double speech, hypocrisy. You're quick to judge someone, but you yourself have plenty to fix in your own life. Envies, you don't believe others should deserve what they received. And all evil speakings, anything that is contrary and not filled with grace in your mouth. If there are these things in your life, brethren, you are still a babe. You are still a newborn babe. And you want to lay these things aside, desiring the sincere milk of God's word that you may grow there by. So what you notice that, brethren, is that what is it? What are the most, what's the most sincere milk that I can drink in God's word, words, these things? You need to lay aside all these wicked aspects of your life. If you still haven't then, you're still a babe, is what I'm trying to say. OK, this is one way you can test, am I a babe? Do I need the milk of God's word? What is the milk of God's word? What is it that I need to absorb? Is it that I need to exactly figure out the timing of Jesus Christ's return? Is that what I need to figure out? Do I need to figure out exactly when someone becomes a reprobate? Is that what I need to figure out so I can have the sincere milk of God's word? Is it the position of the Jews today in the light of God's sight? Is that what I need to figure out today? Now, those are the things that many people want to seek about. But really, it's the Bible verses that will help you get the malice, get the guile, get the hypocrisy, get the envy and the evil speaking out of your life. And that is very basic. You know, someone gets up and says, all right, you know, we're going to preach against hypocrisies. God, such a basic topic. No, you need that sincere milk of God's word to grow. If you ignore it, you're not going to grow. You're going to remain a babe. You're not going to mature and you're going to, you know, not appreciate. You know, the concept here is if you've tasted the Lord is gracious to you, then these are the very basic things that God wants you to learn. He wants you to fix your character. He wants you to fix how you speak, how you interact with other people around you. Can you come with me to Hebrews 5? Come with me to Hebrews 5 and verse number 14. Hebrews 5, 14. Hebrews 5, what else is milk of God's word? When Hebrews 5, 14, it just says here, But strong meat, Hebrews 5, 14, Hebrews 5, 14. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised, discern both good and evil. I read that on Sunday. But notice how it continues in chapter six and verse number one. Therefore, lay in the principles of the doctrine of Christ. Let us go unto perfection. The word perfection doesn't mean sinless. Nobody can be that today. It means well-rounded, matured, okay? Adulthood, let us go unto perfection. Not laying again the foundation. We call things, we call certain doctrines of our faith. We call them fundamental doctrines. Well, here it says these are foundational. It's the same thing. What is foundational is fundamental. It's not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. So this is saying that salvation, repenting from dead works, from trusting your dead works. You see, most people believe that going to heaven is based on the works that I do. I'm trying to be a good person. No, no. Okay, you need the milk of God's word. You need to realize you've got to repent from the dead works. That's not what saves you. It says here to repent and faith toward God. The only thing that saves you is your faith, your faith toward God. Right? So you go, I get that part. I've been saved. Okay, that's a fundamental. That's a foundational truth. The gospel is fundamental. That salvation is not by how good you are. Salvation is your faith on Christ alone. All right? So that's a fundamental doctrine. All right. What else is listed here as fundamental doctrines? Verse number two of the doctrine of baptisms. You know, we talk about water baptism. We often say that's the first step of obedience. That's something you should do pretty much after you've trusted Christ as your Savior. So again, it's a very fundamental thing. It says in the laying on of hands. And there can be a double application here. This can be in the time of the apostles. They would lay their hands on certain people and people receive the power of the Holy Spirit upon them. You know, we don't have so much that today. But what we do have with the laying of hands is the process of ordination. All right? So if you've got a leader who's going to start a church or begin a ministry, there's a proper process of laying your hands upon that person and sending them out. So just basic order, basic, you know, organization and order in the ministry of God. Okay? Because that's a fundamental thing. That's not something, you know, if someone says, I'm just going to obey myself and just do my own thing. You're a babe in Christ is what you are. You haven't understood the laying of hands. All right? And then it says here, and of the resurrection of the dead. That's another fundamental doctrine. That one day, all of us that are in Christ Jesus are going to raise rise from the dead. We often refer to this as the rapture. Okay? That one day, this physical body is going to die and go to the grave. But Christ is going to give us a new body made like unto Christ. This is the fundamental doctrine that Christ is returning and that there's going to be a resurrection of this dead body. And then it says, and of eternal judgments. Another fundamental doctrine is that eternal judgment essentially is hell, the lake of fire. Okay? Many Christian churches are moving away from the concept of hell. In fact, I've heard pastors say, oh, God doesn't really talk about hell. It's like, what are you talking about? It's all over the Bible. It's all over the Bible. But that's a fundamental doctrine of the faith. I mean, many times people just get saved. They believe in Christ out of a concern of going to hell. That's how fundamental it is that you can call someone to even trust Christ because they don't want to be eternal damned, eternal judge in the lake of fire. So anyway, you know, we're just getting a list here of things that are fundamental doctrines. And so, you know, the first point that I have for you Brethren is that you need to, if you want to grow, if there are areas of your life that you need to develop, you need to be established on the fundamentals. You need to be established on the fundamental doctrines of the Bible. Okay? So you need to understand what are the most important things, the most basic principles, the things that are considered the milk of God's word. And once you've learned those things, you lock it in and you don't move from there. Okay? Like a lot of the Bible, the deeper things, the meatier things are going to be dependent on you sticking firm to the fundamental things. The milk of God's word. Everything else will fit, okay, on the foundational doctrines that you've laid on God's words. If you can come with me to another passage, come with me to 2 Timothy 3, please. 2 Timothy 3, chapter 3. 2 Timothy 3, chapter 3. This one's a very similar point. It's a similar point to the first point. The first point that I have for you Brethren is that you need to be established on the fundamentals. Are you established on the fundamentals? Say, Pastor, I am. All right, but do you know where they are in the Bible? This is what I talked about on Sunday. People know doctrines, but they don't know where it is in the Bible, okay? Or they say, well, I know what sermon I heard that from, so here's the sermon, listen to the sermon. No, no, show me in the Bible, okay? That's how I know that you've learned from God's word rather than the preaching of a man, okay? That you've learned from God's word. Now, 2 Timothy, chapter 3, please. 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse number 16. This passage is for pastors primarily, okay? Timothy is a pastor. The Apostle Paul is preaching to Pastor Timothy. But it's applicable to all of us, though. It's just the truth that, you know, is important for pastors as well. And in 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16, it says, There is, again, well-rounded, complete, right? I like that concept, throughly furnished. You know, if you went to rent a property and on the advertisement it says, it's fully furnished, what does that mean? Well, you say, well, it's not just a roof over my head. When I walk in there, there's going to be a dinner table, there's going to be chairs, there's going to be a fridge, there's going to be a washing machine, et cetera, et cetera, right? It's furnished, meaning it's complete. There's nothing more that needs to be added. It's good to go. But if you rent a property that's not furnished, you're going to have to bring your own things, right? There's a lot more development that's required in that. So, the Bible is saying, throughly furnished, that we are complete, we are mature. And what we need, brethren, as we saw there in verse number 16, is all scripture. All scripture. So, the second point that I have for you today is, in order for you to grow and mature, you need to receive all the Bible. Receive all the Bible. And what I mean by that is, it's good to read the New Testament, but you also need to read the Old Testament. It's exciting to read the Book of Revelation, but you also need to read the Book of Leviticus, okay? You need to have all scripture. You know, look, I know there are certain books of the Bible that I read more often than other books of the Bible. I'll tell you what they are, straight away. 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus. Why? Because they're pastoral epistles. I keep having to remind myself, what is my responsibility? Like, 1 Peter, 2 Timothy, and Titus, to me, is my job description, right? When you go and work a job and they give you, this is your job description. This is what's required of you. This is what you need to do to fulfill the job. Well, that is my job description. That's why I read that more than anything else, is just so I keep remembering, am I doing what God requires of me as a pastor? So, we might have different hobby horses. We might have different passages of the Bible. I love the Psalms, to be honest with you, I love the Psalms, especially when I'm a bit cast down, a little discouraged. I love going to the Psalms and it lifts my spirit. And when I'm struggling to pray to the Lord, I go to the Psalms and I read a Psalm, a random Psalm, that seems to fit my situation. I say, God, I'm struggling to pray a little bit, but that Psalm is my prayer to you, God. You know, thank you for the words that you've given us in the scripture. So, you know, obviously there are books of the Bible that we may prefer or enjoy for different periods or different seasons. But the truth is, you can't neglect any of God's word. You know, there are people out there that say, well, God's changed his mind. You know, don't worry about God in the Old Testament. That's when he was, that's when he got upset. That's when he was, you know, woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Now, focus on the God of the New Testament. That's full of grace. And I'm just thinking, have you not read the book of Revelation? God's not changed. There's still judgment for wickedness. God's wrath is still upon those that have not trusted Christ as their savior. You'll find God's grace, though, in the New Testament. Of course you will. But you'll also find God's grace in the Old Testament. OK, so all of it. You can't just say, oh, I just, those books are a bit hard for me. I'll just skip them. Or if you skip them, you're going to skip on your growth. OK, you need all scripture. OK, so please, point number two is receive all the Bible. You know, God says in Malachi 3.6, For I am the Lord, I change not. For I am the Lord, I change not. Oh, God changed. No, he didn't. OK, God has not changed. And all scripture is given for our learning. So can you come back with me to Second Peter? Or actually, you were in First Peter before. Come with me now to Second Peter. Second Peter, chapter three, Second Peter, chapter three. So obviously, these things, I think we all agree, right? We need to be established on the fundamentals. We need to read all the Bible. It's all good for us. It's all good for our growth. But let me just start pointing to some other areas of your life that may need a lot of work, potentially. I don't know, you guys judge yourselves or let the Holy Spirit judge you. Go to God in prayer and ask God to look at your heart, to look at your mind, to try the reins and see if there be any wicked way in you. If there be an area of your life that is immature and needs to grow. Take it to the Lord. Don't take it to me. But Second Peter, chapter three, Second Peter, chapter three and verse number 17. Second Peter, chapter three, verse number 17 reads, All right, so God wants us to be steadfast. He doesn't want us to fall away, all right? Mature believers are less likely to fall away. Obviously, carnal Christian, babes in Christ, they're more likely to fall away. They're more likely to be led away by the error of the wicked. So it says in verse number 18. So to combat that, it says this, To him be glory, both now and forever. Amen. You know, you may need to be someone that grows in grace. You need to grow in grace. Be gracious. What is grace? We often say, and I think it's the right definition for the Bible, we say that we're saved by grace and we say that grace is undeserved merit. That's what it is. You know, grace in the Latin means free. It's like, well, gratis, gratis means free. That's the same root word. It means free. Grace is free. It's unmerited. You know, you're saved because of the grace of God. It's free. You know, if salvation was not free, like if you had to do something to be saved, it's not grace is what it is, right? It works. No, no, it's grace that God has given us. But not only have we received God's grace, but now God wants us to grow in grace. OK, we need to mature in grace. It's such an important element of your life. Why was God gracious to you? Because you messed up, because you're sinners, because there's no opportunity for you to be made right with God. So God looked upon us and he gave us grace. Well, you know what? There are going to be people in the world and in church and outside of church and in the workplace and in your family that are going to do you wrong sometimes, all right? And here's a good measure of whether I mature as a believer or not. You know, do you easily get offended? Do you easily get upset? Oh, he did me wrong again. Or are you growing in grace and you say, you know what? I'm going to look past that. You know what? They've sinned against me. Yeah, but I've sinned against God and God's been gracious to me. And you know what? Instead of rendering evil for evil, you know, instead of malice for malice or something like this, I'm going to show them grace. I'm going to do good to my enemies. I'm going to make sure, you know, I'm going to sort out whatever challenges and difficulties I have with people. People sometimes let me down, but I let God down so many more times. And he was gracious toward me. Are you growing in grace? Are you easily offended? Oh, that's it. I don't want to talk to that person anymore. I'm not going to say hello. You know, those people that get hot under the collar very quickly and very offended very quickly because someone did them wrong. You're a babe. You need to grow in grace. And again, you know, the only way you can do this, the only way that I could learn to do this is just keep reminding myself how God was gracious toward me. So who am I not to show other people grace when they mess up? Like, honestly, like I'm just thinking, OK, they don't deserve my grace. Well, that's why it's undeserved. OK, they don't deserve your grace. OK, don't get that wrong. I'll show them grace once they once they prove that they deserve my grace. No, that's not grace then, is it? God wants you to grow in grace. And that's it's a hard thing. It's a hard thing because we're very judgmental people. We jump down people's throats very quickly when they do something wrong, when they mess up. And grace is something that God wants to grow in. That's an area of your life which shows maturity. And it's tough, you know, even growing. We call them growing pains. You know, when children are growing up, a few times my kids are like, oh, Dad, my legs hurt. It's like, oh, it's probably growing pains. Or they start eating a lot. It's like, why am I so hungry? You're probably growing. I hope that way instead of that way. But, you know, because, you know, it takes work. It takes effort. Sometimes it's painful to grow. And being gracious can be hurtful, can be painful. Ask me a difficult thing, pastors, to show people grace. It is a difficult thing. And, you know, Jesus Christ showing his grace to you was a difficult thing for him. Cost him his life. Cost him his blood. So be gracious, unmerited favour. Come with me to Ephesians 4, please. Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. So, be established in the fundamentals, number one. Number two, receive all the Bible. Number three, grow in grace. Ephesians 4. 13, please. Ephesians 4. 13. Ephesians 4. 13 reads. So I'll give you the context very quickly. The Bible just says that, you know, God has given us leaders, given us preachers, that we would grow in the things of God. And then it says in verse number 13. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now, I spoke about this on Sunday. I don't know if I read this passage, but I don't think I did. But I want you to notice that to become that perfect man, and we start to measure ourselves. Am I mature? Am I a babe? Am I growing? When you start to measure yourself, you want to measure yourself to the stature of the fullness of Christ. Okay? We often measure ourselves to other men. Often. You know when you knock on someone's door, and you ask them, are you 100% sure you're going to go to heaven? I think so. Or why do you think so? Well, I'm not like other men, am I? I'm not a murderer. I'm not a rapist. Okay? What's natural in men is that we compare ourselves one to one another. All right? But when we measure ourselves to the stature and the, what does it say there? To the stature and the fullness of Christ. Oh man, I've got a lot. Like, you know, I need to keep growing. That was my point on Sunday, right? When we measure ourselves to Christ, we recognize we have much to grow. Okay? And be that perfect man. And that's the right measuring stick. How well do I measure to Christ? Then let's continue the verse number 14. That we henceforth be no more children. Or no more babes, right? Be no more children. Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. By the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. See, God knows that the slight of men, cunning craftiness, people can make good arguments for you and they can present things a certain way and you're like, oh, that sounds legitimate. You start to put your trust in the words of men. But no, that is a child that gets tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. Which is why I began in the beginning, designing the sincy milk. Establishing yourself on the fundamentals. Do not move from the fundamentals. And when you don't move from the fundamentals, it's less likely that you're going to be tossed around with every wind of doctrine. But I want you to know what it says in verse number 15. But, so don't be like these other people, okay, that are waiting in the light to deceive. But this is you, verse number 15. But speaking the truth. Say, pastor, I've got no problem speaking the truth. In fact, the truth that I have to say offends many people. Ah, man, when someone needs correcting, pastor, I'm ready to speak them the truth. All right. But speaking, see, Christ spoke the truth. He was the truth. But he spoke the truth in love. Okay, so I know the truth. All right. But are you communicating, oh, yeah, I'm telling people the truth. I'm telling them some true things, pastor, and everyone's getting upset with me. Okay, people are going to get upset with you when you speak the truth. But are they getting upset with you because of the truth? Or the way you're delivering the truth? Okay, because if, you know, Christ wants us to deliver the truth in love. And, you know, I know I'm lifting my voice when I preach. I do it just to help me get in the preaching mode, right? But I love you. Like, you know, when I get up to preach and I come here, I love the brethren. I love you. I love every man, woman, child here in this church. I really do. You know, you're my brother in the Lord. You're my sister in the Lord. We've all received the grace of God. I want you to see, I want you to do so well in life. You know, it makes me a bit uncomfortable on Sunday, especially when I was preaching about babes in Christ, because I don't know who I might offend. I don't know who I might upset. But I got to speak the truth in love. I want you to know that I'm actually saying these things. I do love you. I do want you to grow. I want you to mature. And I want you to ask yourself, the way I speak the truth, but again, that shows your immaturity. You know, if that's how you preach, if you preach the gospel out of contention, strife and envy, you know, the truth is you're to love. If you're going soul winning, you're to love the person behind the door. I understand that's a lost soul going to hell. And Christ loved that person so much that he died for them. If Christ loves them, then I should love them. Right? I should speak the truth to them in love. And so when you're able to operate out of love, rather than contention, strife and envy, this is maturity. This is a growth that you've developed. Come with me to Colossians chapter one, please. Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one and verse number nine. Colossians chapter one, please, and verse number nine. Colossians one, nine. So I've listed this one in this order for a reason. In Colossians one, nine, it says this. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. All right, so Paul is praying to the Christ Church. They would be filled with knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual understanding. And this is why in verse number 10, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Increasing in the knowledge of God. Brethren, you need to increase in the knowledge of God, okay? And again, being filled with knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Now, the reason I laid this point here to increase in knowledge of God is because I have warned how knowledge alone puffs up, okay? We know that knowledge alone puffs up. It makes you prideful, which is why I covered about speaking the truth in love to begin with, right? Because without charity, we are nothing, okay? So we need the love. We need to be able to speak the truth in love. And I don't want you to remain ignorant. I actually want this church to grow in wisdom and knowledge and spiritual understanding. The reason why that is so important, like it says in verse number 10, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Look, we talk about in the Bible our position before God. Our position with God is righteous. Our position is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. When God looks at you positionally, He sees you as righteous as His Son, because you're in Christ Jesus. But our walk is not always righteous, okay? That's when we mess up. We live our lives. We go about doing things. We think of foolish things. We sin against the Lord. We say stupid things. We show our carnality. We show that we're babes in Christ. These things do not please God. But in order for us to please the Lord and to walk worthy to fellowship with Him, to be close to our Lord, we need to have the wisdom, the spiritual wisdom. We need to have the understanding, all right? So I want you to grow in the knowledge of God. Actually, I do want this church to be very knowledgeable. I want you to know exactly what God's will is for you in your life. But I don't want you to do it at the expense of charity, okay? Otherwise, all we're going to create is very prideful people. Come with me to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. Psalm 119, please. Psalm 119. Now, I want to encourage you to read your Bibles every year. We've only just started the year. You can do this. We're only in February, okay? If you've not started, you can do it. I believe you can finish reading the Bible cover to cover by the end of the year, okay? You just need a good 15 or maybe 20 minutes now. 20 minutes in your day, every single day, 20 minutes, and you'll get through the whole Bible cover to cover, okay? And I strongly encourage that. But more important, because I'm not this kind of pastor that says, you know, if you've read the Bible cover to cover in 2024 once, then you need to read it cover to cover twice in 2025. And by 2027, you need to read it four times cover to cover. No, no, no. I'd rather you just read the Bible cover to cover once, okay? And to take your time, because this part is so important. This was a part of my life that helped me really grow in the Lord, okay? In Psalm 119 and verse number 97, Psalm 119 and verse number 97, the Bible says, Oh, how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day. You see, when you're kind of in this rush to read the Bible cover to cover, and do it, please read it, okay? But what it can cause you to do is think that you're mature, just because you got to the end of the Bible. Look, that's great. You've done something most Christians don't do. Okay, read the whole Bible. That's great. But don't think, if I just read it four or five times, I'm even more mature or I'm more developed than I was before. What you really need to do is to absorb what you read. You need to meditate on his law. The Psalmist says, I love thy law. He's not like, Oh, I just got to get through the chapter. Sorry, I got 15 minutes just to get to the end of the Bible by the end of the year. Look, have goals. Don't get me wrong. Please do it. But more important is to meditate on the words that you're reading. Now, when we talk about meditation today, most people think of meditation as, you know, empty your mind. No, that's not, that's what people think, right? Empty your mind. That's not what the Bible means. If that's what it means to meditate on his word, just empty your mind of what God's word says. No, no. He wants us to focus on the words. He wants us to, what's the word? To think upon, recite, think upon the words that have been said. All right. And for me, this was a big part of my life. It's when I started to understand, Okay, God, this is what you've said just random, well, not randomly, nothing's random. But this is what you said in the book of Leviticus, for example, right? Okay. But how does that apply to me, Lord? What do these words mean to me? What does it mean to my family? What does it mean to my church? What does it mean in my employment? What does it mean when I interact with my friends and the people that, Lord, you allowed me to bless and, you know, my day-to-day life, how do these words apply to me, Lord? It's good to read the Bible. It's good to have knowledge. But more important is, how can I apply this to my life? And the only way you do that is by meditating. Oh, Lord, I just need to meditate on what I need to think. What are your words truly saying? What are you truly trying to show me here, Lord? All right? So if you get through your chapter a day to keep the devil away, whatever it is, okay, I know you're not going to meditate maybe on the whole chapter, but when you read through your chapter, just think, okay, you know, these words in this chapter really spoke to me. Why? And you just focus on those words. Focus on what God is really leading you to think about and meditate on. You got the Holy Spirit of God that's trying to teach you. You say, Lord, what are you trying to teach me? What do I need to change? And that's why, by increasing the knowledge of God, it requires that meditation, that time. And if we can continue, look at verse number 98. Thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. He goes, man, I've learned more than any, more than my enemies and more than my teachers. I have more wisdom than all of them now. Why? Because he meditated on the laws of God. He meditated on the testimonies of the Lord. Okay, this is what helps you grow, all right? This is what helps you develop. So increase in the knowledge of God. Let me strongly encourage you to meditate. Think strongly about the words. This is the same thing when I say preach, when I preach a sermon, all right? Don't worry about every little thing that I say. Like, just focus in on one or two things. What can I change? What do I need to look at? What did God speak to me in when I heard that sermon? Okay, don't worry about every little detail. You're never going to absorb every single detail, all right? I preach a sermon for one hour. I hope 10 minutes is for you, brother, and 10 minutes for my dad, and 10 minutes for sister Clarissa or something like that. I hope there's just different elements that make up, you know, who God is trying to reach for different purposes. You don't need to worry about everything, but meditate on God's word and increase in knowledge. Come with me to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, please. 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1. While you turn to 2 Thessalonians, the first five points so far. Be established on the fundamentals, receive all the Bible, grow in grace, speak the truth in love, all right? And increase in the knowledge of God. And in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, please. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1. This one's a quick point. In verse number 3, it says, We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth. Paul looks at the 1 Thessalonians church, he goes, wow, you guys have grown in faith and even your charity toward one another abounds. He goes, when I enter your church, when I hear about your church, it's so clear that you love each other. It's so clear that you have charity one to another. It's so obvious that you're serving each other and more so than that, that your faith grows exceedingly. He goes, whoa, man, you've really grown. You've really grown. Maybe sometimes you've not seen a family or a friend for some time, they got a little child, and maybe they hit puberty or something, right? And you're like, you're expecting that child to still be this size, and all of a sudden they're like, oh, what? You've grown exceedingly. Where'd you come from? You've not seen them for a while. It's kind of like that, right? Paul is saying, man, you've grown much more than I expected you to grow. And I've already kind of covered charity and love, but I want you to notice that what else we need to grow in, brethren, is our faith. We must grow in our faith. Say, what does that mean? Well, when we say that you need to, in order for you to get saved, you must put your faith on Christ, what we essentially are telling people is they need to trust Christ, okay? Instead of trusting their good works to get them to heaven, instead of trusting their church to get them to heaven, instead of trusting in their false religion to get them to heaven, we're asking them to trust in Christ alone. We'll say, put your faith on Christ. We're saying, put your trust on Christ. Put your trust on Christ, his death, his burial, his resurrection alone, okay? And so when we talk about growing in faith, we're essentially saying that we're growing in our trust in the Lord. And I'm going to ask you, do you trust the Lord? Say, I trust in my salvation, praise God. But do you trust him in all areas of your life? It's a hard, I find it hard. I like to be in control of everything. This is my life, I've got it in control and God has to make it out of control so I can just learn to trust him. And I hate that. I hate it when things are out of control and I'm trying to go, oh no, you got to trust me. Oh yeah, that's right. I need to grow in my faith. I need to grow in faithfulness in my Lord. All right, and again, this is a challenge. It's, I don't know, it's such a blessing at the same time because I just know everything is in God's control. And Lord, I'm just going to trust you in all areas of my life. You know, when the world is falling apart or whatever it is, right? When I'm seeing ungodly laws, when I see wickedness in the world and it just looks to me like the world's falling apart, I need to put my faith in the Lord. I need to grow in faith and say, Lord, I'm not going to worry about it because you know exactly what's going on. Amen. You know the heart of every man. Lord, you can take down politicians and you can raise politicians. You can take down kings and raise up kings if you like. Lord, I'm just going to put my full trust in you. Lord, it's all in your control and I'm just going to rely on you. That's a sign of Christian maturity when your reliance is on the Lord. And you know, I've shared this before and I'm sorry for sharing it again, but I recognize that I can be naive sometimes. Okay, I'm just honest with you. I am a bit naive. I don't like to think about things too deeply unless I have to. Okay. But for whatever reason, until I became a pastor, for whatever reason, I thought some Christians had no problems because you go to church and they're always happy. You go to church, they're always encouraging. All right. And you're like, man, you must have no problems in life. You're right. You just, I don't know. I'm stupid, right? I just thought that. I don't know. Like I said, and then later you'll find out, hold on though, the people that are just consistently content, those people that just consistently trust in the Lord, many of those people have had the most difficult situations in their life. Like they've gone through trials and tribulations that you can't believe. Or you speak to them and they're encouraging you and then you find out later, they're in the middle of whatever. They're in the middle of a major problem and yet they're still encouraging you. They've learned to just have faith in the Lord. Their faith has grown so exceedingly that it just appears they're doing so fine, but their life is falling apart. But they're like, this is okay. It's all good. God's in control. My faith is in Him. That is a sign of maturity. That is a sign of a perfect man. And boy, I just, I know, I know I need to grow in that area. I've always said, I don't think I'm the most faithful of men. I believe both at Blessed at Baptist Church and at New Life Baptist Church, and yea, even Crown Baptist Church, I believe there are men there that are even more faithful than I am in this area. There might be some strengths that I have in my Christian walk versus you, but I'm telling you, there are plenty of people that are much stronger than me in this area. I can tell you just from pure transparency that I need to grow in faith, okay? I need to be able to trust the Lord a lot more. I like to be in control and I need to let go of that control and just give it to God. Come with me to 1 Corinthians 14. 1 Corinthians 14. How else can you mature and grow? What other areas that you need to work on, brethren? 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 12. This was a short one, just a quick one. 1 Corinthians 14, 12, it says, Even so ye, for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may accept zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel. Brethren, I want you to excel. I want you to grow, excel. We think of the word excellence. I want you to be excellent believers. I want you to be excellent church members. I want you to be excellent employees and excellent husbands, excellent wives, excellent children, excellent grandparents. I want you to be excellent and I want you to excel in all areas of your life. But it says here, I've lost my place. I've lost some 12, yeah, that's right. Even so ye, for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. Okay, to the edifying of the church. Look, God has given you blessed hope about the church to excel right here, okay? And the way you can excel is by edifying. The word edify is to build up, okay? To help this church grow. That is your role. That's what you can excel in. That's what you can grow in. And what we learn here is that God gives us spiritual gifts. Now, don't let that word scare you. I know the Charismatics are crazy with their so-called spiritual gifts. When God gives us gifts, it's something that you are good at that other people are maybe not so good at, all right? Say, pastor, I don't know what my gift is. You have at least one spiritual gift, at least one, to help you excel in helping this church be edified. We all need to contribute in serving one another here at Blessed Up Baptist Church. Your service here will help you mature. Your service here will help you grow. And again, you say, well, I don't have the ability to preach. All right, that's one way to edify the church. Can you read the Bible? Good, do the Bible reading. Can you operate the PC back there and play the hymns and live stream it? It's not that complicated, really, once you get a bit of training. Can you excel by serving in that area? Can you serve each other, maybe? I know some people bring a few little snacks and little food items here and there so people can have something to eat maybe before they go door-to-door soul-willing on Sunday. You're going to excel in that area or clean the church. Or you can just excel by being an encouragement to the brethren. You know, coming up and greeting those. And maybe you see that someone's not speaking to anybody in the church. They seem to be alone. You say, well, I'm going to excel and edify and I'm going to go to that uncomfortable looking brother or sister and I'm going to make them feel welcome at church today. And that's going to help me grow to mature as a believer. Maybe, whatever, whatever spiritual gift God has given you, you need to use it to help this church grow. So use your gifts to build up Blessed Hope Baptist Church. Come with me to Philippians chapter one. Philippians chapter one, please. Philippians chapter one. And I'm not reading this passage, brethren. Like, it's just God's word. I'll just read it to you, okay? It's God's word. Philippians chapter one, verse number 24. Philippians one. Philippians one. Now, give you a bit of context. This is where we've got those famous words from Paul that he says, you know, to live is Christ, but to die is gain. All right, so the reason he's saying these words is he's in prison. All right, when Paul wrote this epistle, he's in jail, he's in prison. And he's like, look, I'm not sure if I'm going to get out of life or I'm going to die in prison. He's not sure. That's why he's kind of saying these words. But then he says this in Philippians 1.24. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh, so to remain alive, not to die in prison, right? Because he goes, like, to die is gain. It's kind of like, I am looking forward to dying so I can go, oh, Jesus. But when he says this, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. Okay, so he goes, look, I'd rather die and just go to heaven. But for your sake, for you, Philippian church, it's better that I abide in the flesh. It's better that I still remain alive and I can get out of prison. And this is why it says this because in verse 25 it says, and having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you for all your fervorance and joy of faith. So he goes, you know, now that I think about it, yeah, I'm going to get out alive because it's needful for you. Like, there's still more work to be done. And, you know, I need to get out of here to help you. It says here, for your furtherance. Again, we can again, these are just words interchangeable with growing, like your growth, your maturity. For your furtherance, I am going to abide in the flesh. This is needful for you. Verse number 26, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. So he goes, so I think I'm going to get out. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get out. I am going to get out of here, out of prison. I'm going to come to you. We're going to rejoice and it's for your furtherance. So I'm going to abide in the flesh. I'm not going to die just yet. Okay, you can read it all in your own time, get the context of that. But see, this is why God gives us Christian leaders. Okay, this is why God has given you a pastor here. That's why it makes me uncomfortable to say this, but it's God's word. Okay, God gives us spiritual leaders for your furtherance, for your development, for your maturity, for your growth. I love how it says that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. I get to rejoice. I get to come to you every week. I get to travel here every week. You know, I'm not trying to big not myself. It makes me very uncomfortable to preach this, but it's God's word. And what I've got for you Brethren, in order for you to mature and to grow, you need to value your church leaders. Whether it's me or some other pastor, God replaces me one day with another man, someone that's going to lead you further. You need to value your church leaders, value your pastors. Okay, because the ministry is not easy. It's challenging. All right, and there's so much other things that could be done. Like, you know, for me, again, just being honest and transparent. The only reason I'm a pastor is for other people. It's to bless other people. I mean, it's for the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't get me wrong, but it's to love the Brethren. It's to help them grow, it's to help them learn, it's to help them gain wisdom to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one reason I left Sydney, to start a new life Baptist Church on the Sunshine Coast. I mean, it's a crazy idea. I don't have any kids. I had nine kids at that time. Who's going to rent out a property with nine kids? How's that going to work? I've got my roots here. I've got my work here. I've got my family here. I've got my friends here. I know Sydney. I know every street in Sydney. I still know Sydney better than I know Sunshine Coast. It's like, it's a crazy concept. Let's pack our bags and go start a church there on Sunshine Coast. But you do it for the furtherance of other people, the Brethren, or the love of the Brethren. And to come traveling every single week, it's crazy. It's crazy. I mean, just this past eight days, I've stayed three nights here in Sydney. That's three nights in eight days that I've stayed away from my family. You guys know how much I love my family. You think I really want to be away from my family three nights of the week in eight days. I don't want that. Being a pastor is not for selfish reasons. I mean, I want the rewards in heaven, don't get me wrong. I want that. But it's for the furtherance of the Brethren. And I want you to appreciate me. No, it's not that. I don't want you to appreciate Kevin. I want you to appreciate your pastor. I want you to appreciate the leadership that God has given for your furtherance, for your maturity, for your growth. I don't get much carnal rewards or reaping by being a pastor. Let me put it that way. It's for the love of the Brethren. It's for the furtherance of the Brethren. And I want you to really appreciate. And other pastors that God has put over you in time, in other churches that you've been at, where you've learned some great truths, be thankful for the men that God has put in leadership positions in a church. And I'm the same. I look back at some pastors that I've had in the past, and I'm truly thankful for the things that I've learned. Well, I can look at every pastor that I've been under, and there are areas of my life that I've really grown in. Different aspects, whether it's some doctrinal things, whether it's some relationship things, whether it's some whatever, different areas of your life where I've truly grown because of the leadership that God has allowed me to serve under. And for your maturity, you need to value your Christian and church leaders, all right? There's a reason why there's the office of a pastor over a church, okay? Because that man is meant to be qualified. That man is supposed to be mature. He's meant to be well-rounded. That man is supposed to be a man of God that helps lead. He's reached a certain level of maturity to help bless the people of God. And so appreciate your church leaders. And understand, I know I've got plenty to get better at. You know, this is my sermon on Wednesday, just yesterday. Just yesterday, New Life Health Church. And, you know, at one point I called Luke Paul. And at one point I mentioned Berea instead of Thessalonika. And I'm just going, oh, you know, sometimes my brain doesn't connect with my mouth. My mouth says something. And maybe you've probably heard me sometimes fumble my words or say the wrong. Hopefully you get the context of what I'm covering. I know there are still areas of my life that I don't think I'm this wonderful, amazing orator of God's Word. But God has allowed me to take on the office. And I appreciate you guys coming out here and listening. And I want you to understand that God gives us leaderships for your furtherance, for your maturity, for your growth. Don't think, oh, who cares about being... It's an important role. And I could be doing other things than being a pastor. I could be doing so many other things than being a pastor. And I kind of think I'm crazy sometimes for the responsibility of a third church now. Just logically, I think I'm crazy. But I'm just saying the inner man rejoices in the work that God allows me to do. And what hurts me the most, what is one of the most hurtful things that people can say about me and have said about me is, oh, Pastor Kevin does it for this reason or that reason. Like I'm getting some type of... Like I've got some ulterior motive or I'm reaping some carnal benefits or something like this. It's like, no, you're crazy. I do it for the people. I do it for the Lord. We do it to serve each other. We do it for the furtherance of the brethren. That's why we serve and we put ourselves in these positions even though very rarely are you gaining anything carnally. It's not what you think it is. There's a lot of pain. There's a lot of hurts. There's a lot of suffering. There's a lot of sacrificing to be in the ministry of Jesus Christ. So appreciate, value the church leaders God puts over you that has put over you in the past and will put over you in the future as well. You're in Philippians. Come with me to Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three, please. Philippians chapter three and verse number 13. Philippians chapter three and verse number 13. And this one's super important, especially if you've had a messed up past, especially if you've suffered trauma in the past or you've grown up in some broken home and you feel like you're nothing, you're a waste or something like this. This is so important for you to absorb. In Philippians 3, 13, Paul says, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Look, Paul messed up. He persecuted God's people. He arrested God's people. He persecuted the church. He goes, you know what? I need to forget the past. And not only that, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was zealous for the Jewish religion. He had a high standard in the false religion of Judaism. He goes, I don't care about that anymore. I've got to forget those things and I've got to reach forth unto those things which are before. Verse number 14, he says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Verse number 15, let us therefore as many as be perfect. So if that's what you want, if you want to be perfect, if you want to be mature, if you want to be well-rounded, he goes, be thus minded. Think like this, he says, and if in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. So the next point I have for you, brethren, is for you to mature and to grow, forget the past and look to the future. Forget the past. You've made mistakes in the past. Maybe you've ruined your life in the past. You know, you're guilty for the things. Look, if you just stay in the past and live in the past and meditate in the past, you're not going to be able to look forward to the future. The past is done. It's over. You can't go back. There's no time machine that you can go back and fix the things that you've done wrong. And some people, unfortunately, I try my best to encourage people, look, you've got to let go of that now. Okay, be thus minded. You want to be perfect? You want to grow? You want to be mature? You've got to start looking forward to the future. Look at today. Look at tomorrow. If God allows you to wake up tomorrow, serve him tomorrow. All right, whatever's been done is done. It cannot be changed. And I'm telling you sometimes the past is like this chains, all right, that people just can't get out of. And just live in the past. Live in the past. Live in the past. The past was better. That way, the past was better. The good old days. Everything's horrible now. The good old days. You're still limiting yourself. You're living in the past. Forget it. It's done. It's good. Praise God for what you've learned. Praise God for the good of the past. Learn from the mistakes that you've made in the past. But you need to look to the future. God's given you today. God, I believe, will give you tomorrow. Hopefully, we'll get all good news that everyone wakes up tomorrow. And live for the future that God has given you. One more passage. Come with me to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. While you're turning to 1 Peter chapter 5, just the other points I've had so far, your faith needs to grow exceedingly. That's your trust in the Lord. Use your gifts to bless and build up this local church. Value your church leaders. Forget the past and look to the future. And just finally, the most difficult one, I think. At least for me. In 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 10. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 10. The Bible says, But the God of all grace, who have called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. You say, Pastor, I want to be perfect. I want to be mature. I want to be established. All right? I don't want to be tossed around. I want to be strengthened. I want to be stronger in the Lord. I want to be settled. I want to be at peace. Okay? How do I have all these things, Pastor? After that you have suffered a while. Brethren, the hardest thing for me, and I think for a lot of people, is that in order for us to grow mature, we need to go through suffering. We need to go through painful times. We need to go through real difficulties, real tribulations. I mentioned earlier, sometimes the most mature believers that I've come across that always seem content, always a blessing to me, have gone through some of the hardest things in life. They've gone through that. They've suffered a while. You know, suffering comes to an end at some point, praise God. And you say, well, Pastor, I've been suffering for something for the last 10 years. You might have to suffer for it to the day you go home to be the Lord, but it's still a while compared to eternity. But in order for you to be mature, you need to go through suffering, tribulations, hardships. It's not nice, like when you're in it. No one likes it when you're in it, right? No one likes it when your life is falling apart and you've got, I don't know, sicknesses in your life and it's causing you pain or financial difficulties and you can't keep up with the bills and you know, you're struggling to make ends meet or relationships, people hate you for apparently no reason. And I don't know, whatever it is, you've lost your job and you're struggling with how to get re-employed, whatever struggles you're going through. And there can be worse things than that. You know, your house burns down or something. Life can be sometimes miserable. You get news from a doctor that you've got some terminal cancer and you've only got so long to live, whatever it is, right? You go through some difficulty. No one likes it. And no one pretends to like it when they're in the middle of it. But I'm telling you, it's so necessary to be made perfect, to be established, to be strengthened, to be settled. And so the last point that I have for you Brevin is that use suffering to your advantage. It's hard, it's hard to say. Use suffering to your advantage. And there've been times that I've suffered in my life and when I'm in it, I'm like, Lord, have you forgotten me? Right, the hurt. It's like, Lord, but it's like, you can't forget. No, no, God, you're using this. Like you're using this struggle to help me mature. You want something out of me. You're putting me through the fire, Lord. Maybe I deserve it. Maybe I've been that sinful and I just deserve a good correction, right? From the Lord, a good chastisement. Maybe that's what I'm going through right now. I don't know. Maybe God's trying to draw my attention to some sin, some wickedness in me that I need to get out of my life. Or He's just refining me to be a more mature believer. And the sufferings come. And that's when I get most phone calls. Pastor, can you pray for me? I'm going through this difficulty. And I feel like just saying, when I'm not suffering and that other person's suffering, I feel like saying, use the suffering to your advantage. But it's not like, it's not really what I want to hear. It's what I want to say, but it's not really what people want to hear. Usually what people want to hear is, yeah, brother, look, I'm really sad to hear that. Praying for you. I know the Lord will come through and deliver you and help you in a time of difficulty. But I feel like saying, hey, this is a good time. God's going to use this to mature you and to help you be established and to be perfect. So let's rejoice in it. Woo hoo! Bring it on. Bring it on, Lord. It's hard though. That's not what people want to hear. Like if people are like, Pastor, I'm upset. I'm like, woo hoo! They're like, does this pastor not care for me? But that's what I want to hear. But that's what I want to say, because I know how true this is. That when you go through suffering, start to think, Lord, how are you using this to help me be molded to be more like Christ, to be more like Him, to be measured to Him, to His standard? Boy, we need it, brethren. You think you can go through life without suffering? It's impossible. It's impossible. All of us have suffered. All of us have gone through tribulations and difficulties. Some more than others. All different types, I'm sure. But we've all gone through it. And again, I've seen God's hand in my life. I can't say I've only seen it in my hand. I've seen it in other people's lives. When you go through something, you're just like, I give up, God. I just don't know. This is too hard. Why don't you hear my prayers, Lord? Why aren't you listening to me? And then for the turnaround, the answer, the result to be something like, hey, I've always had it in my control. And God comes through, and He answers the prayers, and He sorts out the problems, and He sorts it out better than I ever thought possible. And I'm just thinking, how foolish was I to think that God was not there? And then to look back and go, wow, I actually learned so much going through that process. God refined me through that process. God revealed things in that process. God showed me who my friends are and who my enemies are through that process. There are so many things that God shows you and strengthens you and establishes you, but it's only through suffering. And I find that to be the most difficult one. And maybe it's the most difficult one for you guys. But this is what you need to mature and to grow and be more like Christ. The title for the sermon tonight was Develop Christian Maturity. Let me just read through those points one more time. Number one, be established in the fundamentals, receive all the Bible, grow in grace, speak the truth in love, increase in the knowledge of God, exceed in faith in your trust toward God, use your gifts to edify, bless about Baptist Church, value your church leaders, forget the past and look to the future and use suffering to your advantage. 10 points. Just take one or two today and just apply the ones that have touched you most. And say, Lord, help me to grow, help me mature. Lord, it's only through you, through your strength that I'm able to become that mature, perfect, complete person. Let's pray.