Spiritual Maturity through Serving God and Others with Randy Bell

Spiritual maturity is achieved through serving God and others.

Phase three of spiritual growth involves being strong, having God's word live in you, and having victory over the evil one.

Ministry and discernment are key components of phase three.

Every Christian is expected to mature and graduate to phase three, becoming a minister in the process.

Thank you. is a place of maturity. This is where you finish with being a little baby, you're finished with school, and level or phase three is the place where you begin to be an adult in the kingdom. This is where we're looking at for that type of idea. First scripture, remember, is based off of 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Therefore, if any person be in Christ, he's a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. In the understanding, a creature in Christ is a supernatural being. When you're born again, you're supernatural. You're different. You're changed. But it's not all at once. It's the changing as a baby is born and has to grow up. So you're a baby in the faith that grows up. That's the idea. But it's supernaturally embedded into you by the spirit that enters you. but 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 22 is going to be the the key idea when we look at the the entrance into phase three it says since by your obedience to the truth through the Holy Spirit you have purified your hearts for the sincere affection of the brethren now we'll need to break that down and think it through what that means but what it's saying that's the foundation of heading into phase three. By your obedience to the truth through the Holy Spirit, you have purified your hearts for the sincere affection of the brothers or brotherly kindness. The affection of the brothers means that you're entering into the phase of being kind to your brothers. We need to define what that kindness is, and we need to make sure we understand what we're talking about in that idea. Here's a chart I want you to look at to help you visualize the understanding of what we're saying. First of all, remember, John's levels are four that are given through 1 John. The first level, remember, was freedom from sin. Once you're born again, and again, understand what this is. I want you to see that you can know for a fact what God's will is for your life. You can understand clearly what his purpose is. You can know exactly what he's after. You don't have to keep wondering and doubting what his will is. I'm telling you this from Scripture what God's will is for you. You know exactly what it is. And in Peter, he explains that you have to take part in this. If you first are only an early Christian, I guarantee you God's will for your life is that you're delivered from practice of sin. Right. And you have to take action. That's why Peter says make all diligence or effort to add virtue to your life. Your part is to cooperate and to learn and to work with that. You have to make choices to repent of your sin. You must make choices to do those things. Well, phase two is similar. Remember, which we've talked about for a few weeks. After you progress from that stage, I guarantee you God's will for your life is to develop your character. He is constantly acting in one place. He's acting to build your character for a long period of time during that phase. You don't have to doubt it. You might not understand the circumstance. You might not understand what he's doing, but that is his process. He is constantly pressing you to be like Jesus. That is his constant activity. And therefore, the steps that Peter gives to acknowledge that or be a part of that were the three steps of add knowledge. To really cooperate with God, to get your character to where it is, you have to study God's word. Study to show yourself approved unto God. that means you've got to be like a school student and learn the bible till you get it till you get it enough where you're walking with him in obedience learning what his will is and that is to walk in obedience to his commands also then once you build that foundation you go to the place of making sure you apply it so you control yourself one thing is to know what's right and wrong but the second thing is to control yourself and do what's right and wrong and that's what he's doing next in your life. Then upon that, he wants you to be so strong that you will be never moved from your obedience. You'll need to stand fast and not break in disobedience. That is the strength necessary to walk through that area. Then is where we get into stage three, which means once you've actually graduated from that level and you've obeyed his commands through his grace, you are now what's called mature. And you think of that if you look back from a child compared to an adult. If you're an adult and you still go around beating up your brothers and sisters, obviously you haven't matured yet. The whole point of moving from being a child where you beat up your brothers and steal their toys and whatever, you quit all that, there's maturity involved there, isn't it? Your actions or your nature, your character has been changed to a better lifestyle. That's the key. Now, so we want to focus on add godliness and add brotherly kindness to the list. And we're going to show you how the steps are going through here. Now, remember the way the steps of scripture showed? Little child, children, now young people. Now, remember the Greek concept when they use that term of being a young man or a young person. They're talking about a person 40 and below. We think of a young person as 20, don't we? The Bible does not. They consider a young person 40 and below. I've already lost that. I'm not a young person. But you understand, 40 and below is considered a young man. That's why even the Hebrew ideas. Remember, Jesus wasn't considered able to be in the ministry until he was 30. If he tried to teach at 25, they would laugh at him and tell him he didn't respect them. He could not teach. He was forced to wait until he was 30. That was the standard of their culture. In the Greek culture, it's up to 40. You're still considered a young person. Now, that means three things according to 1 John. Look at this scripture. 1 John 2, verse 14. When he nails it down, he says these words. I've written to you young people, the third phase group, because you are strong and God's word lives in you. You have won the victory over the evil one. Notice there are three specific signs to prove that you moved into phase three Three things have to happen or you not at phase three Three things verify that you've been promoted to that level. Number one, it says you have to be strong. Number two, God's word must live in you, which is different than to know it. It says live in you. That means you're actively a part of it. number three you have victory over the evil one those three clear cut teachings bring you to the place of where you can say you're in phase three now what that says then is two things are going to happen in phase three ministry and discernment are a part of who you are you know i'm starting to understand something here that I never understood before. God expects all Christians to come through levels. And it's like we've always talked about, I'm not called to the ministry. You ever heard that? Or somebody's called to the ministry, but I'm not called to ministry. This is not the teaching that comes as I start to study this in Scripture. God expects every believer to mature from the time from being an infant to being a child to being a minister. Well, you know what? We've talked about that in many senses here. You know, a pastor is not just, we try to use that word as, who's your minister? Oh, that's Pastor Randy. Well, that's not biblical. The scripture never teaches that. In fact, the pastor, according to Ephesians, is the teacher who trains you to be the minister, is what it actually clearly teaches in Ephesians. So what we're saying here, this agrees with the teachings of Peter and of the Gospels. It's all the same. It's all connected together. Phase three is for every Christian. You are expected to graduate from high school and get a diploma and move into the area of ministry. That's expected. That is God's will. And like I said, the whole point of understanding this is you can know for sure God's will. You say, well, I don't feel led. Let me tell you what led means. God's Word tells you, and I'm going to show you how you're led into the ministry before we're done today. And I want you to make sure you see that being led to ministry is very simple. It's very hard, but very simple to understand. And I'll use Christ as our example. So the two areas of what we call being mature then, we have to be able to even understand, what does it mean to be a mature Christian? Just because you're a mature human and you're 50 doesn't mean you're a mature Christian, does it? You could still be a little baby Christian. So age doesn't necessarily affect what this is. But what you do in your life does prove whether you are there. And that's what these phases will show us. Now let me go to the next slide. So here's what we're going to say. The issue behind being a mature believer and going to this phase is that God expects you, first of all, to understand the five purposes of God and that you are actively involved following those purposes in your life. They're based on two scriptures. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Number two, love your neighbor as yourself. That's from Matthew chapter 22. Then we go to Matthew 28. Go into all the world, make disciples. baptize them in the name of the Father. Baptize isn't like saying marry them. It doesn't mean you just go through a ceremony. Baptism means you accept them into your life. That's what phase three is all about. Serving other people, accepting them into your life. And then it says, teach them to observe all things, whatever I've already commanded you. The five purposes have to be the foundational place of your life. By the time you get to... I can't talk. Phase three, you are practicing these five purposes in your life as a regular, stable, standard part of your life. It's full of your life. Yes, you go to work. Yes, you have a family. But you follow these five purposes as normal life. It's a lifestyle change from the world. The world's lifestyle is love myself with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. And forget my neighbor because I'm interested in me. I'm not going to go into all the world and preach the gospel because I don't care what God says. And I'm not going to accept people necessarily unless they prove that they're worth being accepted and what's in it for me. And fourthly, they can learn on their own. That's the world's opinion, right? So your style must be actually created to be different. You must fulfill those purposes. And that fulfillment is what maturity is all about. It's actively fulfilling those issues in your life. Now, Hebrews 5, verse 14 is a real key here to see what we're talking about when we say the maturity idea. Look at the verse. However, solid food is for mature people. Now, what is it? Whose minds are trained by practice to know the difference between good and evil. Now, what are we saying then when we say this being trained to know the difference between good and evil? That's the idea of what we've talked so much about phase two. You're being trained in character to know how to follow the commands of Jesus. A solid basis of your life is built inch by inch, line by line, month by month, year by year, so that the Word of God is solid in you. You know the difference between what God specifically states is right and wrong. This is not a generality. We're not saying, yeah, yeah, I basically know what's different between good and evil. No, that's not what it's saying. It's knowing and practicing the difference between what God specifically tells you. Jesus gave at least 49 commands in his word. Knowing those 49 specific commands is only the beginning. That's what knowledge is. But if it's strong and living in you, you're practicing them. And if you have the character of Christ, you're living them every day as a normal process of life. When people look at you, they know you're a different person than other people because you're so indwelt by these principles, these practices that you are a person that's like Christ. Well, that's exactly what phase three talks about. Adding godliness. Right. Making effort to add godliness. Godliness is not just generalities. It's specifics. And Jesus really narrows it down, so if you understand what he's trying to get you to see with this, it's this. He who is greatest among you shall be servant of all. So the whole point, and remember, the word servant equals minister. This is why I know it has nothing to do with being a, quote, preacher. It got to do with being a Christian Because God wants you to be a servant of all and that simply means to serve or minister to others That is what we talking about So it taking your eyes off yourself and moving them to be a helper to others. Now that's great practice like in a marriage situation the Bible orders the wife to be the the helpmate. Helpmate is what it uses in Genesis. The servant. Now, wives don't like that. Boy, our culture screams when a preacher dares to say it. You're trying to lower the women down. No, that's not going to do it. It's higher. The greatest among you is the servant. It's not lowering. It's making it high. It's not saying you're not equal. God loves both the same. A husband and a wife, there's no difference there. But the greatest is the servant. So if the wife is spending her time helping her husband, what does she do to help her husband? Does she tell him what to do? Is that being a helper? Or is that being a supervisor? See, there's a difference between a helper and a supervisor, right? There's a difference between authority here. See, and that's the key after saying, but God says, Jesus didn't spend his time telling the father what to do. So was Jesus down low and not important to God the Father? No, no. He said, I only do what the Father tells me to do. I listen to what He says and I follow Him. It's no different in all of our life. Submitting to authority, no matter where you are, if you work for somebody, you have to submit to authority. If you're a child, you submit to your parents. There's all these levels. It all is a training ground to teach you to be servant of all the greatest things that God would ever want you to learn. The greatest thing you can ever give to anybody is serve them. This is an important reality. Before you can be a leader, you must be a servant. Once Jesus served, it says He was exalted above all. But He had to take the road of servanthood first and He had to pass those tests. Does that make sense? Passing the test meant going through the whole process of truly being the greatest servant of all. Okay, now, Now, if you understand where we're heading, then I want to break it down into some pieces here. Now, back to our verse, 1 John 2.14. Remember, three things show phase three of being a mature believer. First of all, it says, I've written to you young people because you are strong, is the first point. Strength must be there before you can be classed as in phase three, a mature believer. Strength of what? people that bullies can be strong, but are they strong in what God's after? That's not the kind of strength God's after to pound people or get your way, right? What is the strength that he's talking about? Well, if you go to the steps of 2 Peter 1, that first area of that level was add self-control. Now that's strength, isn't it? When you can control yourself, you're strong. That's the key. The Bible says if you can control your tongue, it's got to be a miracle, right? That's strength, because man can't do it. It's like a snake that bites people. Poison comes out. But only God giving you supernatural strength can make your tongue be corrected. If you go to Proverbs, it spends a lot of time talking about your tongue being nasty, evil, and it's got to be stopped. So strength definitely has to do with character. It goes right back to that phase two idea. Developing your character is absolutely important for you. If you do not learn, do not learn this area, you can't go forward. Everything is dependent on what you learn first. First grade only comes after you pass K. K, 3, 4, 5, or whatever you're into. Second grade, you cannot be promoted until you pass 1. Well, same thing here. To get to this level of being phase 3 or being classed as a young, strong believer means maturity wise, you have to make sure you're consistent in your obedience. You must have self-control. The Bible is not just words in your brain. It's living in your heart and your character has been altered. Your mouth has been altered. Your attitudes have been altered. Your motives have been altered. You have absolutely been altered by the power of God's Word. Does that make sense? you're altered in who you are you're not the person you were 10 years ago you've been altered you've been changed you've been transformed by God does that make sense and with that understanding it says our graduation from level two is made when we obey Christ's commands through the grace of God don't make excuses I have heard Christian after Christian say it's an ideal you can never get there yes you can the bible says you can if it was not true he would have said don't worry about you're never going to get there instead it says you can get to this point of self-control it's one of the fruits of the spirit which means it's evidence that can happen in you therefore you must get a hold of it and believe that god is heading that way that is his will that you have self-control his will for your life without doubt is that you come to a place where you have self-control in your life. Does that make sense? That's his will. You don't have to doubt his will. That is his will. He is working in you to bring you to self-control. Secondly, on that idea then, is we are to act. Maturity means that you don't think about it, you now act it. You are living a life of maturity when you are obedient in that way. Now the second idea in that scripture then, is God's word lives in you. lives in you not just sets in your brain but lives and lives it's alive it's what it's saying now that means when we talk about adding that knowledge knowledge is more than just words to your head remember the whole key that he talks about is the idea that a mature Hebrews 5 14 however solid food is for mature people whose minds are trained by practice to know the difference between good and evil. The knowledge has to alter your thinking so that you are so trained in it, you are absolutely solid in what's right before God, and you know exactly what's wrong before God. And the 49 commands of Jesus Christ lay those foundations for you. He specifically states in His teaching to us through His disciples and so forth, those commands. Those are what's right. If you don't understand those commands, obviously you do not have discernment yet knowing right from wrong. You're gaining it but you're not there yet until you can honestly control your mind. You're trained by all those complete teaching and again it's the same thing. Think about in school If you go to school and you only learned half the alphabet what good is that going to do for you when you try to read You not going to get anything out of reading You can be half here You can say well I know basically the teachings of Jesus I don have to get carried away in this. Yes, you do. If you truly want to be mature, you have to be solid in all 49 commands of Jesus. And when you're solid there and begin to first understand them and then be trained by them, you are going to get to a place where you can actually be called mature as a believer. Now, see, that sounds like a long road, isn't it? And it is. It's okay that it's a long road, but you have to see that is God's will for your life. He's not going to go back on it. I still feel that Christians in general want to be blissed by ignorance. Just kind of go with the flow of life and cry out to God every once in a while and it doesn't go your way and that's cool enough. Instead of grabbing hold of the fact that you don't have to be called a preacher or a missionary to know that this is for you. This is God's will that you get a hold of this whole piece. The whole alphabet of God's commands, not half of it. You with me? Now, if that's the case, and you understand that's where you finally can claim you're mature, then we can say a lot of us aren't even close to being mature. Even though we thought we were until we started studying this. It's not that we know we're not as mature as we thought we were. You've got to lay down those foundations. And that last step was perseverance. And that has direct contact with what it says when John says, if you're in this state of being a young, strong believer, you have won the victory over the evil one. Now, what does it mean to have won the victory over the evil one? You really have to understand what that even is talking about. Is that generally saying that you're a nice person, so you've won the victory over the evil one? Or does it mean you actually had a visual contact, you got on a sword and you whipped the devil? How do you know you've won the victory over the evil one to know what we're talking about here? Well, when we look at the scripture, we find in Ephesians 6.13 these words, Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. So we're talking about being able to stand when the evil day comes. Now again, what is the evil day? I still need to know what he's talking about so that I can, and it keeps saying withstand and stand. Usually when you think about withstanding something, it's like a hurricane blowing at you and you're so strong you can withstand it and still be there when it finishes blowing, right? It sounds like an assault upon you, not you attacking. Does that make sense? It's saying that you have to be able to withstand the pressure of the evil one according to Ephesians. So what are we thinking of? Well, let me give you an example. The best way I can think about it is use Jesus as he lived on this earth to give you an example of what they're trying to get you to understand. If we go to the Gospels, we find out exactly what they're saying. Jesus added knowledge to his life. If we go back to Luke 2, this is when he was 12 years old. Remember, he got to the temple. He blew their minds because he knew everything. He asked them questions, which is not asking for answers. They taught that way. In Israel, the way they taught was ask questions and leave them stumped, and then you answered it for them. Well, he was asking them questions. They were astounded. They didn't know the answers. Then he answered for them at 12. Well, it doesn't end there. Just because he could outdo all the religious leaders at 12 didn't mean he got where he needed to be yet. He wasn't where God wanted him still. We find when actually when he came in obedience to his parents, they brought him back to home. It says, look at the words it says, Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. First of all, he submitted to their authority. They were inferior to him at 12. You heard teenagers say, my parents don't understand. Well, Jesus could say, my parents don't understand. Yes, they were inferior to him. They didn't understand anything he knew. It didn't matter. It doesn't matter in your superiority how you respond to authority is what God's after. In his superiority of knowledge, God demanded of him that he submit to their authority. I don't care if you think you're smarter than your boss or your spouse or whoever. It still states a test of your character is whether you still wholly submit to their authority. Does that make sense? When he passed that test in his schooling, it says that his mother kept all the things in her heart because she was astounded at what he knew already. Then it says, and Jesus increased more. He already was superior than every person that walked the planet at 12, but it says he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. By him submitting to the will of God, which was to obey his parents and follow their directions. You don't have to be an Einstein to obey your parents. When your parents tell you, go clean the garage, you can say, well, I'm smarter than you, so I don't have to clean the garage. No, it had nothing to do with that, see? Jesus could be as smart as whatever, but he still had to go clean the garage. And when he fully and completely bent under the leadership of his authorities, God blessed him greatly. And he increased in huge amounts with wisdom. And he gained favor. Even the neighbors realized he was a good kid, I guess you can say. All around in that town knew who he was because of how he responded to and respected his parents. This is how you add knowledge and connect it to wisdom. Authority is always there. And no matter how old you are, there's always somebody over you. If you are 100 years old, the United States government still is over you. Right? If you're whatever, if you're a wife, your husband is still over you. If you're a child up to a certain age, your parents are over you. If you go in the military, they're over you. If you go to work, they're over you. and there's authority there in all cases, God uses those hands to mold your character and make you wise, just like Jesus. Okay, we're with that so far? That's only part one there. Stand up and shout, shout it. Shout it, hey. Shout it, hey. Stand up and shout it if you love my Jesus. Stand up and shout it if you love my Lord.

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