Spiritual growth is a transformative process to become like Christ, in every way. Through the knowledge of ‘Him’ our growth is guaranteed. Everyone ‘must’ be born again (Jn 3:7). From that point forward, God demands spiritual maturity from each of us. Growth takes time; it requires our cooperation to reach full maturity. By meditating upon and applying God’s Word, on an ongoing basis, our growth is assured. Galatians chapter five, provides a treatise of the spiritual fruit we must cultivate, in our Christian walk. Join Carl now, for the second broadcast in the series…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Join me for part two now of Spiritual Growth, live So how do we grow? 1 Peter 2:2 says, “A newborn babe desires the sincere milk of the Word.” We are newborn babes when we’re born again, that we may grow. That’s good. It’s good to be a baby. It’s good to drink milk. What is drinking milk? It’s the daily study and application of God’s Word. Remember what I said, the secret sauce is studying the Word of God every day. That’s the key. People say, what’s the secret? The secret is studying the Word and doing it and praying quite a lot. That’s it. There is no other secret. Amen. That’s it. That’s all I got. Done.
Milk contains essential nutrients for growth, including vitamin C, folic acid, riboflavin, whatever that is. You can look it up. Calcium is essential for bone growth, development and maintenance of bones and teeth. So get that newborn baby some milk. Amen. Ironic that we have a newborn baby in this house. Amen. Some people are not mature enough to handle what God has planned for them. You’re the one responsible for your spiritual growth. You’re responsible for it. Just because you’re old or you’ve been saved for a long time does not mean you’re mature by God’s standards. Some people can be more mature at a younger age because they’ve chosen to dive into the Word and chosen to apply it and be doers of it.
That’s how you mature. So, like I said, it’s good to be a newborn babe. But if you’re 18 years of age and you’re still having your diapers changed, there’s something very wrong. And that should motivate us to go, Lord, you know, I want to advance. I want to go to the next step in my life. So it’s up to us to do that. The Bible speaks of milk versus meat. First Corinthians 3:2 says, “I have fed you with milk and not with meat. For hitherto, which means up to this point, you were not able to bear it. Neither yet now are you able to bear meat.” Why? Because they hadn’t fed or drank that milk often enough to build up their capacity to advance onto meat. A newborn child, if it’s deprived of milk, will starve. But as it goes with milk, it’ll be weaned off of milk onto solid food. That is what we need to do in the Word. Amen? We need to have milk and meat.
Now, I’m a grown man. I still drink milk occasionally. So it’s not a case of meat only. It’s a case of milk and meat. Because they both have the benefit, right? We’ll discuss what meat is in a minute, in more detail. In Hebrews, Paul says again, I think, For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which will be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. Paul’s visiting them and saying, hey, now, by this time, some of you guys should be teachers already. What’s going on? He’s not going to bring them the strong meat because they’re not ready again. And it’s because they had not matured by devouring the milk of the Word.
The milk of the Word is the daily application. It’s that devotional that you do, that one chapter a day, that encouraging verse. You’re sustaining yourself with milk. It’s an ongoing thing. That’s what some people are trying to do. They’re trying to devour that strong meat right out of the gate. It’s like, no, it’s a little premature. Let’s get on that milk first. Then we’ll get on to strong meat. The difference between milk and meat. This is it. First Corinthians three, I fed you with milk and not with meat. Up to this point, you were not able for you are carnal for whereas there is among you envying and strife and division. And are you not carnal and walk as men? One indication of the fact that we are still carnal is that we have not weaned ourselves from milk to meat. We need to have a daily application of milk so that we avoid being carnal. If I don’t go reading the Word for 30 days, I act like a psycho. And that’s a fact. I’ve tried it out. Because it’s like your flesh starts to dominate. It starts to rise up. Your spirit man is withering. Why? Because you didn’t feed it. And your flesh is getting stronger. Why? Because you kept feeding it. Right. We’ll get into that. So meat is masterful application of God’s Word. That’s what it is. It’s not just reading it for information. It’s reading it and saying, Lord, how can I submit to this Word and apply it in my daily life? Those are the real meat eaters.
Amen. They are doers of the Word. James 1:22. And notice that envying and strife and division. We’ve all seen that in the workplace. Right. I should have got that promotion, man. That’s just ridiculous. I’ve been here for so and so long, and I’m going to generate strife and cause division because I want my own will. That’s an aspect of carnality. Meat is not going deeper into the Hebraic roots of Christianity. There’s some value in that. It’s not going into end time study. Meat is the proper understanding and application of the foundational teachings of the Word. Salvation. Holy Spirit baptism. Sanctification. Fruits of the Spirit. Gifts of the Spirit. Prophecy. Applying those core doctrines. Meat eaters are going to do those things. Amen. How many want some steak? Amen. How many want a chocolate milkshake too? There’s value in both. Right. You know, a meat session would be like, okay, I’m going to study all of 1 Corinthians. I’m going to get the concordances out, my lexicons, my leprechauns, and whatever else I need.
And then I’m going to study. Yeah. Somebody got it. I’m going to study. Right. The entire chapter. I’m going to get into it, understand the doctrine. That’s a meat session. But people live lives. They get up in the morning. They go to work. They do stuff. Right. Put the kids to school. They need to have that milk session. That 5, 10, 15 minutes. Whatever it is. Maybe 30. Where you can just get that straw and suck it up. Right. We need to do that daily. Amen. Because it will change us. Honestly. I promise you. Times I’ve done it and times I haven’t done it. And I’m better when I do it. So, there are three phases mentioned in the Word of God. And we’ll discuss in a moment. But we talked about the newborn babes. Now we’re moving into children. Ephesians 4 says, “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.” That’s what we’re doing. We’re being sanctified into his image. That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine. We don’t want to be that person.
We don’t want to waver between doubt and unbelief. We want to stay in faith. We don’t want to absorb some of the doctrines that come across Christian culture every five or ten years. Okay. For example, we believe in the demonic. We believe that demons are real. We believe in casting them out. But those things can be taken to the extreme. I remember Brother Hagin was trying to book a hotel in Tulsa. And he called him up and he said, Can we book your hotel? And he’s like, Well, we used to allow you to do that. But we’ve been cleaning the vomit out of the carpet so much that we can’t give that to Christians anymore. And he’s like, What? And he’s like, Well, this brother comes and then we do these deliverance sessions. It lasts a weekend. They just vomit everywhere and we have to clean it all up. Now, again, it is true that you could vomit when you’re delivered.
It is true that there could be a manifestation. Okay. I’m not saying that’s not going to happen. But when you’re looking for something and you entertain it, it’s going to entertain you. If you’re looking for spirits, they will play with you. Not everybody in this auditorium had a demon. Not everybody had 3,000 demons, had to spend eight hours vomiting the whole time. That’s called a doctrine out of balance. Okay. There are some doctrines that come across every five or ten years in Christianity. The grace message. We’re under grace. We can do what we do. Right. We can do anything we want. We’re under grace. God has forgiven us. No. Grace is power to equip you what God has called you to do. Okay. Grace is not a license to sin. That’s not what it is. Oh, man. Get a hold of that. So many places in the Bible, he’s saying, don’t do this, don’t do that. Stay sanctified. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Do not be conformed to this world. Amen. Grace is a dangerous message because it can actually steer people off course.
All right. Again, we have to approach the Father. First John 1:9, ‘if we confess our sin.’ We get right with him. Amen. That’s part of being a believer. We stay in fellowship with him. But the way that these grace people teach it is that there’s no remorse. There’s no shame for what I did. I just keep going and going and going. No friends. I don’t have time to get into that tonight. May preach on it another time. But there are two types of Christians who are tossed to and fro. The children and the double-minded. James 1:8 says, ‘tossed to and fro by the waves of the world. The waves of doctrine and the waves of the world.’ There’s another cult I was introduced to in Florida, indirectly, that believes that you have to be spirit-filled, praying in tongues to be saved. That is a lie. That is not core doctrine. But some people have strayed into those doctrines. Every now and again, they rear up. Believe on the Son and you shall be saved. That’s it. Some people have the privilege of being spirit-filled because they’ve chosen to be. But our salvation does not depend on it. Can I get an amen on that? Amen.
So the spiritually immature often fail to receive from God because they’re simply unaware of their rights and privileges in Christ. The children are ignorant, innocent, and vulnerable. They’re lovely as well. Okay? This isn’t an anti-kids message. But there are weaknesses in the children aspect of spiritual growth. We don’t want to be ignorant. We don’t want to be vulnerable. We don’t want to be sensitive. We don’t want to rely on our emotions all the time. We want to be driven by the doctrine that is in the Word of God. Amen? By the slight of man and cunning craftiness, but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. The job of a pastor is to speak the truth in love. Amen? That’s my job. I want to be popular. I want to be liked. I want to be all those things. I’d like to run for president. But the bottom line is I still have to speak the truth. Right? So there’s a balance there. We can never compromise the truth. And we’re going to speak the truth in love. And that goes for you guys. If you see a friend who’s making a mistake over and over again, maybe it’s time to say, you know what, I don’t think you should do that anymore and you’re really hurting yourself. Some people need to have those conversations with their friends.
Because that takes guts. But that’s a sign of love on your side too, right? That’s speaking the truth. So then, this is our goal i.e., Adulthood. Hebrews 11:24 says, “By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward. He knew that his eternal reward was better than just living a wonderful life in Egypt. I’m sure he could have lived like a prince and done what he wanted to do with all the money in the world. But Moses chose the high road, as they say in Scotland. The high road, right? He chose the eternal way. That means making sacrifices in this life too.
There is pleasure in sin for a season, but the season ends and then the shame comes and then the condemnation comes with it. So we want to make sure that we’re not dabbling in that. But the point is, the mature in Christ esteem earthly things lightly. That means friends and family members who are a bad influence on us. Maybe it’s time to cut those cords and go, look, you’re not a good influence on me. You don’t have to say it that way. You say how you want to say it. But all I’m saying is these people could be hurting you and your walk with the Lord and your eternal destination. Very serious word there.
So although Christ was our ultimate sacrifice and he redeemed us from poverty, spiritual death, and sickness, the sacrifices we make are not entertaining the flesh. That is our sacrifice. We die to the flesh. We die in Christ. We may suffer persecution. And we choose to walk in love even when we don’t feel like it. How many can relate? We choose to walk in love even when we don’t feel like it. You’ve got to make sure your face lines up with what you’re saying as well. Don’t be like, yeah, I really love you, man. Yeah, I forgive you, whatever. You know, there needs to be a bit of sincerity behind it, right? So mature people are moved primarily by their convictions and beliefs, not feelings. Feelings come and go. Feelings come and go. In five minutes, I’ll feel different. And in 25 minutes, I’ll feel even more different.
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/the-spirit-within-and-the-spirit-upon/
https://harvest.org/resources/gregs-blog/post/how-to-grow-spiritually/
Title: How to Grow Spiritually: Part 2 (LIVE)
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