In this third and final broadcast of the series, Carl wraps up his teaching on spiritual growth, reminding us of the importance of studying and applying God’s word, in a lifelong endeavor to becoming a fruit bearer. Someone once said, “fruit is grown, but gifts are given.” This statement bears witness with spiritual matters, as Gods gifts are irrevocable (Rom 11:29). In sharp contrast, the fruit of the Spirit, which identifies the Christian, takes years to fully mature. We are all a work in progress, and no one has arrived yet. The abundance of spiritual fruit in our lives is a living testimony of our union with Christ. Join Carl now for insight into the fruit bearing process…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Friend, we are now embarking upon the third and final segment of how to grow spiritually. This is an understated and misunderstood aspect of Christianity. You know, people are all about the gifts of the Spirit. They want to see God move in power and all those things. But friend, God is deeply concerned about your spiritual maturity, and it is held in high esteem as far as He’s concerned. And many people are struggling in life. They can’t seem to get ahead in their Christian walk. When all the while, it’s because they’re not obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit for corrections in certain areas of your life and getting the flesh out and the Spirit in. You know, some of us have attitude issues that need to be corrected. We don’t even know we have the problem in the first place until somebody confronts us lovingly and says, hey, you need to change your attitude. Well, friend, if you spend time in the Word daily, God will be the one who lovingly confronts you. And so join me now, live in session, for our final segment. 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, okay? But what I believe is going to be steady. It’s going to be consistent. It’s what I base my life on, right? Okay, the phases of growth. Babies will put anything into their mouths, good and bad. They will even eat spoiled food. The spiritual food we eat is just as important as the physical food. The baby phase is the most dangerous phase because they’re vulnerable, easily frustrated, easily hurt, very sensitive, okay? Now, we’re talking about newborn believers here, people who are just saved, who are just born again. They need to have friends. They need to have friends around them in the faith who can encourage them, okay, who can watch over them. Hey, you don’t need to be going to that party, okay? This is not a good time for you dabbling in the world. You need to separate yourself for a few days here and months and weeks or whatever it takes so that you’re no longer drawn back into that old lifestyle, right? That’s the newborn babe phase, amen? And so we need to be on the watch for other newborn babes. We need to be looking out for them. Then we have the childhood phase.
But then Paul spoiled it because he said in Ephesians 4:14, “be no more children.” You know, it’s a good phase, but don’t stay there. Children are unsteady, unreliable, impressionable, but also curious. Children are very curious. That can get them into danger as well. But there’s good aspects, of course. Jesus said, suffer the children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. So we need to be childlike. There are some aspects of childlikeness that we never put away. For example, children don’t worry very much, do they? They know that all of their needs are met. They know that their dad and mom, whoever it is, is taking care of them. That is the mindset we need to have of our Father God taking care of us. Amen? That’s a good aspect of being childlike. But again, we need to put away the other aspects of being childlike. Me, me, me, my, my, mine, it’s all about me, etc., etc., right? Then we reach adulthood. They have nothing to do with self-praise. They can discern God at work in their own lives and the lives of others. They can see things in the Spirit.
They have exercised their spiritual senses to discern between good and evil. Hebrews 5:14, those who are mature. It’s one of the verses I use when we do the ministering spiritual gift sessions, when we activate people in the prophetic. We talk about the gifts of the Spirit. But by reason of use, you exercise that muscle, and the more you use it, the more you’re able to distinguish between good and evil, the more you’re able to see in the Spirit. And those things have to be practiced, right? I remember Dr. Bill Hammond when I was down there in Florida under his teaching for a while, and he looked at 70- and 80-year-old people, and he said, when are you going to prophesy? And they’re like, well, we were going to do it when we felt like we were old enough or mature enough. And he’s like, well, you guys have got like 10 years left. I mean, he’s a pretty blunt guy, but he’s funny as well.
But the point is, some people are waiting, waiting, waiting to be mature enough to activate the gifts. But the truth is, friend, they’re all done by faith. We’re never going to be mature enough in that regard, all right? That’s a whole other teaching. But the point I’m using is, if we don’t exercise those things, we’ll never see them actually happen in our lives. And there’s a measure of being uncomfortable when we go there, I understand that, but we’ll overcome that too. Okay, so what are some of the characteristics of the immature? Well, I’m sure we know some of them. Evil speaking, right? Talking about others, discussing their faults and failures, especially when they’re not present. Then we have vain speaking. I’ll say it anyway. I had an uncle, Jeff, and he was a character, man. Uncle Jeff was a great guy. He had a heart of giving. He used to let me stay at his house. We’d go play golf together. But Jeff’s personal trait was he would always talk about himself, all of the time. I’d say, hey, Jeff, how’s it going? He’d say, yeah, it’s going good. Anyway, so I shot a 72 the other day. Man, I was about 400 yards out. I hit this three-wood and went down the… Yeah, okay, great. Yeah, anyway, so how are you doing, man? Anyway, so then I played tennis. I beat this guy, and oh, man, I was playing so well.
He just went on for literally five or ten minutes talking about himself. He wouldn’t even have a dialogue. It was a monologue. And then I said, hey, Jeff, I fought Mike Tyson last week in the heavyweight world championship. And he goes, yeah, that’s great. Anyway, so in other words, he just didn’t register anything. We don’t want to be that guy. Listen, I love Uncle Jeff. He’s a great guy, okay? He’s on my Christmas card list. But, I mean, I was 16 at the time. I didn’t feel like correcting him because I would have got a thick ear. But it’s like, Jeff, you’ve got to talk about other people now and again. You’ve got to interact with them. You’ve got to listen to them. Otherwise, you know, but we don’t want to be that guy, okay? Foolish speaking and filthy mouth. Yeah, yeah, it’s good to be funny. It’s good to have a joke. We all like a joke. But there comes a time when you stop believing what you’re saying. You know, some people are joking all the time that it’s almost like their spirit man is confused. They’re sowing discord into their own spirit.
So that when it comes time to say, in the name of Jesus, come out, or I curse this brain tumor in Jesus’ name, your spirit man’s going, I’m not sure whether I believe that guy. I mean, one minute it’s this, one minute it’s that. When your heart and when your mouth align, that’s where the power is, right? It is the faith in the mouth and in the heart. That is the word we preach. It starts in the mouth, then it goes into the heart. When they’re aligned, then you impact circumstances. There’s a deep truth there, friends. It talks about it in the Bible as a fro-word mouth. Strange word, fro-word. It’s perverse. It’s a perverse mouth. It doesn’t say what it means, and it doesn’t mean what it says.
John Wayne would not be happy. Proverbs 17:20, “He that has a fro-word heart finds no good, and he that has a perverse tongue falls into mischief.” Yeah, we know about that. I had a friend when I worked in the UK, and we were just starting out, and he was a smart guy. But he just kept talking all the time. Even in meetings, he just kept going and going. And I was like, Dave, you don’t need to keep talking like that. It’s going to upset people. And he’s like, yeah, yeah, but anyway, blah, blah, blah. And he just got into trouble. Every month or so, he was brought before some sort of VP, and don’t do that again, and don’t say this. Sometimes we need to be quiet. And when we are, we appear wise. That’s a word for me. Growth insights.
This is interesting. F.F. Bosworth said, “Some people wonder why they can’t have faith for healing. They feed their body three hot meals a day, and their spirit one cold snack a week.” Whoa. If faith comes by hearing, and you’re not even hearing it, well, how is your faith going to rise in that area? You’ve got to have milk every day. As you have milk every day, you’re going to be hearing the word, and your faith in that area is going to rise. The physical body is fed every day. We don’t skip that. We’re very obedient in that area. But spiritually, we can go for days and weeks without feeding our spirit at all, and wonder why. Oh, you know, I just don’t feel connected to God. I just don’t feel like he’s really in my life. I just don’t feel, feel, feel, feel. Again, feelings. So, is your flesh out of control? How do you kill the flesh? How do you kill a tiger? The easiest way is to starve it. Starve it. That’s how you do it. If you have a flesh issue, starve your flesh. Don’t feed it. Don’t do the things that you know are going to cause you to stumble. But here’s the thing. By focusing on not being fleshly, we become more fleshly, because whatever we focus on, we become. Many people are approaching it from the darkness side. Well, today I’m going to be very good.
Yes, I’m not going to swear. I’m going to be nice to people. I’m going to be nice to my wife. I’m going to feed the cats instead of kicking it. Go down the list, whatever it is. But that’s focusing on the negative. That’s not how we walk in the spirit. It says here, Galatians 5:16, Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So our focus needs to be the spirit. Heavenly things, right? The Word of God. The Holy Spirit inside of us. As we focus more on that, we’re feeding our spirit man, and then we’re going to gravitate towards spiritual things, right? So if we focus on those spiritual things, the flesh is going to automatically wither. It’s going to start receding. Like I said, if I don’t get in the Word for a month, my flesh starts to rise up, because I’m feeding the flesh and not my spirit. Just a quick recap. Spiritual growth cannot be achieved overnight. We were born, we became children, went through adolescence, and then adulthood. I want to sprint over there until I’m 60 years of age tomorrow. No, no, no, it’s not going to happen. We’re going to have to go through phases, right? There may be some growing pains, even spiritually. And growing pains spiritually are where you make an adjustment to change your character in line with what God says.
That’s the growing pain. Because God is testing that area. He’s saying, you haven’t given that over to me yet. That’s what’s painful. Physical growth is automatic, but spiritual growth requires our cooperation. Hey, we just eat food and we grow. Great. But if we don’t, again, come back to the Word, we’re not choosing to grow spiritually. God honors our choice. He’s a loving God. He’s not going to throw all of this stuff on you unless you cooperate and embrace it. So by drinking milk often, we build our capacity to consume meat, which is, you know, you plod along daily in your devotional and all of a sudden you get that rhema word that bounces off. It’s like, wow, that really speaks to me right now. That’s a personal word for me. That’s a bone of ribeye I can take with me and say, look at what the Lord showed me today. This is what I’m standing on. This is my foundation. This is my meat. So as an adult, we consume both milk and meat. We don’t stop drinking milk, but we eat meat as well. And a lot of fiber, okay? Because if you have a high-protein diet like that, no. But just remember, your vegetables are important. Milk and meat. How many are going to have some milk tomorrow morning when you get up? Nobody. Okay, let’s try that again. How many are going to have some milk tomorrow morning? Are you going to do it? It’s a choice, guys. Now, you can stay where you are, whatever age you are. You can be saved, what, 10 years, 20 years, 5 years, 2 years. You can stay in that position spiritually for the rest of your life if you want to. But you’re going to miss out.
God has big plans for people in this room. You’re going to miss out if you don’t actively engage with the Holy Spirit. That’s a fact. I really believe that. Friend, that’s the end of our segment. And I just want you to know that I am always available. If you’re a radio listener and you’re struggling, friend, I want you to know, shoot me an email and I will respond to you. I respond to every email, good or bad. You know, we get some interesting emails here for some interesting characters. And some of them need prayer, friend. But, you know, God has tugged the heart of people. That’s why they respond in the way they do. Because there’s something on the broadcast that touched their heart. And, friend, if you’re one of those people and you’re struggling in an area, if it’s an addiction, an addiction to pornography or alcohol or food even or drugs or whatever it is, if you’re struggling to let go of unforgiveness or bitterness, shoot me an email and I will pray for you in person. You know, we get emails from all over the world. We had one from Jordan, the country of Jordan last week. God told this lady to contact us. We prayed with her. She got a spiritual breakthrough. It’s awesome what God is doing in these last days, friend. And I want you to know that we’re not strangers to you. We know there are people out there every day who listen to us and we love you very much. Until tomorrow, good night, God bless. And remember to spread the good news.
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