Living Wise in 2025: On to Maturity! | Ephesians 4:11–16 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 1/26/2025

I'd like to ask you to take your Bible

turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4 if

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

you don't have a sermon outline some

guys are rushing to the front to give

one to you if you're joining us online

this morning we have a sermon outline on

our website that you can simply download

and follow along with us we've just been

singing it was finished upon that cross

starting folks uh starting point folks

you heard us talk over and over last

Sunday and this Sunday about the

centrality of the cross about trusting

in Christ and Christ Alone not trusting

in anything that we can bring but

trusting in Him alone this is what we

sing about this is what we pray about

this is what we preach about because the

Cross of Christ is the most beautiful

symbol of God's love it shows us his

great love for us well that gives us a

good reason to live in

2025 um the last three Sundays we've

been looking at this and today is the

last of this getting geared up for the

year um I I we next Sunday listen to

this and next Sunday we're headed back

to Zachariah and we're going to finish

Zachariah over the next few Sundays but

today I want us to remember part one was

a few weeks ago and we looked at the

wise man builds his house upon the what

on the Rock remember this picture there

it is that Little House on the Rock the

foolish man builds his house upon what

the sand now in 2025 you're either going

to build your house on the rock of

Christ or you're going to build your

house on the foolishness of the sand of

the world now one of those things is

going to stand in eternity and one of

those things is going to fall in

eternity and we want to be reminded of

that which is right and true part two

when we looked at this I brought you at

the beginning of the sermon last Sunday

to a picture I had taken in Lis valy in

the ski area remember we talked about

all the beauty of that all of the

opportunity of skiing in the French Alps

and in the Swiss Alps because it's kind

of right there on the border and we see

all that is the opportunity of fun and

joy and taking in the beauty but we also

recognize this is that little picture I

took at the top of the mountain remember

that

one and I remember just staring at that

thing

and it kind of scared me and you know

what it did it made me

ski more

carefully it made me take seriously why

because then there when I came back to

America this is how the Americans said

it you can

die it's your

decision on what you do and when we say

2025 is before you we want to remember

that we went back to that beautiful

passage of living wise and 25 Ephesians

chap 5 look at verse 15 at the top can

we read verse 15 at the top out loud you

remember this one this is not on your

outlines this is just on the screen this

is from last Sunday let's read it out

loud look carefully then how you walk

not as unwise but as wise so we looked

at that passage where it kind of unpacks

the fact that you can either live kind

of with the idea of get drunk with wine

well what's underneath get drunk with

wine that's all the different foolish

ways you can destroy your life that's

all of that and you as you do that you

waste your life that's dissipation but

what Ephesians is calling us to do with

our life is to be filled with the spirit

and we saw that there were these

beautiful passages there in that passage

last Sunday that talked about living in

true worship letting your life be a

melody of Worship in all of your days

it's not just when you come to church

but it's living it now when we come to

church that's very special we God has

designed it for us to be together um at

least once a week to gather and to

worship around him that we see that from

the beginning of time God set aside a

day for worship and the scripture calls

it the Lord's day and so we do that but

we are called to live each day in true

worship in the way that we live in our

work in our worship with others and

notice that living in gratitude to God

that verse talks about living in

gratitude to God and then what's the

last one there on the bottom right what

is it let's read it out loud together it

is live in service to others that's what

true Christians do and so this morning

as we come to yet the third message this

morning I want us to look at Living wise

in 2025 and we're going to stay in the

book of Ephesian but just the chapter

before in Ephesians chapter 4 and we're

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

going to be looking at grow up to

maturity in Christ and his church so

notice with me the passage that is in

the box at the top of the page notice

what it says here in Ephesians chapter 4

Ephesians 4:11–16

verse 11-

16 verse 11 says and he gave the

apostles the prophets the evangelists

the Shepherds and right above the word

Shepherd

right above that pastors because that's

exactly the word it's Poon in the Greek

which is Pastor so he gave the apostles

the prophets the evangelists the

Shepherds or pastors and

teachers and then in verse 12 let's read

verse 12 out loud together why did he

give those verse 12 to equip the Saints

for the work of Ministry for building up

the body of Christ now the Saints those

are not the statues in St Peter's quare

Square in Rome that's that's not what

the Saints are it's very important that

we would put above Saints put a little

line in the open space above that all

the redeemed all of God's children who

are saved by the blood of Christ they're

called Saints why because they were made

saintly they were made holy completely

he didn't wash away some of your sin if

you came to him through faith in Jesus

Christ he washed away all of your sin so

the Bible makes clear that we are the

Saints a lot of our older hymns talk

about the Saints and the Saints are not

figures merely from history the Saints

are all those who have been saved by the

blood of Christ so why did God give

these positions these offices in the

church notice in verse 12 to equip the

Saints for the work of the ministry that

to all of us for building up the body of

Christ look at verse 13 this is

interesting until we all attain to the

unity of the faith and of the knowledge

of God this means that you're you're

bringing all of the faith together

you're starting to understand the whole

gospel together the unity of the faith

the you remember we say this all the

time in the life of our church that the

Bible Old Testament and New Testament

fit together like lock and key it is

amazing this tiniest Nuance we we come

to five well why is that there and you

study it and you look at it and you

begin to see that God's word is

supernaturally integrated it is

supernaturally eternal and it's

supernaturally comprehensive in the way

that it fits together and we come to see

the heart and the mind of God Through

the Bible so this is part of what what

it's talking about that the picture is

in that in verse 13 it says until we all

Attain look what it says to the unity of

the faith and to the knowledge of the

Son of God to mature manhood to the

measure of the stature the fullness of

Christ this is amazing he wants you to

be mature like Christ verse 14 why so

that we may no longer be children tossed

to and fro by the waves and carried

about by every wind of Doctrine by human

cunning that means nobody can trick you

by craftiness and deceitful schemes that

looks toward satanic influences on your

life verse 15 instead of all of that

deception in verse 15 rather speaking

the truth in what in love we are to do

what to grow up we are to grow up in

every way into him who is the head into

Christ verse 16 from whom the whole body

joined and held together by every joint

with which it is equipped that each part

is working properly makes the body grow

so that it builds itself up in love now

this passage verse 15 and 16 is talking

about it's again using the human Corpus

it's using the human body as language

for this and to to describe all of us

together in the church so Christ is the

head of the church not Pastor Andrew not

Pastor Jason not any particular figure

Christ is the head of the body and we

are he's he's what holds all of us

together he's the one and so and the

point of us all being held together is

that every single person that's in the

body of Christ is made to be

healthy how unhealthy would your pinky

be if you cut it off and set it on the

table ter thought

right it would die and it certainly

wouldn't function it would be horrible

you say that's gruesome yes but we

should feel that way too about us

ourselves as members in the body of

Christ we should see that we are not

designed to function alone we are

designed to function as a unit our

church talks about this a lot because in

our present day and time in America

there are so few churches that truly try

to hold people together healthy churches

do that healthy churches that are true

churches and not a crowd not a crowd are

seeking to have the church function

together we say this often it's easy to

do what it's easy to build a crowd it's

hard to build a church it's easy to

build a crowd it's hard to build a

church we are called to be the True Body

of Christ This is why the Apostle Paul

is wri about it this is why uh we see

Jesus talk a lot about it let's just

remember our current context as we go

this morning first of all our current

context is this our world is

increasingly rejecting maturity our

world increasingly is rejecting maturity

uh we see maturity being pushed back to

later and later in later times of life

we see it's acceptable for people in

midlife or even people in later life to

act like Toddlers and we put up with it

we we have to have systems that that

kind of uh take into account people's

immaturity have you flown on an airline

recently oh my goodness I mean the

things the rules and the regulations and

all of the other things in the way that

very often uh we can see people now

sometimes everybody's perfect as little

lambs and everybody's behind but

occasionally flights get delayed and

everything else because of gross

immaturity

and in Civility and it's not just with

the airline industry it's in every

aspect of life that we see it um exhibit

a I 95 um but increasingly we reject

maturity and the world is increasingly

embracing immaturity I mean it's it's

just kind of a given that many people

will be in their 20s or in their 30s

before they any productivity in this

life that is absolutely appalling um God

has called us to go into a productive

life not just in society but far more

importantly we are seeing In this

passage spiritually in your relationship

with God and your relationship with the

body of Christ that we are to grow up in

maturity now maturity we have a list

here maturity is marked by first of all

at the top there selfle

less self not selfishness

selflessness that's what maturity does

that's the love of God you see the cross

represents other oriented love God for

God so loved the world that he gave his

only son

selflessness notice here what else is

there selflessness restraint discipline

responsibility knowledge wisdom humility

and then look at that what's the last

one

godliness you see God has called us to

grow in our godliness in

2025 do you have a plan to grow in

maturity this passage of scripture is

saying that we as Christians as

followers of Christ should be planning

to

grow in each year in each week in each

day of our life that we would be growing

in maturity maturity is marked by these

kinds of things but immaturity is just

the opposite of all of these if we were

to go D do what is the first one there

selfishness that's that's what we see is

immaturity immaturity doesn't look to

others like God

does

instead

immaturity is the idea of uh looking to

ourselves and it's impulsiveness and

hostility negligence and laziness

irresponsibility ignorance doesn't run

in knowledge runs in ignorance

foolishness Pride and where does it all

wind up ungodliness ultimately and so we

we need to recognize that the world

around us is headed in the wrong way uh

regarding maturity we we are expecting

less and less and less um from not only

our young people from ourselves and from

all in society and uh we are simply

becoming far far more tolerant of great

immaturity and selfishness well maturity

leads to some things maturity leads to

purpose productivity contentment and

look at that last one Joy um true joy

that doesn't always lead to happiness um

but you're more likely to be happy but

it does always lead to Joy and

especially when we look at spiritual

maturity immaturity leads to look at

these and I want to encourage you with

this just look at these confusion and

Chaos dissipation put out there to the

side waste waste you're just wasting

your life immaturity leads to confusion

and

Chaos

dissipation

misery and

despair now where do you want to live

middle schoolers where do you want to

live the world is not challenging you

middle schoolers to embrace maturity the

world is just kind of encouraging you

just to do the games just to do the

videos just to look at the stuff that's

meaningless high schoolers even worse

for you college students and then people

that get out of your home I mean the

world is bent on you know just just go

live your life the way you want to and

really expend it but where does all of

that lead to misery and despair I listen

to a podcast this week I was really

amazed uh it's a British guy it's very

very popular I think it's called called

a Diary of a CEO it's kind of

interesting I I find myself sometimes

agreeing with things that I hear with

with this guy's program and sometimes

really disagreeing but he made these two

amazing statements he made these two

amazing

statements one in seven

males between 18 and 30 years of age 1

and seven have no

friends 1 and seven have no

friends and one and four males do not

have a best friend they might have some

friends but they don't have a best

friend they don't have someone that is

close to them we live in an

increasingly

fragmenting and and

disorienting society when it comes to

relationships that's a sad focus on our

on our society that's a that's a sad

result of this God is calling us to

maturity and you know what maturity does

maturity leads to loving others being

involved with others in appropriate ways

and it it leads to Joy let's look at

this it is God's intent that his people

the church fill that in his church grow

up into maturity and he calls us to grow

up into immaturity both individually and

corporately or collectively he wants us

to do that as as Standalone people and

he wants it now let me just be clear

here you need to

understand that just because someone is

older doesn't mean they're more

mature somebody can spend their

life um 50 60 70 years old and they can

even come to church for decades and

still remain infants spiritually or in

their life just

personally they can still cry like a

baby when it comes to whining and when

it comes to fits and when it comes to

lack of self-control and when it comes

to lack of of doing what they're

supposed to do we just because you're

older doesn't mean that you're

mature and just because you're young

doesn't mean that you

immature I know some young people that

display an enormous amount of

self-control and an enormous amount of

pursuit of the right things an enormous

capacity to love and to care for others

so it's not about age it's about a

spiritual mental

interpersonal maturity that you either

pursue or you do not have look at 1

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Peter chapter 2 in verse 2 uh Peter

writes like newborn babes crave pure

spiritual milk so that by it you may

what grow up in your salvation so he's

writing to relatively Young Christians

saying take in the gospel take in the

spirituality of the Gospel so you can

grow up that's what you give a baby at

first but then as time goes on look at 1

Corinthians chap 3:2 Peter or the

Apostle Paul would write I gave you milk

not solid food for you were not yet

ready for solid food in fact what does

he say you're still not ready so this is

a whole church that is

misbehaving that's the Corinthian Church

go back and read about horrible things

that they were involved with and they

were not growing they weren't

maturing what would the Apostle Paul

write to Sheran

Hills I think that we ought to be

thinking well I would really hope that

he wouldn't be writing First Corinthians

to us I would really hope that we're not

living in immorality that we're not

acting just like the world we're not

responding that we're not living by the

impulses of our flesh that we're not

fighting with one another and carrying

on I praise God that this is a unified

church I do we're not perfect but God by

his grace is maturing us and growing us

maybe he's leading some of you here

maybe it's you've just started starting

point or the last few months you've been

coming and he's he's bringing you here

to help you grow individually but he's

also helping you learn the importance of

a church family in growing together

that's that's part of what we look at at

tonight this message is really about

tonight for I serve this is the purpose

of what we do at I serve that's why it's

so important look at First Corinthians

14: 20 and this is over the controversy

a theological controversy in the life of

the Church Brothers stop thinking like

what you see he's expecting them to grow

up to mature to come to maturity as

adults brother stop thinking like

children in regard to evil be infants

but in thinking be mature what he's

saying is be innocent when it comes to

evil but be mature when it comes to

righteousness and so the Bible expects

you to grow the Bible is expecting you

your heavenly father is calling you to

grow now I want you to see on the back

side of the page we're going to look

very quickly at some of these verses

notice first of all number one notice

that this passage focuses on Growing Up

In Christ it focuses on Growing Up In

Christ now I've already done your little

work for you look at verse 12 look what

I did I highlighted and underlined this

in verse 12 and verse 13 and verse 14

and verse 15 and in verse 16 look what

it says in verse 12 for building up of

the body of the body of Christ verse 13

to mature manhood verse 14 what does it

say no longer be children good verse 15

what does he say grow up in every way

unto him verse 16 what is the idea here

build itself up in love this is talking

about the body of Christ so notice this

with me fill these in here Christ didn't

save you to leave you where you are God

has a plan for you that's better than

where you are he is this this is part of

the sanctification spiritual growth

process he's calling you to go on Christ

saved you to make you fill it in like

him he saved you to make you like him

for the present time in this life God

intends for you to grow to be more like

Jesus that's what we just see here in

this that we would become more like you

to the fullness of Christ is the picture

to grow to be like Jesus look at the

next one here we do this by growing in

three things growing in knowledge of him

faith in him fill that in faith in him

and also faith fulness to him so God

wants you to grow in faith trusting in

Him but he also wants you to grow in

your action in your faithfulness to him

God calls you to Faith and faithfulness

can we say that together God calls you

to what faith and faithfulness say it

again God calls you to Faith and

faithfulness that's what his plan is is

that we would not only believe but we

would also do um in fact that's the very

next one here this means you are Inc you

increasingly believe and you

increasingly do what you

believe um now look at the next part we

do this individually and corporately as

a local church so when you're out there

at work all on your own no Sheran Hills

member is around none of your family

members are there um do you know that

you're not

alone if you are in the body of Christ

the church family through prayer the

church family through encouragement the

church family through expectation is

there with you we are there seeking to

push you on in honoring Christ down

there at Publix or over there at the

accounting firm or out at the airport or

over at the school or wherever you work

we are there with you as a church family

and it's calling us both individually

and corporately when we are together as

we relate to one another as a local

church notice this as the members of a

church mature so does the church so if

you as an individual are maturing the

church is going to get better but it's

also this it's vice versa as well as the

church matures it helps the members

mature so there's times when we as

pastors are leading the church through

Maybe somewhat of a difficult thing

maybe a change an adjustment in

something in how we're doing something

or or something like that and the

pastors are saying well we may feel like

this is a better way to do this there

may be something that we're adjusting

and how we do ministry how we worship or

whatever and the goal is is that the

church would continue to grow and morph

into be more like Christ and be more

effective in that and the goal is is

that we would all benefit from that now

don't worry I don't have some big thing

that we're rolling out tonight um for a

big change some of you might be tempted

what is he getting at what is he going

to

do nothing like that I hope that we

though I hope that we're constantly

evaluating and we're constantly seeking

to grow because as the church grows we

grow with it look at number two here in

verse 11 we see that notice that God

gives evangelist Shepherds and and

teachers to equip us for for growth

that's what we see up in verse 11 and he

gave the apostles the prophets the

evangelists the Shepherds or pastors and

teachers and why verse 12 to equip the

Saints for growth to equip them in this

Apostles and prophets were instrumental

until the New Testament was complete um

and then after that we see evangelists

pastors and teachers continue equipping

based upon Old Testament and New

Testament scriptures and so that is how

God has sought to do this you know it's

interesting I remember when I was in

college I had to come to terms with this

idea um of how God has chosen to not

only spread the gospel but how he has

also chosen to um grow the church and I

just started to realize the importance

of the preaching of his

word you know we would be tempted to

think oh well preaching that was

something from the 1700s and the 1800s I

remember reading about the Revival Ms

and people coming and the word preach in

fact the word preach very often in our

present Society is used in a negative

connotation Don't Preach to

me you know I'm kind of thankful Larry

that we belong to a church where people

say preach to

me preach to me share with me the word

of God the this is how God has chosen to

do it he has chosen by his grace to

bless the church through his word and

through those who explain his word and

teach his word so when a church

stops preaching and teaching the Bible

what is going to happen to their

maturity it's going to fail it's going

to go away it's going to go the way of

the world but when we pay attention to

the Eternal words of God Old Testament

and New Testament when we do that we are

equipped ipped to live life and we are

equipped to do what God has called us to

do and so that's what we see here um

notice that that there is an emphasis on

declaring

explaining and modeling God's word so we

declare the word of God in faith that

his word is going to go forth and do

what it's supposed to do we explain it a

lot of our sermons I mean this is a an

expository message from this where we

are going and we're looking carefully at

the text wanting to understand the text

and what it is saying and so that is the

purpose that should be the purpose of

every sermon that we are explaining the

word of God and then also notice the

last one there equipping the church to

actively serve in the work of God's

kingdom God didn't save you to leave you

where you are God saved you to grow you

and he saved you to use you um so this

is a beautiful thing number three notice

this and we see this also in verse 12

and the other verses look what it says

the work of the what look what it says

the work of the ministry is intricately

related to the building up of the body

of Christ and I want you to look at

verse 12 do you see verse 12 look what

it says there in verse 12 it says to

equip the Saints for

what the work of the

Ministries and the work of the ministry

and for what for building up the body of

Christ

and so here is what God does God wants

all of us to work in the ministry of God

so that all of us are growing in

maturity of God this is how God does it

and I I want you to see this fill this

in when we involve ourselves in the work

of the ministry the body of Christ does

what it grows up it grows up that's what

God calls us to do now when the church

is not growing up it's probably because

the church is not obeying and working in

the ministry notice this fill it in

strong Ministry work usually results in

strong spiritual growth now we have to

be careful with this and say if you work

work work work work do you automatically

become mature in everything no I mean

just serving doesn't make maturity being

before the Lord amidst your serving

studying the word amidst your serving

worshiping amidst your serving and doing

all of those things you know like so

many things in life balanced together is

this beautiful combination that results

in worship and in maturity and that's

what happens we grow up when we are

involved with that now look at this next

part here no Ministry work usually

results in negative negative spiritual

growth now let me just stop and um tell

you a story there's several things that

happened in this area right here when I

was about well a very young child this

building was built when I was 5 years

old and so I would sit right there my

dad was on staff here and I would sit

next to him and do you see Pastor Ruben

sitting right here Pastor Ruben raise

your hand right there do you see Pastor

Pastor Jason's just resting his long arm

behind Reuben um so that could be K

Coleman and Andy Coleman right there and

I was ADHD and had a hard time staying

tethered down so Dad would keep me real

close he could get a hold of this muscle

right here on my on my shoulder and he

could drive me down into the Pew real

easy whenever I started getting too

active or too whatever but anyways a lot

of things happened in my life right here

I heard the word of God Faithfully

preached over and over Sunday after

Sunday decades I heard the word of God

preach um I responded to the call to the

ministry on that aisle right there God

led me to just come forward and take my

dad's hand who happened to be standing

there and say I feel like God's calling

me to give my life um to service I I was

19 years old when that happened um right

there um a few years later I went went

toid I I went to Florida State and that

was actually while I was at Florida

State and then um I I went into business

for a period uh here in South Florida

knowing that I was going to go to

Seminary knowing that I felt called but

I had a man sit with me on an airplane

one time and he said the last thing we

need is another preacher that has no

idea what it goes on in the real world

he said I think you ought to go into

business for a little while before you

go to Seminary and I I had been praying

and fasting over that decision when I

sat on that plane we landed in Asheville

North Carolina um at the end of that and

this guy Mr James Robinson had

challenged me with that and I felt like

the decision was made I went I went to

work for an IBM company here in Fort

Lauderdale well there came time for me

to go to

Seminary and I started to realize I I

need to go now uh to Seminary and uh

Pastor Billingsley asked us is anyone

making any decisions he whatever your

decisions are making kind of like we

have people on the sides praying each

Sunday saying if you if you need

somebody to pray for you I came forward

and um I I just said I feel like time is

to go to

Seminary and after the service Pastor

Billingsley met me right over here as he

often would do and he said I want to

talk to you about your Seminary

days he said you're going up there to

study you're going up there to

learn study scripture study Doctrine but

I remember him taking my hand shaking my

hand and with those Steel blue eyes that

look like Superman eyes he looked down

into my soul and he said you don't get

up there and just

sit you get up there to Seminary and you

go

serve you go preach you go teach you go

serve in the life of a church if all you

do is go up there and study and study

and study you won't have all of the all

of the experience that you're needing

and the passion will become more

academic and it will not be on the

kingdom of God it could become on your

own

kingdom that was some of the best advice

that I've ever been given I went up

there and after I got settled down I

started talking to professors and other

people saying how do I how do I get

where I can serve in a church and serve

and there're all these churches coming

to the Seminary saying hey we need a

they called them preacher boys we need a

preacher boy boy to stand in for this

you know small churches out in the

country and I started driving out to go

preach in certain places and I would

come back having done a horrible job and

try to figure out what happened and then

uh I eventually I I got on staff at a

little church a tiny Church Cherry

Valley Baptist Church it was a tiny

little church church of a hundred people

and I was there associate

pastor and God used that little church

in my life he used those experiences in

my life that so that when I studied I

was applying and I was learning and it

made it so much different so what I want

you to see in this is that if there's no

Ministry work it's going to result in

negative spiritual growth if all you do

is come and hear pretty in-depth sermons

but then you don't go apply

it you can become spirit spiritually fat

and spiritually lazy and remain very

immature God is calling all of us to

serve him he's calling all of us to live

in service to him during the week at

home among our work uh colleagues among

our neighbors among whatever venues you

live your life God is calling you to be

a servant and certainly in the body of

Christ and so God has called us to be

people of service and if you want to

grow spiritually

you will begin to serve others do you

want to grow look at this question do

you want to grow in faith and joy and

nearness to god stop wandering around

wondering what's wrong because that's

what a lot of Christians do they wonder

why am I not growing why am I still

unhappy why am I so immature why am I

still struggling with this why aren't I

becoming more holy why aren't I a better

husband why aren't I a better father why

aren't I a better mother why aren't I a

better Christian in what I'm doing I'm

calling you to stop wandering around

what's wondering what's wrong get going

in serving the lord with his people when

you take even the smallest of places of

service and you start to take those on

and take that responsibility God will

begin to bless that as you live your

life finally I want us to see this

number

four notice this involves real spiritual

growth God wants every one of us in this

room to really grow spiritually we see

it in verses 13 and 14 notice verses 13

and 14 I love this until we all you see

every one of us in this room can grow

some of you would say Pastor you don't

you don't understand how messed up I am

no I may not but Jesus

does he knows you better than you know

yourself and he knows how to straighten

you out he knows how to you he knows how

to help you with your worst demons he

knows he knows so if we will just begin

we will begin to see that he has a plan

for this look at this in verse 13 until

we all attain to the unity of the faith

and of the knowledge of the Son of God

to what to what mature what manhood the

idea is he wants you to move into

adulthood to mature manhood to the

measure of the stature of the fullness

of Christ verse 14 so that we may no

longer be children tossed to and throw

by the waves you know there's some

people in this church that just the

world is having a having a ball with you

you get bounced around with your convi

you get bounced around with the

worldliness of the world and you're

you're you you know it's wrong you you

feel the misery of the conviction of

God's spirit on you and for you're just

kind of looking at that and you're not

making progress I just want to say to

you God is on your side he's calling you

to maturity he's giving you his word and

he's giving you a church family family

and if you'll come dive into both of

those his word and your church family

you'll begin to grow you know why

because Joe Alisa will say hey why are

you doing that

man because there'll be Ros aeno will

say well sweetheart that's not the right

way to grow there are people in the life

of this church that will help you grow

there's older women discipling younger

women there's older men discipling

younger men there's there's

accountability there's groups that we

begin to get to know one another and we

begin to help one another grow this is

God's plan and it's a real spiritual

growth notice this that first of that

phrase in verse 13 the unity of the

faith this means that you come to

embrace the full message of the Gospel

you come to embrace the full message of

the Gospel that it all fits together and

that you get to be unified with the

whole thing look at the next phrase that

is there from verse 14 the knowledge of

the Son of God you come to the mind in

the heart of Christ as you grow

spiritually you're coming to have the

mind of Christ and the Heart of Christ

he grows you to that and then the last

phrase that is here to mature manhood to

the measure of the stature of the

fullness of Christ and here we say you

can come into maturity that is God's

plan and it's a beautiful plan in verse

14 it says that you're no longer like

what does it say there children you're

just no longer like children unstable

and susceptible to false Doctrine

teachers and demons I love it in the

life of our church when I hear different

things that happen through your life out

there in the world and you come across

something and it's either a podcast or

it's something at work or it's something

and somehow you're you come and you

share the story and something came and

you said that's wrong I know that's

wrong and the reason I know that's wrong

is because it's contrary to what God's

word says that just does our heart so

much joy when we see that you are able

to discern what is in the world you are

able to discern through the power of

God's word and his Spirit what is right

and what is wrong based upon his word

congratulations good job um we would say

this is what God is calling us to grow

more and more more and more to be like

him so in

2025 um what are you going to do in

2025 um is this going to be a year of

wisdom for you is this going to be

growing up in him or is this going to be

just kind of this continued stagnation

because remember we said you're either

moving toward the lord or you're moving

away from the Lord all the time you're

never static with the Lord here's what

this Challenge and this passage is

challenging us to I believe living wise

in 25 says this start serving start

serving start learning start praying

it's the knowledge of God it's the the

life of prayer and as you serve as you

learn as you pray where does it all

result you start growing that's what God

calls you to do and I would say this if

you're already serving learning and

praying I would say continue serving

learning and praying and you will

continue

growing amen amen would you please stand

with me for prayer