Spiritual Growth Part 6: The Journey to Maturity

Welcome to the Lone Star Church podcast.

Pastors CF and Nicole Rady are here to share the Word of God with you each week, helping you grasp the fullness of God's plan for your life.

We hope you'll be blessed by this week's message.

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We have been talking about growing up spiritually for a number of weeks and we're going to probably continue for a couple more today and probably next Sunday.

But growing up is important.

How many of you believe growing up is important?

Right, we're supposed to grow up, we're not supposed to say little all the time.

It has been an interesting thing.

I've obviously seen it with my own kids, but probably even more so to this point in life, seeing it in some of my nieces and nephews.

Number one, I think about just family, josh over here, a few years younger than me.

I know you can't tell looking at us, but he's a few years younger than me, so he was always kind of a younger cousin but we were kind of grouped together.

If you're part of the family, you know the grandchildren my grandma and grandpa Craven.

They had 12 kids and 11 of them had children.

My uncle David passed away before he got married and had children, but 11 of them had children, some of them lots of children, and so there were a lot of grandkids growing up and we'd gather different places.

A lot of times we'd gather at our house in Albany and there were groupings by age and so Josh and I were in one of the youngest groups.

So we'd get left out a lot of stuff until all the old ones got out of the way, got out, right, can we go to the bottle rock and fight?

No, no, you guys can't go over there.

Can we go to it?

No, you can't go.

Do that.

Right.

So there were groupings of us.

But you just think about, as you see, growth, right, I think about watching him, right, and he's grown, has a family of his own, kids getting older.

But I think of my nephews and nieces, right, being around when they were all born, right, going to the hospital when Brandon was born and Abby and Gracie and Colin, and all of them right, being around and then having.

Now, let's see, I officiated Colby, kevin's daughter's wedding, officiated Brandon's wedding, abby and Cole's wedding, gracie and Andrew's wedding.

I'm going to be officiating Colin's wedding this coming fall.

And so to be around those kids when they were little and babies, and now you know, like Brandon has two of his own and to see them grow, man, that's something, because there are some of them you didn't think were ever going to grow up, right, I'll pick on Brandon a little bit.

He's the oldest, right, brandon, annie God bless single mothers because Annie raising those boys and everything.

And so there were times, thankfully, nicole and I got to spend quite a bit of time with Brandon and Colin when they were little, and Brandon especially.

She'd be working and Brandon come over to our house and we didn't tell Annie this, but he took his first steps at our house and then we're like, don't do that till your mom comes back.

Once you get home and you just go to her house and she'll be.

Oh, he took his first steps today.

Yes, he did.

That's awesome, annie, but just spending time with him and he'd come up to church with me sometimes when he was a little kid, and just good times.

But to see them grow and mature and start their own families and now I've got a son who's 20 and a daughter will be a senior in high school and to see them grow and everything.

Growth is good and growth is necessary.

Well, the same is true spiritually.

We're supposed to grow spiritually because when you get born again, jesus in John 3, when he was teaching Nicodemus, nicodemus asked him how do you get to heaven?

Jesus says you must be born again.

I know that is true.

Jesus said what he said.

I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

He says if you want to go to heaven, you must be born again.

Well, if you haven't grown up in church, how many know?

If you haven't grown up in church and you hear that?

That and Nicodemus didn't have an understanding of it.

Number one that's the first time we ever hear mention of that term being used born again.

Nicodemus thought the same thing that many people would think if they haven't heard the word or been around church.

He said how in the world can a man get back in his mother's womb and be born?

And Jesus basically went on to say it is not a physical rebirth, it is a spiritual rebirth because we are what we are, a three-part being.

Just like God is, god is Father, son and Holy Spirit, we are spirit, soul and body.

The real.

You is a spirit, you possess a soul, which is your mind, will and emotions, and you live in a body.

And so Jesus said it is a spiritual rebirth.

Paul went on to tell us things that Jesus taught him.

He said when you get born again, old things pass away.

Behold, all things become new.

You become a new creature in Christ Jesus, and that term new creature means a new creature that had never been seen before.

It had never existed before, and Jesus made that way through his death and resurrection.

So when you get born again, what jesus is saying is it's a spiritual rebirth.

Well, guess what?

You weren't born looking like you were today, right?

I?

I know you think the jakes always had a beard, but when he was born he didn't have that beard, right?

Most of you, if you've only been around me the last 20 years or so, you've probably only seen me with facial hair.

I was not born this way.

I started to grow it when I was young because I had quite the baby face and I got tired of people thinking I was a teenager when I was in my mid twenties.

You get a little older and you realize, hey, it might not be bad to be thought of as younger, but when you're that age you don't like it and so you're a baby spiritually.

And I think sometimes the church, we miss that and people get born again.

We say, hey, that's great, we got him born again, let's go find some other people and get them born again, and then what you end up with is a church full of babies.

How many of you love babies, right?

Everyone loves it.

You see babies, oh, look at the baby, right.

They walked in today and hear, right, I'm a man and I saw Layla come in.

I'm like, look at the baby, right, you, just you love babies, right, how would you like to have a hundred of them?

Right, that's about the size of our church.

We're around 100, a little over.

How would you like to have 100 babies?

My grandma I said my grandma and grandpa had 12, but they didn't have them all at once by the time Grandma Craven got around to and again, they're kind of in groups, those last four Aunt Karen, my mom, uncle Neilil and uncle david.

Right, there was aunt jean and aunt katherine.

They're old enough to help take care of the little ones.

I don't know that's the way it's supposed to work within a church too, that we just don't have babies, that we're just not out looking to get people born again.

That's the main thrust, right?

We talk about lone star, reach, connect, grow and impact.

We want to reach people with the gospel of Jesus.

We want to see people get born again.

But then we want to have things like Elevate.

We want to have our Sunday services, we want to have different things that we do with our Grow classes, next steps classes, that we're helping people learn to grow and we're getting things in so they can grow.

So you go to the Bible, in Ephesians, chapter 4, ephesians 4 and verse 11, and it says and he himself, talking about Jesus, gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

So these are what we call the five-fold ministry gifts.

These are the five ministry gifts we see on the earth today Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher.

So Jesus the Bible says he gave those gifts before he left.

Interesting thing about Jesus Jesus is the only person that we know of on this earth that walked in all five of those ministry gifts.

Jesus was an apostle, he was a prophet, he was an evangelist, he was a pastor, he was a teacher.

So when he left he didn't just take all those gifts with him.

He said I'm going to leave those gifts here on this earth.

And then we know there's a call for people to walk in these ministry gifts.

It's so interesting.

I didn't become a pastor by reading the classified ads.

I know that dates me too, because by getting on Indeed, let's use some terminology.

Maybe you understand.

I didn't become a pastor, like, hey, what do they pay an hour?

Anyone remember?

I remember when I was young and I moved to Kansas City for six months with a friend of mine and I needed a job.

And I remember getting the Kansas City Star on a Sunday and I got the classified ads out and you're like, okay, what kind of qualification you need, how much do they pay an hour?

And I'd circle and I'd call those places.

I did not become a pastor that way.

You know how I became a pastor.

I was called to be a pastor.

It was my calling.

How many of you know you could be called to do whatever your job is.

It doesn't just have to be a ministry thing to have a call.

Amen.

You can be called to be a mother.

You can be called to work at a bank.

You can be called to whatever.

Right.

And maybe when I say it, you're like I don't want to be called to do that, okay, but you can't.

You can be called to be a nurse or to be a teacher or whatever it is.

There's a calling on your life.

Every person in here, no matter how young, no matter how old, there is a call of God on your life to fulfill a specific task on this earth.

But you can't do it if you're a baby.

Anyone remember the show Doogie Howser back in the day?

Right, teenage Doctor.

Every episode usually had this somewhere in it.

Someone comes in I'm not feeling good, doctor, and they look up and it's a 13-year-old.

Like oh hey, get out of here.

I don't want a 13-year-old, right?

Why?

Because no one would believe a 13-year-old could be a doctor, right?

If you walked in and you had a serious ailment and you walked in and a toddler came up, go, hey, I'm your doctor.

No, you go find the real doctor.

Why?

Because we know babies can't accomplish everything that an adult can, and so Jesus sent these ministry gifts to do what?

Look at verse 12.

For the equipping of the saints.

How many know if you're a saint born again, you need to be equipped?

Why?

Because you have things to do.

Think about on a job, you need to be equipped.

Right, we've got some gentlemen that work in construction and do things.

How many know you've got to be equipped to do that?

You've got to have the right tools to do what you're called to do.

Well, guess what?

I just said it.

Everyone in here has a call of God on your life Number one is pastor.

It's part of our jobs to help you find it.

Notice, I didn't say it's my job to tell you what your call is right.

We don't say hey, first Sunday in January, it's the Sunday for everyone to come up and I'm going to pray and tell you what you're supposed to do.

Oh, you're graduating high school.

Come on up, we're going to pray for you and tell you what you're supposed to major in or where you're supposed to work.

Not my job to tell you what you're supposed to do.

It is my job as pastor to teach you how to hear from God and to how to find the call of God in your life.

But then it's also my job as pastor to equip you to do what God's called you to do, which means now I'm going to help give you tools to learn how to walk by faith, to learn how to walk victoriously, to learn how to be led by the Spirit of God, to learn how to study your word, how to read your word, to learn how to pray, to learn how to do everything God's called you to do.

I know, if you don't have the ministry gifts in your life, a pastor in your life.

This is where people that aren't in church or are in trouble.

Then you're not being equipped the way you're supposed to be equipped and you're just showing up every day.

And right, you show up every day.

And you show up and they're like, hey, we got to do this job, you're going to need a hammer, you're going to need a drill, you're going to need this.

And you're like, well, I got a snorkel and a swim mask.

What is that going to do?

Right, you show up and you go to the hospital.

Right, and all the people work there, you got the stethoscope around their neck.

Right, you show up and you're like, hey, I need you to take care of these people.

What do you got for that?

You're like I got a bagel.

I got a chainsaw.

Right, how would you like to walk to your doctor?

Right, and he's he's walking around with a chainsaw.

No, you've got to be properly equipped.

That's why you need the ministry gifts.

Right, because, why?

Because, if right, jake, if your crew showed up to do a job, right, chris, same thing in construction.

If your crew showed up to do a job and they weren't properly equipped, what's getting done that day?

Nothing.

So you can still show up, you still have the job, you still know what you're supposed to be doing.

But if you're not properly equipped, nothing gets accomplished.

For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying or the building up of the body of Christ, how many know we need edified, we need built up?

I know sometimes it's good to come to church.

Sometimes we get our toes stepped on a little bit at church right.

But how many know that helps us grow?

Sometimes we get our toes stepped on a little bit at church right, but how many know that that helps us grow?

Sometimes we need direction, but sometimes it's good to come to church and leave and be like man.

I feel better.

And pastor said some words that really encouraged me today.

He told me that I don't have any problems that are bigger than God.

He told me that, right, greater is he that's in me than he is in the world man.

He told me that these things are going on, that there is a call of God.

Just telling people there's a call of God on their life can change their life.

Why?

Because there are people walking around this earth that don't believe they have a call.

They don't have any idea what they're supposed to do with their lives.

No, to do this.

What else Talking about unity?

Till we all come to the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, we're going to give you knowledge about Jesus To a perfect man, to the measure of the stature, of the fullness of Christ, what Jesus is our goal, meaning what I want to be like Jesus.

Is anyone in this room ever going to be exactly like Jesus?

Not on this earth, but it's still our goal.

Anyone ever have a goal in life?

Right, you see someone you're like man.

I want to look like that guy.

Look at those muscles, look at that, look like that guy.

So you have a goal.

Right, you put a picture up.

Want to look like that guy.

Can I tell you something?

Right now, there is no one on this earth, I guarantee it, there's no one on this earth that has my picture hanging on their mirrors.

And I want to look like that guy when I'm in his three.

Right, I want to, you know, lose a little hair, gain a little belly fat.

Right, I tell Bo all the time, because Bo is serious about his fitness and everything else what he eats, what he does, everything, and sometimes he'll come up and he won't have.

I said, bo, if I look like you everywhere I went, they'd have to tell me to put my shirt on.

Oh, do I need a shirt to come in here?

All right, let me put that on.

Seriously, 53, I don't care, you're going to tell me to put a shirt on.

Oh, do I?

Right, that's just right.

If that's me today, they'd be like, please put a shirt on right.

But you know what I mean.

Jesus is what we look to and we want to attain to.

He is the perfect man.

But you're not going to get there unless you're growing Verse 14, that we should no longer be what Children.

So when you get born again you're a baby child.

But the Bible says Paul says you shouldn't be children any longer.

In fact we see him at one point right in Hebrews.

He says look, you're still acting like children, but you should be grown up now.

Children toss to and fro.

Right, we've said it before.

Children believe anything.

Right, if you are a trusted even if you're not a real trusted person, they know they will believe anything you tell them.

It's like I said right, you go up to kids.

You say, hey, look, uncle CF.

Right, gracie, you see Uncle CF, look at this.

10 fingers.

Now watch this.

Oh, look, I just took my thumb off.

Right, and kids will be Uncle Sam took his thumb off.

They'll believe anything.

But that's why we need these ministry gifts, that's why we're supposed to grow.

So you get down now into the next verse, verse 15.

But speaking the truth in love may grow up.

Everybody say grow up.

God says you get born again.

What are you supposed to do when you get born again?

You're supposed to grow up.

I loved my children when they were babies, but especially the two older ones, right, because they were closer in age.

You know, a day I celebrated Was when I didn't have to go to Walmart and buy a box of diapers anymore.

I was like, praise the Lord, my children have grown up.

I'd look at Nicole, can you potty train them?

And she's like they're eight months old.

I was like, come on, do your thing, do some.

Because, right, any dad knows if you've been to Walmart you get.

She's like, hey, I need diapers, I need a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread.

And you're like, ok, three things, ding, ding, ding.

Eighty five dollars, right, and that was, you know, a long time ago.

We're not talking 2025, post-covid money diapers.

No, I was thankful what they're growing up.

You get thankful when you don't have to tie their shoes anymore.

You get thankful when they can go get something for you, when you don't have to wipe their backside anymore.

You get thankful when you don't have to cut their food anymore.

You get thankful, right, even though it's to cut their food anymore, you get thankful, right, even though it's something that, as a parent, you're like, eh.

But when they turn 16 and you don't have to take them to every practice and you don't have to there are times you're at home and you're like I need you to run to the store.

They're like what I said I need you to run to the store, go get your mom right, because Nicole will be like hey, go pick this up.

And now I'm like where's one of the two that can drive?

Your mother needs you to go pick something up at the store.

It's good why they're growing and it's supposed to be that way.

Here's the thing.

I get it.

Two years ago he left the house.

Is that the easiest thing in the world to deal with when you're, especially your first child leaves the house?

No, my wife struggled with a little bit.

It's a few days of just tears and rom-coms at our house.

I just went to the basement.

I was done but, but, right.

But that's the way it's supposed to be.

They're not just supposed to stay around forever.

How many know parents of young children?

You're not just raising children, you're raising adults.

That's your goal that they are a believer, that they are a part of society that can bring something constructive and positive, that they're serving God, that they love people, that they love Jesus.

But you've got to grow up and you'll never get there if you don't grow up.

It's part of it, amen.

And so Brother Hagin said it this way in his book Growing Up Spiritually.

He said the babyhood condition that's in the church can only be remedied by the study, feeding upon and putting into practice the Word of God.

The only way you're going to grow up is by study, feeding upon and putting into practice the Word of God.

Amen, that's how we grow up.

Everyone was born a baby and it doesn't matter I don't know everyone in this room and I know some people.

It's hard to believe, right?

Sometimes I would get my dad even.

Sometimes I'm like was he ever a baby?

You ever think about that?

Like, your parents are like man.

They were a baby at one point, right.

Larry was a baby at one point, right, in a little overall onesie.

Right, in a little overall onesie, right.

Everyone in this room.

You came into the earth the same way.

You came in as a baby.

But then we all did what we grew.

Well, the same is true spiritually.

God never planned on you remaining a baby spiritually, any more than he planned on you remaining a baby naturally.

And so we're going to look at a couple of scriptures here.

Let's go to Hebrews, chapter 5, and we're going to start in verse 11.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

Verse 11.

Thank you, lord.

We're going to end here, but I think this will open your eyes to some things Most people believe.

Paul wrote Hebrews.

Here's the thing if you don't believe it, god still wrote it, right.

But Hebrews 5.11, and it says Of whom talking about Jesus.

We have much to say and hard to explain, since you've all become dull of hearing.

So Paul says I'd like to really teach you some things today at church, but y'all are dull.

How would you like to be in that room that day?

Y'all aren't bright enough to get what I'm about to say.

Verse 12.

Now look at what he says to them.

Now remember the book of Hebrews was not written to the world.

There are parts of the scripture that are written to non-believers.

This was written to believers.

He says by this time you should be teachers.

You still need someone to teach you again the first or basic principles of the oracles of God, and you've come to need milk and not solid food.

Again, how would you like to have received this letter at your church?

Hey guys, we got a letter from Paul.

Let's all get around and we'll read it together.

Y'all are dull, you're a bunch of babies and you need milk, right?

No one wants to hear that, but is it true?

Sometimes it is.

He's basically you should be in solid food, but you're still on milk.

Verse 13 for everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby.

But solid food belongs to those who are full, full age, that is, those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

So real quick, back to verse 13,.

If you could put verse 13 up, right?

He says so as you mature as a believer, you're supposed to gain certain skills so that you know how to walk by faith.

So here's the amazing thing, right, as we grow, we come together as a church.

People get born again.

We do the things to help them grow.

You still have to choose to grow Anyone.

If you have more than one child, you could send them all to the same exact public school with the same exact teachers, and not everyone gets the same thing out of going to class.

I know you get out of it what you put into it, right?

I'm going to be real honest.

I went to the University of Missouri and there were some classes I didn't get much out of, but it's because I didn't put much into it.

I went to Rhema.

I got everything I could out of Rhema.

I found my place and I'm like boy, I'm reading everything.

Here's the amazing thing.

So, rhema, right, if you go to college, they give you, they say, hey, you need to read this book by the end of the semester.

A lot of times I'm like I'll get the cliff notes.

I'm sure there's much easier things you could do today to figure out how to just summarize it without getting it.

But, rhema, they'd be like we need you to read this book by the end of the semester and literally half of your grade.

They would ask you and it was all in the honor system did you read the book during this semester or not?

Yes or no?

It could be half your grade.

I read every single book.

Why?

Because I was in a different place.

I wanted to be skilled in things of God.

You've got to choose whether you want to be skilled in the things of God.

How many of you would like to learn how to walk by faith better?

How about this?

How many of you would like to learn how to walk by faith better?

How about this?

How many of you would like to learn how to walk in love better?

Well, you've got to get in the word and then not just be a hearer, but be a doer and be in church and learn how to be skilled.

So here's the amazing thing.

So again, right, we had a family reunion that I wasn't able to go to because of softball, but a number of them are here.

So I think I go back to my Uncle Neil's family.

So, my Uncle Neil, at one point, whether you know or not, he owned a meat shop, butcher shop.

Well, in that butcher shop, what did they have?

They had knives and they were sharp knives.

Some of you probably figured that out real quick, Chris knows Right.

Some of you probably figured that out real quick, right, chris?

Chris knows Right.

So, so, so, if you take one of those sharp knives and you put it in the hands of someone who is skilled to use it and cut me, it looks completely different than if you put the same tool in the hands of someone who is unskilled.

What's the Bible?

The Bible is the sword.

Right, the word comes out, says it's sharper than any two-edged sword.

So guess what?

You can take the same Bible, the same scripture, put it in the hands of someone that's unskilled, and you don't see the same results as someone who's taking the time to grow and mature and is skilled.

That's why people will look sometimes.

They say, well, god just must like them better than he likes me because he's doing something in their life that he's not doing in my life.

Well, maybe they've taken the time to get skilled with how to use the word and how to walk in faith and how to walk in love.

So it's not just right, not everything.

The amazing thing is so many people just believe that everything that happens on this earth is just because God either chose to do it or not.

Well, what if it's?

Because someone has learned how to be more skilled in the use of the word of God than someone else?

That means God's no respecter of persons.

God's not saying I like Larry a little bit better than I like someone else.

God's not saying I like Larry a little bit better than I like someone else.

It's like Larry, has got to the point.

He's matured in Christ where he's learned.

Can I tell you something?

I can receive things from God easier today than 20 years ago.

Why?

Because I've learned how to walk by faith in a more skilled way.

Not because I'm special, but because I've decided I want to grow in faith, I want to grow in love, I want to grow in my spirituality.

That's why y'all drive all the way out to Lone Star on Sunday mornings because you want to be, you want to grow, amen.

And so we'll continue talking about this next week.

Look at the person next to you or someone next to you and say grow up.

Oh, come on, say it like you mean it.

Tell them to grow up.

Praise the Lord.

We need to grow up.

Right?

I got some family over here.

This group really needs to grow up over here.

I know some over here need to grow up.

Amen.

God did not call you to be a baby.

God did not call you that.

Anytime calamity comes, all you do is cry about it.

I know babies cry about any kind of calamity.

Give a child an ice cream cone and then they walk off and the ice cream falls off onto the ground.

What are they going to do?

Right, give someone mature an ice cream cone that falls off.

You know what I'm going to do.

I got more money, I'll go back in buy me.

You know what I'm going to do.

I got more money, I'll go back in and buy me another one.

I'm going to get a double this time.

I knew I wanted two scoops anyway.

I just got one.

Mature people handle things differently.

Right, go to a birthday party of a child and one of the brother's sisters blows out the candles instead of them.

What's going to happen?

Cal?

Instead of them.

What's going to happen?

Calamity?

I go back.

I'm thinking about Josh right now and I was thinking about my mom.

The other day.

I was driving home and Josh was there, because he's in the picture.

I had a birthday I don't know, it was maybe 14, 15, somewhere in there and my mom, five kids, and she's going and she's going.

She wanted to bake a cake and she knew I like yellow cake with chocolate icing, and so she was making a layer cake.

I don't know if you remember this or not, but she put it together and it was still kind of warm and it all fell and there's a picture of Josh and I standing there beside this cake and it's like Leaning Tower pizza, right, just like that.

You know what my mom was like still tastes good, still look good.

I'd gotten old enough I wasn't three or four where I just thought this is the worst birthday ever.

I'm like I'm going to eat it.

That's what God wants you to do as you grow.

When trouble comes up, you're not panic, you're like okay, we're going to meet this.

Why?

Because God is bigger and God will lead me through it.

He's already got the answer.

I already have the victory in Jesus.

Thank you for tuning into the Lone Star Church podcast.

We hope this week's message strengthened your faith in God's word.

Remember, if you live in Northwest Missouri or Southern Iowa, we invite you to join us in person on a Sunday morning.

For more information about us, visit our website at lonestarchurchorg or follow us on Facebook, instagram or YouTube.