Spiritual Growth Part 1: Moving Beyond Babyhood

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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.

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I have been on our radio program teaching out of Brother Hagin's book about growing up spiritually, and so I've been in it for I don't know a couple months and every time I'm in it I'm learning something.

It's bringing things back to me and I'm like, well, I should just preach on that a couple of Sundays at church.

And so we're going to talk about growing up.

How many of you enjoyed that conversation with your parents when you were 18?

Or 12 or 15, whenever you've had those conversations, y'all enjoy that.

Remember back to those.

We got people just leaving.

They're done, I'm done, I've had it.

I don't want to hear this message, brother, praise the Lord.

But we're going to read here.

Let's go over to Ephesians, chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians 4.

I'm going to read verse 8, and then we're going to skip down to verse 11.

So, paul talking about Jesus and it says so here, right note, talking about Jesus.

We just had Resurrection Sunday, last Sunday, and we know Jesus.

When he died on the cross, we know what happened.

He descended right, paid the price for our sin, but then he ascended right.

We know he's seated at the right hand of the Father.

So it says when Jesus ascended, when Jesus left.

This earth ascended.

When Jesus left this earth, he led captivity.

Captive, and it says, and he gave gifts to men.

So, jesus, it's so interesting, jesus didn't just leave us alone on this earth.

Well, what did he give us?

We know in Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, right, we're not going to go there.

Acts 1:8

But in Acts 1, we see Jesus where He'd spent some time after His resurrection in His glorified body.

He'd spent some time on this earth with the disciples and those early believers and then, before Jesus ascended, he said look, I'm leaving, but God is going to send another just like me.

He says tarry here, or wait here in Jerusalem until you are baptized right, filled with the Holy Spirit.

You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit's come upon you, right.

So when Jesus left, he didn't leave us alone.

So he left what he left the Holy Spirit came day of Pentecost.

But also Jesus gave other gifts to men.

Now we go down to verse 11.

Gifts to men Now we go down to verse 11.

And so here are the gifts that Jesus gave, and it says he himself.

So who gave these gifts?

Jesus gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.

So we're going to stay right here for a moment.

So these are what?

If you go to Bible college, these are what we call the five-fold ministry gifts.

The five-fold ministry gifts right Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher.

And so these ministry gifts right are the gifts that Jesus gave to the church when he left, and we're going to see why he gave them and the purpose for these gifts.

But these are those offices of ministry that people step into, are called to, and some people have sat in one of these offices.

Some people sat in numerous of these offices.

So it's not just that you could be an evangelist, you could be an evangelist and a prophet or an evangelist, and so these ministry gifts work together.

You could have sat in that ministry gift a pastor and teacher and so Jesus gave these gifts right.

It's so interesting because there are times we don't look at it that way.

We don't look at these gifts as being gifts.

We don't look at these ministers as being a gift to our life.

That's why you have to have a pastor, you have to have a pastor.

Well, of course you're going to say you pastor, a church?

No, I have a pastor.

I'm going to tell you, when we first got into ministry, I didn't know that a pastor needed a pastor, I just thought, well, I'm a pastor, that's what I do.

Then, when God gave me some revelation on some things and I knew I needed a pastor, then I wasn't sure where does a pastor find a pastor?

Right, because it's not like I can go to church on a Sunday right after this.

Hey, I'll catch you guys later.

I got to hit my church.

People are like is your church better than this church?

He's good.

I mean you're right.

But then, praise the Lord, god led me to pastors Mark and Trina Hankins and they have done for us.

They have been such a gift to Nicole and I in our lives and you see the need for it.

Jesus said I'm going to give you all something.

What's amazing is, people will reject these gifts.

It's also the reason that we have guest ministers.

Come in.

Why?

Because we, nicole and I, don't sit in all of these offices, but you all still need them.

You still need these gifts in your life.

Why Verse 12.

?

For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry.

Guess what you have work to do.

I thought you did all the work.

I thought you and Nicole your pastor.

I thought you did all the work of the ministry.

No, you have work to do.

You have work to do.

You have work to do.

Well, how am I supposed to do it?

Well, it's up to Nicole and I to help equip you to do that work, amen.

So, gifts, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers why are they given To help equip you?

When Joe Morris was here, reverend Joe Morris, why was he here?

To help equip you?

Amen, why do we do this every Sunday morning, every Sunday night?

Why do we do all the things we do To help equip you?

Why?

So that you can do some things.

Amen.

And for the edifying, or the building up of the body of Christ.

I know you need edified, you need built up, you need coach, you need someone to tell you it's going to be all right.

You need someone to tell you the scripture.

You need someone to tell you, hey, you're doing good.

You need edified, Amen.

Do you like being edified?

Isn't it good just to someone be like, hey, good job, I appreciate you?

Amen.

And that's part of what we do.

We help build you up.

How many know you can be built up.

Sometimes in the building up process, sometimes there's a bit of tearing down.

You go to build up muscle.

You go to build up your body.

What is it?

There's some things that have to change here before you can add on here Amen.

And in the edifying process, sometimes a minister, someone in one of those ministry gifts will say something and it's like well, I feel like you're kind of attacking me today, pastor, you've been following my Instagram, you've been watching my stories.

I don't know, you got a bug in my house.

I feel like you're kind of attacking me.

Well, sometimes we Right, there's a this to this.

You look at, when someone joins the armed forces, they go into basic training.

There's this YouTube channel I follow that does lots of stuff, but they have quite a bit of things on the military and I find it very interesting.

I've never been in the military, I so appreciate everyone that has served.

But you look at it and they do these little 20-minute videos on and they'll follow one group through basic training the Marines and different ones.

And it's funny because they've started.

Some of them are like the first week of new recruits at one of these military academies or places and boy, they come in.

And it's funny because the kids are like, oh, I was talking to my recruiter, my Marine recruiter and he's so nice and he just lost me.

And then they go to the hotel and they're all hanging out before they get on the bus.

They're like, oh, this is going to be so much fun, everything.

Get on my bus.

What?

Get off my bus?

Stand on those yellow feet.

They're like this, they go.

Why do you do that?

They go.

It's shock and awe.

We need to shock them a little bit because we're going to build them up.

But we've got to break some stuff down before we can build some right stuff up in them.

I know the Word right and the preaching of the Word and the teaching of the Word.

Sometimes it's going to break some stuff down that you need to get rid of so it can build you up in a better way.

Amen, so all these gifts.

That's why they're given.

That's why sometimes you hear a preacher preach and you're like, oh, that hurt a little bit.

I know you go to the gym.

If you go to the gym and you come back and nothing's hurting, you didn't really work out.

I really worked out.

I feel great, especially at the beginning, right?

Maybe you get to the point where you feel good, cole, I don't know.

Most people stop because it doesn't feel good.

That's why they quit after two weeks it just doesn't feel good.

I don't think this is working.

This shouldn't be harder to get out of bed.

Well, no, there's a tear down to be a building up, amen, no, that's why these gifts are given to equip you.

How many of you believe you need to be equipped?

Well, again, you go back to the military.

They don't just the first time.

They walk in, right, you see them, they buzz their hair and then you see some of those kids looking at their hair on the ground and they're yelling at them the whole time.

And what's funny is the one guy's like we've actually kind of calmed down a little bit.

This generation doesn't take it as much as the other.

But what's crazy is they're getting all their clothes, their uniform, their boots.

They're getting all their stuff and they're grabbing it all and they're putting it in their rucksack and they've got it all.

And then they get to this certain point and they say, okay, you need to make a call home to let your family know you have arrived.

And there is a script on the wall and you get so many tries like three or five tries, I can't remember and so there's a script on the wall and you pick up the phone and you can't say anything.

That's what's on that script.

Hello, right, this is recruit.

Say your name.

I've arrived safely at whatever camp you're at.

Thank you, I will send you a letter.

Like it seems click.

And well, I heard that and I thought what if?

that was one of my kids calling.

I'm like how would you react as a parent?

But again, right, there's got to be equipped.

The first thing.

They don't hand them a machine gun the first time they walk in.

Hey, here's a gun, a bunch of bullets, let's go get it.

Right.

I remember there's this show I was watching and it's this comedy show and there are these two policemen.

They're standing at their car and they're in this park and this guy comes up to him.

He goes hey, can I see your gun?

And the cop's like no, a gun is a deadly weapon.

You can't see my gun.

The other cop's like you know, it is kind of cool if you've never seen one before.

So the cop's like, okay, 10 minutes.

Kid's like twirling on his fingers and stuff.

But right, if you're going to equip people, you've got to prepare them to be equipped.

Right, I watched that.

And it's like multiple weeks in before they give them live ammunition and take them out to shoot.

So guess what?

You've got to be equipped.

That's why you need to be in church, so you can be trained.

That's why you need to be going to connect when we have it.

That's why you need to be at Elevate, that's why you need to do those things.

And Nicole and I know we need to equip you.

That's why there's some things on my heart about discipleship and helping to do that better.

That we're working on, that we're going to get to.

But you have to be equipped.

You have to be ready.

Right?

Imagine America, right, the United States of America.

We don't lose wars.

We go to battle.

We are the greatest fighting men and women in the world.

We don't lose Lord.

Why?

Because we equip them and train them properly.

I know some places don't do that Literally.

You look at some of these countries that are in war right now, like in Ukraine.

They're just knocking on doors and handing people machine guns, say come on, we need you.

God's like I'm a chef, I'm not out to shoot a gun, I'm a librarian, I don't know what I'm doing.

Even in World War II, when we had the draft and different times we had the draft.

You look at those guys and they were teachers and cooks and all these things.

But we trained them and they went and they had that fighting spirit on the inside and they won wars.

But you have a battle to fight.

If we're not equipping you, or if you're not going to get equipped, you're going to lose the battle.

Then you're going to blame God.

For why did I lose the battle?

Because you didn't sit under these ministry gifts that Jesus gave.

If Jesus gave you a gift, maybe you should open it, maybe you should be a part of that.

It is a sad truth that there are Christians that don't go to church on a regular basis.

What's that mean?

It means Jesus gave them a gift and they're like I don't need that Jesus, I'm good, I can study my Bible on my own, I can read books, I can watch things online.

No, you need a pastor and you need those other ministry gifts that are coming through to help equip you and edify and build you up.

Amen.

Now let's go to verse 13.

Thank you, Lord.

I love when I do a series because that means I can take my time, because we'll just keep moving on.

Amen, verse 13,.

Till we all come to the unity of the faith.

That's an interesting part.

Part of growth is unity.

So much infighting and backbiting within the body of Christ.

Infighting and backbiting within the body of Christ.

You know there are people that write books and their whole book is just tearing down another minister.

There are people that have radio shows and YouTube channels and their whole thing is just tearing down other ministers and other groups.

Well, they're not even.

Well, no, they're part of the body.

They're part of the body.

Here's the thing.

Are there people who are complete false prophets?

And no, they're part of the body, they're part of the body.

Here's the thing.

Are there people who are complete false prophets and false teachers that aren't part of the body?

That is true.

Brother Hagin used to say it this way.

I remember Brother Hagin one time when he was pastoring, there was a tent revival tent meeting came in and he said the guy teaching.

He said you know, he was a Christian but he taught some things doctrine-wise that were a little off and everything else.

And Brother Hagin was meeting with some of the other pastors in town and they're like I have told my people, I forbid you to go to those meetings.

I forbid you to go.

They asked Brother Hagin, what are you doing?

He's like nothing.

He goes, I'm just feeding my people.

I'm just going to feed them, right, brother?

And you say this.

I used to love some of his saying.

He said you know, even an old cow is smart enough to eat the hay and spit out the sticks.

Teach your people right, they'll know what's hay and what sticks.

Amen, but there should be unity in the body, not fighting, not division.

I'm going to be real honest with you.

We're all going to get to heaven, whether you're assembly God or Baptist or Presbyterian or Methodist or Catholic, right, whatever.

If you're born again and you went to church, we're all going to get to heaven.

Hear a lone star, right, we're all going to get to heaven.

And there's going to be some correction to our doctrine.

Yes, there is.

You didn't exactly hit that exactly the way I want to.

That's right, because none of us are perfect.

But we'll look down our nose at other people.

We separate ourselves out.

Paul said this, talking about unity.

He was talking to the church at Corinth.

He said you say you're of Paul, you say you're of Silas.

He goes why are you dividing yourself?

Do we still do that today?

Oh boy, do we do that, especially in America?

America's probably the worst.

Honestly, with Christians there's much more unity in other parts of the world.

No, it says part of those gifts and growing we're going to see, part of spiritual maturity is unity of the faith.

Well, we just don't agree on that with it.

That's okay.

Can I tell you something?

Nicole and I have been married what will it be?

28 years.

Do you think we always have unity for 28 years, right?

Or?

I don't mean unity.

Do you think we always agree on everything?

28 years, y'all getting ready to get married?

Not going to agree every time, right?

Not always going to be agreement.

So let me get that right.

Not always going to be agreement, but there can be unity.

Not always going to be agreement, Right Again.

I think it was Brother Hagin said you know you can disagree without being disagreeable.

What's that mean?

There's still unity there, right?

I don't have to be upset.

Well, I wanted to eat Chinese, I want Italian.

So you go to one restaurant, then the other one just sits in the car.

How do you know that's disagreeable?

That's not unity.

But what if the other one says I really don't want Italian, but I'll just go ahead and eat a salad or some breadsticks.

I might as well have some spaghetti and stuff on there.

That's unity.

No part of growing up spiritually is you get rid of division in your life.

Those gifts are given why?

So we can come to unity of the faith.

Jesus isn't coming back 15 times.

Hey, I'm here for the Baptist.

Everybody else, just wait, I'll be back.

Hey, all right, all you non-denominational people let's go.

Hey, pentecostal hey.

Bethesda, hey, let's go.

Hey, okay, I got to go back.

Hey, all right, all you non-denominational people, let's go.

Hey, pentecostal, hey, bethesda, hey, let's go.

Hey, okay, I got to go back.

He's not doing that.

He's coming back.

One time.

He says all you believers, hey, guess what?

We're all going to be in heaven together.

And God's going to say why couldn't y'all get along down on earth?

Why'd you have so much trouble down on earth?

You know what he's going to say.

Well, he probably won't say this, but what he should say because y'all, a bunch of babies, couldn't get along, just a bunch of immature little babies.

Praise the Lord, amen.

Unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.

So those gifts are given, so we could grow in knowledge of Jesus to a perfect man.

Now, when you see that word perfect, sometimes our mind will run off.

Other translations say reaching maturity.

The Amplified says that we might arrive at really mature manhood or adulthood.

Amen.

So it says perfect.

It's not expecting you to be perfect, but it's talking about you maturing to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

So what do we measure ourself against in our growth?

Jesus, he is the goal we want.

To be Christ-like.

We should be growing more like Christ every day.

As a believer, we shouldn't be growing away from looking like Jesus.

We should be growing towards looking like Jesus, amen.

And so let's go down to verse 14.

Look at this.

How'd you like to get this letter that we should no longer be children?

Don't you know?

They open this up and they're reading do you think he's talking to us?

Yes, everybody say he's talking to me.

Paul's saying don't be children anymore.

Well, what happens to immature believers?

They get tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

Verse 15.

But speaking the truth in love, I know a lot of people want to speak the truth.

Can I tell you the truth in love?

I know a lot of people want to speak the truth.

Can I tell you the truth?

I saw a thing I shared with Nicole and Lucy the other day.

I was watching this video and the guy's actually a Christian comedian and he did this video and his wife had been reading this book.

And she goes.

You know what?

I think we should just be completely honest with each other.

He goes.

I don't think that's a good idea.

She goes.

No, I really want you to start being completely honest with me.

He goes.

Are you sure she goes?

Yes, he goes, all right.

So they're out sitting on this park bench and this girl walks by and she goes.

Look at her, he goes.

Okay, she goes.

Do you think she's prettier than me?

He looks at that lady, looks over his wife, looks back.

Yeah, she goes.

What Right there.

There's another time.

She goes.

Do I look good in this dress?

He goes no, you look horrible.

That is bad.

Do you think I've lost weight?

No, in fact, I think you've gained a little bit and it goes on right.

She made this new dish.

She's like what do you think he goes?

This is horrible.

He goes.

Do you even like it?

She goes no.

And then she asked him some other question he goes.

He answers she goes.

I'm done with this book.

She goes.

How would you like it if I was completely honest with you?

He goes.

I would hate it.

That's why I didn't ask you to do it Right.

How do you know?

You can speak the truth, but it needs to be in love, amen.

Can I just tell you the truth?

I just like look, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, can I just tell you the truth?

Well, see, okay, yeah, but it's got to be done in love.

It's not supposed to be.

How many know?

Love is not critical, love is not mean-spirited.

Love is not meaning to tear down, love is meaning to build up.

So if I'm telling someone the truth in love, it's to help them, it's to lift them up.

Right, love covers a multitude of sin.

So speaking the truth is good, we should always tell the truth.

But how do we know?

You got to do it in love, which means right love.

Think about love.

Love sugarcoats things.

Right, love is sweet and kind in things.

How do you can tell people without being mean, without hurting their feelings?

And also, on the other side, spiritual maturity doesn't get easily offended.

We're going to speak the truth in love.

My wife loves it.

But look at this, look at this, verse 15.

Why did you give these gifts?

To equip us, to edify, build us up, to help bring unity, to help us do things in love.

But ultimately, all those things are wrapped up into one thing that you would grow up in, all things, into him.

Who is the head, christ Jesus.

What God wants us to know, what we're going to talk about these next few weeks, however long it takes us, is we got to grow up.

Look at your neighbor and say grow up, we got to grow up.

Look at your neighbor and say, grow up, amen, we got to grow up, we've got to grow up.

And the amazing thing is, it doesn't matter how old you are on this earth spiritually right, there's this place of maturity.

Think about this.

God wants us to grow, and so we're going to look at there are three stages, naturally, in growing up, and there are three stages spiritually, and so these stages are right babyhood, childhood and adulthood.

Babyhood, childhood and adulthood and we're going to look at those stages of development.

Right, those stages are true naturally and they're also true spiritually.

And so the amazing thing is, when you look at these stages, you need to be able to locate yourself.

You need to be able to locate yourself.

Where am I at in my stages of spiritual maturity?

Do you know people, naturally, emotionally, that have never really grown up?

Here's what's amazing.

You could be around someone.

You go to a high school reunion.

I'm in my 50s now.

You go to a high school reunion.

You could talk to some people.

Yeah, my gosh, this is like they did when they were 19.

You're like my gosh, this is like they did when they were 19.

I know a lot of people that watch me so I'm not going to say any names, but I've found that to be true.

No, grow up, we've got to grow up.

How many know what you really need?

Instead of just looking at your neighbor, you need to look in the mirror every day and say I need to grow up.

You ever seen a grown man throw a fit like a baby?

If you haven't come to my house every once in a while, I'll probably do it.

How many know we're all still growing, we're all still mature, we're all still getting there.

Amen, but we should be progressing, just like.

Naturally, you should progress and grow.

Right, we would think there was something wrong If you had a child and so I was, especially when you have your first year.

Right, you're very informed and with the Internet and everything, we're much more informed parents today than we were when I was a baby.

I was telling Andrew this morning.

I said my dad, right in the 70s, was not in the room when I was delivered.

He was in the waiting room with cigars.

My dad pretty sure never changed a diaper?

Don't think he ever did.

I changed lots of diapers, right, it's just right.

Things have changed.

I was talking about Chris and Shauna.

I remember talking to them one time and they said you know, in our house there are things that are pink, there are things that are blue, like duties in the house that are blue, and there are things that are purple, which are kind of a combination of things.

And so, right, I was telling Andrew, I said you know, in the 70s, early 80s, there was pink and blue there was no purple right.

There were just things like man never does that, woman never does that.

It's just the way it was.

But times have changed and you get to this point.

We have to understand, we have to grow and mature.

Because as a parent to get back to my point as I took my little rabbit trail, I was always looking and with Bo especially right, because he's our first I was like what percentile is he of growth?

You know his height and his weight.

Nicole never really cares much.

I'm like he's this, what percentile is he?

Because I want to track that and I want to make sure he's on track.

We didn't have to worry about any of our kids because they all grew pretty quick.

They like to eat, praise the Lord.

They got something from their dad.

But I was always tracking that why I want him to develop.

I didn't want him to develop slowly or be wrong, and so the same thing is true spiritually right.

We should be tracking our spiritual growth.

Am I growing?

Can I look at my life today?

And I'm walking in love better?

I don't get offended as easy.

I don't get angry as easy.

I have more unity with people.

Right, If you're a believer and a Christian, there's not unity in your life, right If you fight with.

But you've got to identify.

Am I in that babyhood stage?

And here's the sad truth that there are Christians that have been born again for decades that are still in the infant stage of Christianity, unlike, naturally, where you just kind of progress along the line.

I remember I was a little slow in my growth.

Naturally.

I grew two inches my first 15 days of college.

But when I was in high school I was like I'm just kind of a little fella and I grew two inches and gained 15 pounds of muscle in two weeks.

Came home and people didn't even recognize me.

Like oh my gosh, you're completely different.

But even though there was a slow, I still progressed Well spiritually.

Isn't it sad that you could be 30 years old from your birthday and you're still a baby.

Spiritual progression doesn't just happen automatically.

You've got to take the time to get in there, get in the Word, be in church, set under those ministry gifts so that you can grow.

Amen, I'm going to introduce babyhood here and then we'll finish for today.

Let's go over to 1 Peter, chapter 2 and verse 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Thank you, lord.

1 Peter, 2.2.

Look what Peter says.

Look what Peter says, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby.

So Peter says right.

In verse two, he says that you are, when you get born again, you are what you are a newborn babe.

Jesus in John three we're not going to look at it, but remember Jesus with Nicodemus.

Nicodemus was coming to Jesus at night to be taught and he said you know, how do you get to heaven?

Jesus says you must be born again.

And Nicodemus says how can a man get back into his mother's womb?

And Jesus basically told him no, it's a spiritual rebirth, amen.

And so guess what?

Just as you were born naturally and you were a baby, right, you may think Chris always had that beard, but he didn't come out of his mama's womb, right, beard and teeth, right?

It just doesn't happen that way.

No, you ever meet people and you're like man.

It's hard to think that guy's a baby, that that guy was ever a baby, right, donald Trump?

You think man did, he have that hair when he was a baby.

It's just.

But no, right, you were a baby.

You were born again.

You were an infant spiritually, and that doesn't matter whether you were 10 when you got born again or whether you were 30 or 40 when you got born again.

When you get born again, no matter how old you are, you're a spiritual baby.

When you get born again, no matter how old you are, you're a spiritual baby.

Okay, what do babies need?

Everything.

Can a baby do anything by themselves?

Nothing.

And so here starts this thing, and we as a church continue to grow in it.

We realize, when people get born again, there's something God's called us to do, to what?

To equip them, to edify them, to build them up.

Why?

So that they can then do the work of the ministry.

I always go back to my mom, my mom growing up, one of 12, she was, what was she?

Number 10.

She was number 10 out of 12.

So she was one of the babies.

My Aunt Jean, my Aunt Catherine they're up there at the front of the babies.

My Aunt Jean right.

My Aunt Catherine, they're up there at the front of the line.

So how do you have 12 kids?

You don't do it all at once, right?

12 tuplets, I don't even know what you call it right?

We've seen Octomom.

You have eight.

I've seen five and six right on some of those TV shows.

But you don't do it all at once.

Why?

Because if it works right, just like within a church, people are born again babies, and they don't stay babies, they grow and mature.

Then, guess what?

We add some new people as babies.

Well, who's going to help pastor take care of the baby?

Well, you guys are going Right.

Who helped my grandma and grandpa Craven take care of the babies?

Well, aunt Jean and Aunt Catherine.

Again, it was back in the old days, so the boys weren't taking care of the babies, but that's just the way it worked.

But who helped her do some work around?

The older kids helped her do some work around the house?

Why?

Because newborn babies.

What do they want Really?

All newborn babies do.

All they really want to do is what Eat.

Then my son Beau.

He loved to eat when he was a baby.

It's like 24-hour buffet, right, he just wanted to eat all the time.

Little Olive, you wouldn't know, but she looked like the Michelin man.

When she was a baby, she liked to eat.

What are we supposed to be eating as babies?

Well, man, when she was a baby, she liked to eat.

What are we supposed to be eating as babies?

Well, if you want a baby to grow properly spiritually, they need the Word, but not just all of the Word.

They need those basic principles of the Word Because a baby you don't just feed a baby steak.

Even though you could throw steak in a blender and you could make it to consistency where a baby could maybe take it, their little body can't digest it correctly.

Well, there are spiritual truths in the Bible that baby Christians just can't digest properly.

They need milk.

Why?

So they can help mature and grow, amen, to get to the point where they can receive the fullness of what God has in the Word.

I want to share a story here in closing.

Brother Hagin was talking about babies and he said you know, we as the church, we're responsible for babies because babies can't do anything.

And he talked about at one point he was in a church and he said that there were these ladies there, two ladies who lived next door to each other.

I want to read you this and we'll close.

He said bless their hearts, They'd been saved, I don't know how long, baptized with the Holy Spirit, speaking in other tongues, but that doesn't make you a full-grown Christian.

I know, just because you've been saved 30 years, just because you pray in our tongue, doesn't make you a full-grown Christian.

He said they were the biggest babies in the world.

I'm sure he wrote this book after they passed away.

He said you'd have to run after them and run after them and run after them.

They wanted you to come and pet them.

They'd miss church on a Sunday for you to come over on a Monday and pet them.

You know what he means when he says pet them right, just baby them, take care of them.

He goes.

They'd miss church and want me to just come visit them at their house.

He goes.

You know what I did?

I just quit.

He goes.

I just quit going to their house.

He said one of the deacons is like you know, those ladies haven't been to church.

They said you haven't been to their house.

He goes.

No, I'm not going back to their house.

He said, brother, if you want to go over and visit them, you go ahead.

He said but I'm never going over there again.

The longest I love this quote the longest day I live or the longest day I pastor this church, I will never set foot inside their houses again.

He said I'm tired of wasting my time with them.

They're just babies and they want to stay babies.

There are other people who can be helped.

There are new people to be visited and others are getting saved who can be taught.

He said you couldn't have taught those two old babies anything, so I quit visiting them and never set foot inside their house for the next 18 months that I continued to pastor that church.

How many know?

A lot of people hear that like well, I don't.

That's kind of mean.

That's not very nice of him.

You ever do something like that with your kids.

Try to teach them to grow up.

He said you know what?

When they saw I wasn't coming again, they started to be more faithful to the church than they'd ever been.

He said we ought to grow enough spiritually so that instead of someone having to come and visit us, pump us up, prop us up, pray for us, feed us, we're able to be out helping others ourselves.

Amen, that's it.

There's got to be growth and we've got to recognize where we are as Christians.

Here's the thing.

There's nothing wrong with maybe recognizing today that you're not in the place spiritually that you wish you were, that you probably should be.

But what has to happen now is we recognize where we're at and we endeavor to say I'm going to start to grow.

Thank you for tuning in to 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.