Grow Up

GROW UP!

HEBREWS 5:12-14; 6:1-6

(Story of the Olsen twin with anorexia…) Anorexia is defined as: “a prolonged disorder of eating due to loss of appetite.” It is an eating disorder which causes you not to grow… Let me suggest to you today that the church is experiencing “Spiritual Anorexia…” We’re binging and purging… And when we do eat, we’re not eating the right stuff … (v 12) “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food…” We have become spiritual vegetarians and we are literally starving to death because we’re failing to grow in the things of God…

And as a result, we’re always whining and complaining; moaning and groaning… We can’t get to first base with God because we refuse to grow up… Why do we need to grow up…? Because playtime is over… The enemy is not playing with us; therefore we must be ready to deal with the issues of life… (Problem…) We’re not prepared to deal with the issues of life because many of us are unskilled… (V 13-14) “For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil...”

The writer goes on to warn us not to remain spiritually anorexic… (6:1-6)

V1: Let us go on to perfection (maturity)…

V2-3: Repentance: Turning away from sin… Faith: Trusting God in all circumstances… Baptism: Identifies believer with Christ… Laying On Of Hands: Signifies being set apart by God… Resurrection: Identifies what Christ did for the believer… Eternal Judgment: When believers are united with God for eternity and unbelievers committed to eternal damnation… Only if God permits…

V4-6: It’s impossible once you have tasted… To fall away and start all over, lest you make Christ’s death a mockery… IOW, it’s time to stop living off of what you first learned at salvation, and it’s time to GROW UP in the things of God… How did I grow up…? How do I get to the place that I need to be…? How can I go on to perfection…? How can I walk in the maturity of Christ…?

I. BY STAYING PRAYED UP (Acts 12:1-11)

WORSHIP: Worship comes from the Greek word, proskuneo… It is a compound word with two meanings put together. Pros: towards and Kuneo: to kiss… Worship means to kiss towards… there are two components of worship…

(1)Praise:(Story of Chuckie, our dog… How a dog reacts to his master) When Chuckie comes in my presence… That’s praise…! He gives praise because he’s in the presence of his master,who will care for him… He gets on his hind legs… What I’m trying to say is that dogs know how to praise their master, but we don’t know how to praise the Creator…! It’s a tragedy that we think that we are too cute… Too macho… Too sanctified and saditified to praise Him…! I come to let you know that real men will praise Him… Real men will stand on hind legs…! When you think about His Goodness and all He’s done for you… You can’t help but to praise Him…! The second component of worship is…

(2) Falling Prostrate: After Chuckie would praise me… He’d do this unique little maneuver… He would come over to my chair… Lay his front paws way out… Stretch his hind legs way back… And lay flat on his stomach…! (You missed it…!) Once you praise Him and recognize His awesomeness… (The act of worship…!)

You can’t help but to fall prostrate before Him and worship…! We must understand what it means to lay before the Lord in worship… (Difference between praise and worship…)

Praise: Gets us in the Presence of God… (His Attention)

Worship (Falling Prostate): What we do when we get there…! Prayer is worship... But also, prayer is:

WORK: The word “work” comes from the Greek word, Ergon… It means to toil, or to labor… And I’ve found that most folk don’t want to work when it comes to prayer… Most folk put one foot on the floor and one foot in the bed (Now I lay me down…) and start to dose off before they get to the “Amen…”

Then they use the excuse and say, “God knows my heart…” But the text says, “But prayer was made without ceasing…” The NKJV says, “Constant/ (Continuous)prayer…” That word “continuous,” comes from the Greek word ektenes (ek-ten-ace’)… It denotes the stretching out of ones muscles to the limit… It also gives implication and connotation of a runner running in a race… And as he heads to the goal, he stretches (ektenes) or struggles to reach the finish line…