Skip to content Marks of a Mature Christian Dec 4 · 40 min ...more
Marks of a Mature Christian
December 4, 2023 · 40 min
Is there a standard for measuring Christian maturity? How do you move from being an immature, adolescent Christian to a mature believer who has the sweet aroma of Christ in his life? The answer may surprise you!
Series The Winning Walk with Dr. Ed Young - Daily Radio December 4, 2023 · 40 min · The Winning Walk with Dr. Ed Young - Daily Radio
Is there a standard for measuring Christian maturity? How do you move from being an immature, adolescent Christian to a mature believer who has the sweet aroma of Christ in his life? The answer may surprise you! ...more Show the full description Show less Is there a standard for measuring Christian maturity? How do you move from being an immature, adolescent Christian to a mature believer who has the sweet aroma of Christ in his life? The answer may surprise you!
Series The Winning Walk with Dr. Ed Young - Daily Radio Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
570K followers
Dr. Ed Young is the senior pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Houston, Texas. He is the father of three sons, all in ministry.
570K followers
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
The Church: Hospital for Sinners 0:03 Today on the winning walk with doctor Ed Young.0:08 How how do you measure maturity in Christ? How do you know whether or not we're children spiritually or adolescents spiritually or we're adults spiritually?0:20 How do you measure that? There's some things you cannot measure and that's 1 of them. You can't measure that which is immeasurable. Athletic events, we can measure. Somebody wins, somebody loses. In the0:31 business world, here's a profit, here's a loss, we can measure that. But how in the world do you measure maturity?0:40 The truth is growing in godliness isn't always easy. Welcome to the winning walk with doctor Ed Young. Today, doctor Young begins his sermon called marks of a mature Christian, where he shows0:52 you you can move from spiritual infant to mature believer. So stay where you are, the winning walk with doctor Ed Young begins in just a moment.1:14 Now here's doctor Ed Young with today's message, marks of a mature Christian.1:20 Someone asked me, how many members are in the second family? How many church members do you have? I said, we have a 3 and a half1:32 county area of little over 68000 people who claim this second family as their church home. And then, somebody1:44 pressed that and looked me in the eye and said, how many of those are really serious about Jesus Christ?1:58 And with my usual astuteness, I looked him in the eye and said, I don't have the foggiest idea.2:11 How do you measure whether or not we're really serious about Jesus Christ? How do you measure maturity in Christ? How do you know2:23 whether or not we're children spiritually, or adolescents spiritually, Are we adults spiritually? How do you measure that? There's some things you cannot measure2:35 and that's 1 of them. You can't measure that which is immeasurable. We asked our children, how much do you love your mother? And they say, oh, this much. And sometimes, this much.2:49 It's it's hard to measure love. It's just 1 of those immeasurable thing. But most things we can measure. Athletic events, we can measure. Somebody wins, somebody loses. Statistics,3:01 we can look at most things and say this is this is how you measure it. In the business world, here's a profit, here's a loss. We can measure that. But how in the world do you measure maturity?3:15 Someone who is serious, committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Say, there's a mature Christian and there's a baby Christian. How do we know? What are the standards of3:27 there? What is the standards for a church family? Are we a mature church body of believers? A mature ekklesia,3:38 a mature family of brothers and sisters. Are we mature? A man walked out in the street, didn't3:50 look, just walked out without thinking. Car came, knocked him down, ran over him, left the scene. He's bleeding and broken in the street.4:02 People come out and say, call an ambulance, take him to the hospital. He said, oh, no. Don't take me to the hospital. They said, man, you've been seriously here. Don't take me to4:14 the hospital. No, I I don't wanna go to the hospital. Don't take me to the hospital. They said, Well, why not? He said, I I'm a doctor in that hospital.4:27 And he said, I've been so strict all about the operating room and everybody around me. I tell them to watch what they do, be careful, make wise choice of decision. Here4:39 I am, I just walked out in the street without thinking. Here I am busted up and bleeding. Don't take me to the hospital. I'll be embarrassed. They said, look, you may die. He said, it's4:51 okay. I I'm just so ashamed. Don't take me there. He said, in fact, if you took me there, they would admit me because I went to the board and said, we're not taking anybody in this hospital. Make it a5:03 law and a rule unless they have their hospital card and they can pay. He said, I don't have my hospital card with me. Don't take me to the hospital.5:17 I don't know what they did with him. I guess they dragged him out of the streets and left him there on the curb. It's a fallacious story.5:30 It's not true. But I wanna ask you a question. What if you were hit and run over5:42 Friday night by some unacceptable sin? Would you say, man, don't take me to the church,5:54 Sunday. They have a view of me up there as pretty good guy, moral person. Man, take me anywhere, but don't take6:06 me to the church. I'm embarrassed, I'm ashamed. I checked that out this week. I asked some people, if, you know, if if the headlines came out, the news6:17 were reported that you got caught or some unacceptable, unseemly sin, Would would you be at church this Sunday? And they said, oh, that's the6:29 last place I'd go. I'd be embarrassed. Maybe they wouldn't be embarrassed if they went to a bar.6:43 A lot of people there have been hit and run over by unacceptable sins. I wonder if you measure the maturity of a church by how we receive those.6:58 Because you have to decide, is the church sort of an exclusive club for good people, or is the church a7:11 hospital for those who've been run over by unacceptable sins? The truth is, we've all7:23 been run over, every 1 of us, every single individual here by the deadly hit and run vehicle we call7:35 sin. So, I guess you could measure the maturity of the body of Christ. In the first early church, they said, Boy, look how they love 17:47 another. Jesus says, You'll know they're members of my family by how they love 1 another. Now, love is unconditional when it comes7:59 from God in Christ, ladies and gentlemen. See, a lot of us have a tough time loving because we've never been unconditionally loved by anybody. By a mother or our dad is always based on performance.8:12 How you're obeying, what you're doing. And God comes with this overwhelming tsunami of love and says, It doesn't make any difference. I just love you right where you8:24 are unconditionally now and forever and forever. For God really so loves the world. The maturity of a church, we8:36 can measure on the basis of how we receive 1 another when we get run over by an unacceptable sin.8:50 Would it be the place if it happened to you or happened to me? I'd say, Take me to my church. Take me to my church. Man, I struck out, IBeyond Knowledge and Commitment 9:01 failed, but they're gonna love me, and heal me, and minister to me, and put their arms around me. Take me to my church. We wanna become a church like that.9:16 But it even gets more difficult to measure individual maturity. Now, that a church is broad, and general, and corporate worship,9:27 but individual maturity, how do you measure that? And so, 2 or 3 things popped in my mind. 1 was the basis of knowledge, biblical knowledge.9:41 Pretty good way to measure somebody's maturity, isn't it? I thought for a long time somebody knew the Bible, understood the Bible, believed as inherit, authoritative Word of God. My goodness, I mean, there's somebody9:53 who obviously is a mature Christian. Psalm 1, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way10:05 of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, for his delight is in the law of the Lord. The Word, the Bible. And on that law, he meditates day and night. He's like a10:16 tree planted by the rivers of water. Man, that's it, isn't it? Somebody who has biblical knowledge, erudition, and exegetes the Old and New Testament, believes it. Man, obviously, biblical10:28 knowledge is the foundation of maturity. And obviously, if you know the Bible, you're a mature Christian. I believed that until I went to seminary.10:43 I had a professor who was beyond belief in his erudition about this book. I mean, he absolutely knew the Bible, understood the10:54 Bible. He could tell you what Augustine thought about that passage. He could tell you what Aquinas would say. He would come in with what some existentialist dealt with. I mean, this guy knew this book and11:06 knew all about this book and I thought he'd read everything. Somebody saw him in the library at seminary once. He was so scholarly and another professor walked by and said, Doctor, he said,11:18 Yes? He said, What do you do in the library? I thought you knew everything. He said, I do, I'm just reviewing. He was that kind of scholar but his11:30 life, relationship with students, with people was very shabby. So I said, Man, here's a guy who evidently knows and11:42 believes the book but his life is, man, a long way from biblical principles. Maybe that's not enough to say, there's a mature Christian. Then11:54 I went to a church as pastor. Teacher the largest Bible study class there was a professor at the university, secular professor. But my goodness, he knew that book.12:06 He taught that book. But I tell you, his life was so regimented, it was so legalistic, so cold and hard. He thought nobody12:17 knew anything except himself. And you saw no touch of humility or grace or Man, he was just authoritative. He thought he12:29 was the fourth person of the trinity. He had to add 1, have a quartet instead of a trio. But he knew the book. And he taught the book. And therefore, I had the idea12:41 maybe, you know, just biblical knowledge isn't enough to say, There goes a mature Christian. And then I said, Well, the next thing, I said, Somebody's a mature Christian, he's committed.12:53 I like commitment. Commitment's a strange thing in the 20 first century. Have you noticed that? I see so many couples. Well, we we we don't wanna get married. We just wanna live together. We're13:05 not ready to make a commitment. Heard that 1? You don't know why to be committed. Years ago, I read a book, Elton Trueblood, The13:17 Coveny of the Committed, talking about the body of Christ. Would that the body of Christ was a company of the committed to Christ, committed to the word? By the way, I'm not just saying13:29 the word isn't important. It's the bedrock foundation of truth. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying commitment is not important. It is true but it's not the only thing. Some of us are just shallowly committed to the13:41 church. We have the bunch I call the hatch, match, dispatch crowd. Know about them, remember? Hatch, the baby is born, give them a Bible, bang. Oh yeah,13:52 marriage, match, oh, gotta have the church, marriage. Dispatch, death, come here, want to pastor. Hatch, match, dispatch, we got that crowd. Oh, they show up on14:04 Easter and they show up on Christmas. And sometimes they come other times too. Oh, my goodness. You think they're overdoing it? So14:16 there's a lack of commitment and faithfulness. By the way, that wouldn't be this crowd today. Anybody who'd come out in a monsoon, we all must be mature, don't you think? I mean, goodness gracious, who14:28 could doubt this? Hadn't been thunder and lightning, I'd have probably slept in myself. Commitment, but14:39 commitment is not enough. You see, Jesus came and dealt with commitment, but we had the idea. And in his world, they had the idea. We still do. Here is14:51 the sacred that's over here. That's God's stuff. Here's the secular that's over here. That's man's stuff. And there's a division between that15:03 which is sacred and that which is secular. Jesus came and he tore down a lot of walls, but he tore down that wall and he said, It is all of God. It is all sacred. There's no division.15:15 Therefore, when Jesus said, Let's get on a sailboat and go sailing on the Sea of Galilee. That was sacred. Let's go camp out on the top of Mount Hermon. That was sacred. Man, let's sit down and have a15:27 good meal with Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus, and just get back and fellowship. That was sacred. You see, the idea, Well, I'm committed over here, and I'm not committed over here.15:39 And this is my religious life. This is my spiritual life. See, commitment is in the totality of life. It is in the wholeness of life. And commitment is a wonderful15:51 mark of someone who is faithful to the family of God in Christ, obedient to biblical principles. Commitment. But that doesn't mean necessarily Just because16:03 we show up, we may not really be totally mature in Christ. You see, for a long time, oh, most of America had a habit of going to16:15 church. And now, going to church for most had become a hobby. From habit to hobby. A lack of commitment. Commitment is a good mark of maturity but Bible knowledge,16:27 commitment is not enough. There's a third mark. And by the way, they go together. And that's character. Character. We talked about16:39 it. Who are you when nobody else is around? Where does your mind go when it's not occupied with something else? Character. Are you honest because of, well, that's just16:50 who I am? Do you live a pure life because I'm just, God has made me pure? You see, there is a character. And to talk about character, I want you toAbide in the Vine: Bearing Fruit 17:02 go with me on a little walk. We're gonna walk around a little bit. Would you like to do that? Let's just walk together. Let's go walking with John. The gospel of John, the fifteenth chapter. We're going to walk17:15 First of all, John's gonna let us walk in the vineyard. Then Colossians, we're gonna take a little walk in heaven. And then finally, we're gonna move Galatians. We're17:27 gonna have a little walk to a mirror. Woah, watch out for that mirror walk. Let's look at a little walk in a vineyard. Jesus is speaking.17:39 He said, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes,17:51 if so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because the word which I have spoken to you, that's salvation. Verse 4, Abide in me,18:03 and I in you, said Jesus. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am18:14 the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit, but apart from me you can do 0. If18:26 anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they're burned. But if you abide in me,18:39 and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish. It'll be done for you. My Father18:51 is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and approve to be my disciples. Just as the Father has loved me, I have loved you abide in my love. If you keep my19:03 commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, that your joy may be made full.19:15 What are we talking about? Jesus is saying, I'm the vine. He's the tree. He's the vine. He said, you and I in Christ, we're just a19:26 branch. Just a branch. Now, for the branch to bear fruit, to do something, to produce something, to have character, if you19:38 would, there has to be some pruning going on. Who does the pruning? The husbandman, God. So, I wanna get something out of my19:50 life. Man, I shouldn't be doing this, I ought to be doing this. And I wanna prune something that's taking away from the nourishment I'm getting from the vine. Therefore, I try to say,20:01 Lord, I've gotta stop doing that. I've gotta cut out this. Uh-uh, doesn't do a thing. Just abide in the vine. God do the pruning. I wanna stop this.20:14 No, no, just abide in the vine. Take up residence in Jesus. We'll talk about that. He'll take care, he'll take all the nonsense, all the extraneous stuff, all the other stuff that takes away from the strength and energy20:25 and productivity of your life and my life. We'd have to abide in the vine. Okay. But I have to produce fruit. Oh, I need to produce fruit. I need to go work at doing this and try to do this and20:37 produce this and say, Oh, no, no, no, no, no. You just abide in the vine, easy. God takes out all the stuff that takes strings away. You abide in the vine, the fruit that naturally flows20:49 your life will flow for your life. Then it says, When this happens, you have a blank check. Did you hear that verse? Ask whatever you want, it'll be done for you. That verse has been so misused.21:01 What's the genius of it? Abide in the vine. Take up residence in the vine. Just live in Christ and let Christ live in you. We're gonna talk about that. If we take a walk in21:13 heaven, we're still the vineyard. And so, here we are, I'm a branch, you're a branch, grafted on by faith, through grace in Jesus Christ, attached to the vine. What is the21:25 purpose of the branch? Is the branch to do anything? Produce fruit? No. Take stuff out of your life? No. Abide in the vine, God will do the pruning, and the fruit will take care of21:37 itself. That's the character that is produced in your life and in my life. Boy, sounds simple. Unless you've really been abiding and it's not simple at21:48 all, it's a lifestyle. So we take a little walk in the vineyard, and then the result of this is joy. By the way, hold on to that word.22:01 Joy, wonderful joy, I've got a joy, joy, joy. Joy is beyond happiness. Joy has a permanency about it in this life or in heaven. Joy, joy, joy.22:12 Let's try a little joy. My goodness, you look kinda dead. I want everybody over here to say joy, would you? Joy. The whole Joy. Joy. Some of you missed22:24 it. Here we go. Joy. Now, I wonder how they could be louder than you. They must have more joy. All this group. Joy. Joy.22:36 Orchestra, choir. Make a joyful noise. Here we go all together. Joy. Boy, good. Altogether.22:49 Joy. That's it. That's the goal. That's the word. Now, abiding in the vine. Now, we're gonna take a little walk in heaven. We won't stay there long. If we did, we would not wanna go back23:01 home. I assure you that. Colossians chapter 3. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, we have, keep seeking, hold on the word23:13 seeking, the things above where Christ is, seat at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of23:24 God. Not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden, keep that word, with Christ in God. When Christ,23:36 who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. You've heard of hide and seek? We've all played hide and seek, haven't we? This is seek and23:48 hide. Did you get it? We seek the things that are above, understanding that is where our long range citizenship's gonna be, folks. Don't ever forget that.24:00 This little here, that's our citizenship. We seek the things that are above and we seek By the way, you can go there in your mind. It's a wonderful thing. Our mind can take us on trips. We can24:12 go anywhere, anytime, any place. Early this morning, I had the privilege of going all the way to heaven and trying with my limited, infinite, infinite, yet finite imagination,24:24 you could see God and the Father and the Son in heaven. And so, we abide, we draw from that assurance. And therefore, we seek.24:37 We seek him. And at the same time, on this earth, we hide in him. We're hidden in Christ. When the branch abides in24:49 the vine, we are hidden in Christ in the vine. This is another picture there. What does it mean to be hidden in Christ? If you're hidden in Christ, the past is covered. Isn't that good news? The25:01 present is empowered. That's fabulous. And the future is assured because we're hiding in Christ. We seek and we hide.25:14 Now, we go back and we run into character. Look how this works. Now, take a little trip, and then we're gonna look in a mirror. This is the toughest part of all. We look into25:26 a mirror, and you're gonna find that mirror in the book of Galatians, chapter 5, verse 18. But if you are led by the Spirit, you're not under the law.25:38 Verse 22, we know this. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.25:50 Against such there is no law. For those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and his desires. Now, we've26:01 taken a little walk into a vineyard. We discovered that we are branches attached to the vine. That's what we have to do. We've gone up to heaven, and we've discovered that when we seek God and seek Christ26:14 in heavenly dimensions, then he takes and he hides us in him. And we as branches are hidden in the vine. And then all of a sudden, there's fruit. This is character.26:26 This is character. This is a test of maturity. This is when we move from being childlike to being childish? No, from being26:38 childish to being childlike. To be childlike is maturity. To be childish is to be immature. When I was a child, I thought as a child.26:50 I operated as a child. When I became mature, I put away childish things. And now all of a sudden we see I'm a branch attached to the vine. God is pruning all of this so I can bear27:02 fruit. I don't have to try to bear fruit. I just stay attached and I seek things that are above biblical principles and see the reality of God in Christ in heaven at the27:14 right hand of the Father making intercession for you and me. And then I hide in Jesus Christ. I'm hidden in him as a branch draws from the vine. And then there's fruit. What is the27:25 fruit? There's 9 mentioned here. 9, I think, basically personality characteristics. It's character. Look at them. Some people27:37 think that love is a principle of fruit, and there's 8 that follows. That could be. But I'm gonna take them a la carte, love. Well, it begins with our mind, love.27:50 God so loved us, we're able then to love because we've been greatly loved, are we not? Greatly loved. While we were yet in the tank, while we're yet in the garbage,28:02 while we're yet being run over by an unacceptable sin, God loves us. So we have the capacity to love. Love, joy, we talked about that.28:15 Joy. Inexpressible joy. Supernatural joy. Joy, joy, joy. Love, joy. Joy is expressed, I think, with your eyes. I can look at somebody for a while and you can see their eyes and28:26 sort of speak them. They just they just sort of a joy there. Just joy, love joy. Peace, I think about the ears. We want peace. We listen to peace.28:38 In the middle of all the rattle and the rumble of the world, somehow we can hear peace. That's the fruit of the spirit, that's hanging on your life. Peace, love, joy, peace,28:50 oh patience. Boy, there's 1. We have to speak patience. I'm sorry I I rushed. We have to speak it, speak it. Become patient people, long suffering people.29:02 Patience, another fruit that God wants to hang on your life and my life. We abide in the vine. As we seek and as we're hidden in Christ, Patience, love, joy,29:14 peace. Patience, kindness, your hands. Somebody speaks your name, they say, that's a kind person. Real kindness, compassionate, caring,29:27 uplifting. Kind, kindness, kindness. Goodness. Have a good heart? Is your heart really good? There's a good person. They don't have29:38 unseemly motives. They're somebody who fills you up when you're with them and not sucks all the energy out of you when you're with them. No folks like that. Got a good heart. Oh, I29:50 like to be people who have a good heart. Good, good. And faithfulness, that's the next 1. That's your gut. Give my word, book it. I'll be there. I'm faithful.30:02 Faithfulness, faithful. And then gentleness. Are you a gentle person? We're talking about character now that proves that we have a degree of maturity. Or are you a part of a bombastic?30:14 Well, that's just the way I am. I want you to know. Or are you gentle? I mean, gentle people, we wanna be with them. And some of us are not naturally gentle. I don't think anybody30:26 naturally is. But we have to be gentle and then find their self control. That's discipline. Build a discipline in your life. Put it down, mark it down. Work on it. Discipline,30:38 discipline, discipline. All of a sudden, there you are, there I am. You say, No, I wanna be mature. We're abiding in the vine. The Father cuts out all the extraneous stuff. And all of a sudden,30:50 there's this fruit hanging off your life and my life. And there's love, and there's joy, and there's patience. Oh, my goodness. And there is31:03 kindness. And all the other fruit begins to hang there and we say, Look, there's somebody. Because of their character, they are31:15 becoming more and more mature in Jesus Christ. Now, why? Why?31:28 What's my motivation? Here's all the childish folks, immature. Here and here, all the adolescents,31:41 adolescent Christians, Well, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Bad. Here are all the mature folks. How do you move from being a child in maturity,31:53 at least adolescence, and maybe move to being a mature person in Christ? How do you do it? This is the path. You abide in the vine. And all of a sudden, he begins to change32:05 these things by the power of his Holy Spirit. What motivates us? Tell you where it is, great little passage. I knew it, but I stumbled into it. You ever32:17 stumble into something? Oh, my, where's that been all my life? 2 Corinthians chapter number 2, verse 14, listen. But thanks be to32:29 God who always leads us to triumph, I like that word, in Christ. And manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of32:41 him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,32:53 to the 1 the aroma from death to death, to the other aroma from life to life. We wanna move from immaturity to maturity soThe Fruit of the Spirit 33:05 we'll have the smell of God about us. You got that? Isn't that tremendous? Have you ever been with people and there's just that sweet aroma33:17 because you're nobody, don't think about it. There's all kind of fruit hanging off their life. It's available for you. Boy, they'll just love you. Boy, they'll be kind to you. They're gentle to you. They're33:28 understanding. They're And all of a sudden, there's all this fruit hanging from their life and it's an aroma. It's like you're in a vineyard. A vineyard of life. By the33:40 same time, the negative side of this, have you ever been around people where there is a, not body odor, but there is a stench about them that is dark and33:51 unseemly because they're a long way from God, and they're a long way from reality, and a long way from home.34:06 Motivates me. I wanna be 1 of those aroma people, don't you? An aroma of sweet fragrance that goes up to the34:18 nostrils of the Almighty. We don't understand that, it's It's anthropomorphic language. The nostrils of the Almighty. By the same token, aroma that goes out to other folks because they're34:29 just spiritual fruit. Just there for the picking, there for the gathering. They share it with us. They give it to us and it nourishes us. It nourishes us.34:42 Maturity. Try to measure it with biblical knowledge, very important. Try to measure it with commitment, essential. Try to measure it with34:54 character. Oh, the fruit of the spirit. When you put those 3 measurements down, we see how we fall short. And then35:05 what do you do about it? And stand up here and teach, teach, teach. And Lord, well, what are you doing about it, Edwin? Well, Lord, I'm here. What are you doing about it? We have to go to him and you'll35:17 be amazed he'll begin to prune. But also, he'll begin to convict. And if we let him, he'll change. That fruit which isn't on the tree,35:29 or that fruit that's on the tree that gets rotten because it's not used or picked, He'll begin to change you and change me and all of a sudden,35:42 we'll have a, just a sweet aroma coming from your life and from my life. And that means we're just35:54 growing up in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we were children, we thought as children, we acted like children. We were36:06 childish. But now we put away those childish things, and we're maturing. Pablum is good for babies.36:18 It sure doesn't nourish anybody who is mature. It's time to grow up as a36:30 church, as as individuals. Let's get on with it. Okay? The result will be joy. Joy. Joy. Joy.36:47 Joy. Joy. It got better, and altogether it is Joy.36:58 You've been listening to the winning walk with doctor Ed Young. Before we end our program, doctor Young is in the studio today to help us uncover more wisdom from this message. Doctor Young, when it comes to spiritual37:10 maturity, the old saying is true that you can't judge a book by its its cover. What advice would you give to someone who intellectually knows a lot about the Bible, but underneath feels like a fraud?37:22 Well, if you know a lot about the Bible, the first thing you have to do is say, how can I put this in practice? What about biblical truth am I not living out? And every time I do that, I37:34 back up and I can get a long list in a hurry. So start with the fundamentals. Your relationship with Christ, make sure it's alive. Your obedience to biblical37:46 principles, ask God to put those in your life where they're not there, whatever it is. And then begin to live it out and you'll be amazed how you begin to grow up and mature in the Lord. The gospel37:58 received, a prayer prayed to invite Jesus in your life is the first step of a brand new life. Begin to live out that life, and you'll get excited more and more,38:10 and your relationship with Christ will take new fire, new meaning, and new significance.38:15 Thank you, doctor Young. You said commitment is important for spiritual maturity. Is it possible to be a strong Christian without going to church?38:24 You know, I don't really think it is possible to be a strong Christian without going to church. That's like you have a a coal fire, and you take 1 of those coal that's all burning together with other coals,38:36 and you push that coal off by itself. That cold would go out while the rest of the cold stay hot. This is the way the church works. It's the body of Christ. Think about it.38:48 The body of Jesus Christ as it is reflected in this world is the church. We're the hands, the arms, the feet, the mind, and we are to do the work of the Lord together39:00 in concert in a koinonia relationship. The ekklesia is to reach the world for Christ. And when people come in, they they should feel that warmth and the dynamic of being with39:12 Jesus himself. No, you can't really grow without being a part, a lively part of the body of church, the body of Christ. Now, let me say if you're unable to attend,39:24 that's a different matter. You're physically impaired. There may be other reasons. But listen, it should have the highest priority in your life and in my life that as for me and my house, I'm in39:36 worship every every first day of the week.39:40 Thank you, doctor Young. You've been listening to the winning walk with doctor Ed Young. Winning walk is a listener supported ministry.39:49 Your prayers and financial support allow us to bring proven truth to listeners around the world.Show more In this video 0:00 The Church: Hospital for Sinners9:00 Beyond Knowledge and Commitment17:00 Abide in the Vine: Bearing Fruit33:00 The Fruit of the Spirit40:00 Aroma of Maturity and Call to Grow
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.