Solid Food

Aiven Martinez, (RPYA Life Group Leader, fellow lover of the San Francisco 49ers) concludes the Growing Up mini-series by unpacking what it means to move on from spiritual "baby food."  

For more info about RPYA check us out on Instagram @rpyoungadults or at our landing page on rockypeak.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Hey, RPYA! How's everyone doing tonight? Um, if we haven't had a chance to meet, um I'm usually hiding behind over there um behind the board, but I am here uh to do some scripture reading for you guys. So if you would turn into your Bibles to 1 Corinthians. If you guys don't know where that is, that's totally okay. It's in the New Testament, which is the second half of your Bible. Um if you don't know where the New Testament is, there's a great tool in the front called the Table of Contents, and it's really easy to find First Corinthians from there. So I'll give you guys a chance to turn there real quick. All right, we'll be in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and it'll also be on the screens as well. Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit, but as people who are still worldly, mere infants in Christ. I give you milk, not solid food, for you are not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? All right. And now, a message from Dre. Turn your attention to the screens.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Hey, what's up, RPY, and special welcome to those of you that are joining us for the first time. If we haven't met yet, my name is Dre. I am the young adult pastor here for Rocky P. And you might be wondering where I'm at because I'm not in the room there with you. Normally I wouldn't be. I'm standing on the stage after our last weekend services this morning. Honestly, I can't think of anybody better to be able to share how God has led them in this maturity. So there's gonna be somebody coming up and we do what's gonna share. I don't actually know what's happening, but I'm excited for you. I'm excited if you're new. Come back next week. I would love to meet you. I'll see you next time, RP1.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

What is going on, RP1? Super excited to be here with all of you tonight. It's just such a blessing that I get to teach. Like Dre said, I'm usually here at RPYA, but I'm usually doing different things. You'll see me doing announcements. I also co-lead a life group with Dre, Megan, Kristen, and also my wife, Lexi. Shout out to Lexi, love you. Um so yeah, that's usually what I'm doing outside of RPYA. I actually go to school at Biola and I'm studying Bible theology and apologetics there. So I am studying the word, and that's kind of why Dre allowed me to even have this opportunity. So I'm not just some random person up here talking to you. Uh I also work with a ministry called FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. And our goal is to actually see every single coach and athlete come into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and the church. Um and so we're going to campuses, uh public campuses, private campuses, it doesn't really matter. We go to these schools and we share the gospel, we talk about faith with these people. Um and that's just so you guys can know a little bit of who's talking to you before I actually get into this message. Uh, but before we even do anything else, I just want to pray. So let's all bow our heads and let's go before our Father. Father God, I uh come out for you tonight, Lord Jesus. And I say thank you for what you have been doing in our lives, Lord. Thank you that you have been growing us in new ways and fresh ways. We just trust you tonight, Lord Jesus. I know I'm a new voice for these people, God, but would you speak through me, God? It's the same Holy Spirit, Lord. So we just say we trust you, God, we love you. Would you work and would you move and would you speak tonight, God? And why I just be able to get out the way so that you can speak, God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Awesome. So I want to start off as we're continuing this series called Growing Up, when we're learning how do we grow up in our faith practically, right? And last week Joel did an amazing job kind of talking about how we grow up in the context of the church. I want to take a little bit, maybe more of a personal approach tonight, and how do we grow up in our own faith, kind of as individual Christians, and give you guys some things you can take home with you to actually look at and go over with God and see how he leads your heart. But before I get into all that, I want to ask you guys a question. Do you remember the first time you started a new sport, a new hobby, or even maybe uh a new job? Do you remember the first time you started that and how long it actually took you until you got good at it? Maybe for you it was pickleball or something funny like that. Maybe it was basketball, maybe it was acting, maybe it was doing something else. Right? But do you remember the first time you started doing that? And then how much you had to learn until you get there, until a point where you're actually able to do it well. And for me, as I was thinking about this question, actually took me back to the first time I ever went snowboarding. I was uh about 13 years old, and my parents told me, they said, Hey, Avan, we're gonna go snowboarding. I was super excited because I watched on the Olympics people like Sean White, and he was just this awesome snowboarder hitting the halfpipes, doing all these tricks and everything like that. I was so excited to go snowboarding because in my head at 13 years old, I thought that that's who I was gonna be on my very first day snowboarding. And I found out very quickly that was not the case. Um, but I kind of did what anybody like smart would do, I would say, and I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on how you snowboard. So I went on YouTube, I was like, okay, so how do you turn? Started learning all that stuff. And as I grew in my knowledge, I was like, okay, I know what I'm gonna do when I get there. Now it's just a matter of me going. And so the day comes, and we go up to Big Bear, and we're driving up that windy mountain, and we're super excited just because we get to do this as a family, and for me, it's my first time, so there's extra anticipation in my heart. And as we're getting there, we get off the or get out the car and we walk to the uh place where you get your rental gear, and we get our rentals, and I kind of get strapped into the board, and it was a weird experience for me the first time, honestly, because you have one foot strapped into your snowboard and the other one's not, and it's a very disorienting experience because I'm I like having my feet on one thing at one time, and it was like a whole learning process just to figure out how to get into the board and kind of get moving around. But what we did from that point is we went over to the bunny slopes, right? Because that's the very first place you go when you're trying to learn and figure out how to snowboard, right? And so we went over there, and as we're going over there, there's all different kinds of people at the resort. There's people who are really good, there's people who are just learning like me, and then there's people who are everywhere else in between. And so as we get on the lift to go up the bunny slopes, I'm kind of watching all the people who are kind of in my same skill area, you could say, because they're in the same area as me. And I'm seeing a lot of people falling, right? I'm also seeing a lot of people actually teaching other people how to help or how to how to snowboard well. And so there's kind of a a difference in uh maybe the skills that these people have, right? But they're all in the same place doing the same thing. They all want to learn how to snowboard or how to ski. As we're going up this lift, we're about to get off it, and then kind of reality hits me, it's like, oh dang, I have to get off of this thing to actually snowboard. And I was like, I could barely move around as I was kicking around trying to get over to the lift. How am I actually gonna get off and snowboard? And really quickly, all that stuff in my head about Sean White, it kind of flew out the door. And I was like, oh, this is really real. I just need to do this small little task. And so it's kind of funny what happened to me and my family. We get off the lift, and immediately, you've probably seen this if you've gone snowboarding or skiing, we fell. Like right down the ramp. We just kind of slid out and we're all just laying there, and uh, it was not a fun experience because we actually had to kind of like army crawl to get away from all the other people who were coming behind us. I'm pretty sure they had to stop the lift uh just so that we could get out of the way, so everyone's waiting for us was this whole thing. And that kind of set the tone for the rest of the day, right? For me, that first day was a lot of learning. It was a lot of learning to fall and get back up again, if I'm being completely honest. But the thing is that I want to kind of point at this uh is the bunny slopes, they serve their purpose for me for a time, right? In the same sense, the the elementary spiritual things that we've experienced in our lives, they serve a purpose for a time for us, right? But there's a point where we need to grow up. If I would have just stayed on the bunny slopes after I, let's say I've been snowboarding for 10 years now, around that time, if I would have stayed on the bunny slopes for that entire time, I wouldn't have actually been able to get any better, to grow as a snowboarder. In the same sense, if we stay on the bunny slopes in our faith, we're never actually able to grow into the person that God wants us to be. We're never gonna be able to see the things that He wants us to see. We're never gonna be able to explore the rest of the mountain of our faith, right? So in that in that same light, we need to learn and we need to grow up in our faith and leave the bunny slopes behind and go to seek the rest of the mountain of what God's called us to experience in our life. And so before we get maybe into the the Bible, I want to define what we're even talking about. What does it mean to grow up in our faith, right? Because if we don't have a solid definition of that, it can mean 20 different things to 20 different people. But what does it mean to grow up in our faith? And as we're defining this term, it's not that we're merely growing in age, right? I've met a lot of people who are older that if I'm being honest, they're still pretty childish in their ways. I've met a lot of people who might be wiser in years, but they're not actually mature as a person. They're still making the same mistakes that they made 20 years ago, right? So maturity isn't just growing in age, but it's growing in character. And for us as Christians, maturity means growing in Christ-like character over a long period of time. And the thing is, is that maturity is a good thing. Right? Maturity is something we should look forward to. Do you remember when you were young and you said, oh my goodness, I can't wait until I can be a firefighter when I'm older, I can't wait until I can be a chef when I'm older. Maturity is a good thing, and it's something we should actually look forward to because it lets us have freedom, it gives us power to make our own decisions, and it also gives us joy and excitement. I remember when I was able to finally leave the bunny slopes and go on the rest of the mountain, there was so much joy and excitement in my heart because maturity is a good thing. And for us as Christians, God's vision for our lives is that we would grow in maturity and the things that He's called us to, that we would grow in our character and we would grow in walking out our faith. And so I want to kind of ask you this question because the the truth is it's not that we're not growing up, but the question is, is who are you growing up into? Right? Everyone's growing up to some degree. You're growing up into a certain type of person. The world is shaping you and forming you and trying to make you into a worldly person, you could say. But the question we have to ask ourselves as Christ followers is who are we growing up into? What are we allowing to shape our lives? So think about that. Who do you want to be in ten years from now? And what in your life today is helping you get to that point? Who do you want to be five years from now in your faith? And what are you doing today? What is God leading you to do today, even so that you can get to that place? And to further unpack this idea, I actually want to go back to that passage that Anna Gloria read for us from 1 Corinthians 3. Uh and as you guys turn there again in your Bibles, this is Paul is addressing a church that was honestly very immature. We could say they were still on the bunny slopes when they should have been on the rest of the mountain. They've been following Jesus for some time now, but they hadn't actually grown in their character or grown in faith. So this is a church that's kind of putting their identity, maybe their maturity and their gifting, and not actually their character being built. They were a very gifted church. They had probably every single spiritual gift you could think of, but that doesn't mean that they were mature. Your character is what ultimately defines your maturity. So let's read. And what Paul's doing here is he's contrasting people who live by the spirit as being mature, and people who live by the worldly standards as infants in Christ are being immature. Paul's making a distinction here. He's saying, if you live by the spirit, that's how you know you're actually mature in Christ. But if you're living to please the world, or you're living from worldly standards, you're actually an infant in Christ. He says, I gave you milk and not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? And if I'm being honest with you, if I was on the receiving end of this letter, that would kind of freak me out to hear someone say that to me. I I would not want to hear someone say, hey, Avan, you're worldly, you're an infant in Christ. You haven't grown in your faith, and you need to get back on the right track. But lovingly, Paul writes this letter to this church because it's exactly what they need to hear. And maybe for some of us tonight, the thing that we need to hear in a loving manner, not with condemnation, but because Christ wants us to grow is you need to grow up. You need to learn to become the person God's called you to be. Paul is essentially telling this church, he's saying, Wake up! You're not who you think you are. You think you're mature because of your gifting. You think you're mature because of the way that you talk in front of other people. But he's saying you're actually not mature. You're infants in Christ because you're pleasing your flesh, you're living for the things of this world still. He's saying it's time to wake up. And so kind of the first point and our first takeaway from this is maturity is seeing ourselves as we truly are. Right? If we want to grow in our faith, we're gonna have to learn to actually see ourselves as we truly are. And there's two aspects to this. The first aspect to having an accurate view of ourselves is like the Corinthian church. We might need to hear or invite someone into our lives, an older saint, maybe like Paul, and share our lives with them and say, Hey, do you actually think I'm mature? Or would you say I'm immature? Or maybe we can even uh invite our friends around us to speak into our lives saying, Hey, do you do you actually think I'm mature? Or do you see any areas of immaturity in my life? Because the truth is, is if we want to be mature, we have to see ourselves as we truly are. And that means we have to be radically honest with ourselves. Where are we actually at in our faith? What is God called us to do? Where have we said no when He told when He's told us to go? And where have we said yes when He hasn't told us to go there? So to be mature, we have to have an accurate view of ourselves. That means we can't be prideful in the way we look at ourselves. We have to be real, we have to come to Jesus as we really are, honestly, because that's the only way that we can come to Him. If you bring your fake self to Jesus, if you really can't transform it, I've tried to do that before in my life and it doesn't work too well. If I if I bring myself to Jesus the way I want others to see me, it's not gonna work well. It's not gonna have the end result that we want, which is ultimately us growing up. But there's a second part to this of seeing ourselves as we truly are, that I think is super important, and it kind of comes from this last verse uh in the 1 Corinthians 3 passage, if you could put that back up on the screen real quick. Uh it says, at the very end, it says, Are you not acting like mere humans? Isn't that a weird question to ask somebody? Imagine I walk down the street one day and I said, Hey you, why are you acting like a mere human? You'd be like, Well, what do you mean that's what I am? But in Paul telling the church of Corinth this, I think he's actually getting to something deeper. He's saying that you're actually at the core of your being, you're not just merely a human. You're a human being with the spirit of God living inside of you if you've given your life to Christ. And so for us to say, oh no, but I'm just a human, yes, but you have the spirit of God living inside of you also. So that is not the overall identity of who we are because we've been changed by the grace of God. We're not just merely humans, but we're sons and we're daughters of the king. And I think that this point gets even more prevalent when we look at what Paul says to the church, because if I'm honest, if I was writing this letter, I would tell the church, hey, you're not acting right, so do all this stuff to fix it. But what Paul actually does towards the end of 1 Corinthians 3 is he says in verse 316, he says, Do you not know that you are temples of the Holy Spirit? You see, what Paul wants us to get or fix our minds on is not what we're doing, but what Christ has already done for us. Because once we fix our eyes and understand what Christ has done for us, then we can actually begin to grow into the people he's called us to be. Then we can actually start to mature. So we need an accurate view of ourselves from God's perspective as well. We need to see ourselves as forgiven, is cleansed, is made right with God. Is we're actually growing in righteousness because he's made us righteous by his blood. And this isn't because you've done something so well, but it's because we were in so in need of a savior, and God's love met us exactly where we needed it. So we need to understand the done before we focus on the doing. It's understanding our identity in Christ that will actually lead us to living the life that God has called us to do. To kind of further uh just tackle this mountain, if you want to say, of maturity. I actually want to look at the uh Apostle Peter's life really quickly. We're kind of just gonna do a flyby of his life because I think he gives a really good example of somebody who had their moments of maturity, but also had really, really low moments of inmaturity where he disobeyed God and he didn't do what he should have done. And so uh what as we go into this flyby of Peter's life, and I think we should have a slide for this too. Awesome, yeah. Okay. At the beginning of his life, we see that he was called by Jesus, right? And at this time this was kind of radical because Peter was just a fisherman, and fishermen usually didn't get called by rabbis to go and follow them. It was kind of reserved for the best of the best, the smartest people of the time. So calling a fisherman to be your disciple was not a common thing in the first century. And then we see that Peter walks on water and then he falls, and then Jesus rescues him. And that in itself could be a whole sermon, right? Jesus is rescued us so, so many times. Uh, but then kind of what I want to focus on is this part in Matthew 16 where we kind of see uh Peter and Jesus have this conversation, if you want to say. And basically what happens at first is that Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah. And the reason this is important, right? Jesus asks him, Who do you say that I am? He says, You are the Messiah, you're the Lord. The reason why this is important is because the entire Old Testament, that first part of your Bible, was all pointing to a coming Savior. It was all pointing towards someone coming to save the people of Israel, to be victorious, because they couldn't honestly do anything but lose. So the entire Old Testament is pointing towards this Messiah. And Peter makes the boldest statement of his life to say, Jesus, you are that man. You are the Messiah that the Old Testament was prophesying about. You are the one that the people have been talking about for years on end. He says, Jesus, you are the savior of the world. And isn't that such a mature thing to do? That's the first step that he takes. And then from that, we see that Jesus tells him that he's gonna build the church on him, he's gonna be the leader of the early church. And this is something we'll kind of see come to fruition later. And right after Jesus tells him this, it's in the same passage. Jesus rebukes Peter because Peter told him that he's actually not gonna go die on the cross and he's not gonna rise from the dead. Because you see, in Peter's eyes, he couldn't imagine the Messiah, the savior of the world dying. That wasn't part of Peter's paradigm, that wasn't part of his vision for his life. But that was the way that Jesus was actually gonna redeem us from our sins. So Jesus rebukes him and he actually says, get behind me, Satan. So imagine this you go from saying that Jesus is the Messiah, right? To saying, hey, you're gonna be the one who leads the early church movement to being, get behind me, Satan. Whoa. That's some highs and some lows, really quickly, right? We see some moments of maturity, and we also see some moments of immaturity from Peter in that. And then just Continue. Peter denies Jesus three times, basically saying he didn't know him. And then we see that Jesus actually reinstates Peter. He says, Hey Peter, I know what you've done, I know that you've denied me, I know where you've misstepped, but what I told you earlier is still gonna happen. The words I spoke to you, they're not gonna return void. He's gonna accomplish what he's purposed in Peter's life, and we see this happen in the book of Acts. Is Peter leads the early church and is the kingdom of God actually comes to earth in a very tangible way, and God's power is on display for the entire world to see. So we can see that Peter had some extremely high moments and also some very low moments. And I think for us, as we're on this path of maturity, that that's honestly the story for a lot of us. We'll have some really high moments in our faith, and we'll have some really low moments as well. And so the next point is that growing up isn't linear, right? I think so often we can have this idealistic view of our maturity that's just gonna be this perfect straight line. We're gonna go from here to heaven and it's gonna be perfectly straight. But if we're gonna be honest with ourselves, it's not really linear. There's gonna be twists and turns, unexpected things happening in our lives. I guarantee you, when Peter told Jesus that he's not gonna die, he was not expecting to get rebuked. There's gonna be some unexpected things that happen in our faith. There's gonna be some difficulties, some valleys that we have to walk through, but it's all leading up towards us becoming more like Jesus Christ. And so what we need to do with this is we have to understand that these valleys and these difficult moments, they're not necessarily always bad if we surrender them to Jesus. We can make them a place of invitation for Jesus to meet us in the valley, in the deepest, darkest places of our lives. He can meet us and he wants to, but he's not gonna barge down the door and let himself in. You have to open it up to him and allow him to come in. And so the the question we have to really ask ourselves from this is okay, so that's kind of the path to it, but how do we mature to be the people that God's called us to be? And I want to use one simple phrase we mature with God. And I hope for some of us you can breathe, and that's a weight off your shoulders, because that means that your maturity isn't solely dependent on you. You don't have to take yourself from wherever you're at to where God calls you to be all on your own. We mature with God. And I would even say we can't mature without Him and to the people He's called us to be. And what this means is like what Joel said last week also, like maturity is a choice we have to make, right? Maturity is not just gonna happen. If we want to mature and grow in our faith, it's not just gonna happen to us. We can't just kick up our legs and hope for the best. It's a choice we make, but we also need God's help to accomplish it. And without his help, we're not going to be turned into the people that God calls us to be. God's not gonna force us to grow. He's not gonna force you to grow if you don't want to. But can I tell you that his vision for your life is that you would grow? And he has so much better of a plan for you than not growing or grow even going backwards. We we can't grow without him. We need him to do this, so we mature with God. And think about it. I'm gonna take you back to the story from when I was snowboarding, right? The the part I left out, right, was at the beginning I was really bad. At the end I got decent, okay? But in between that, what really helped me was I got a trainer. I took lessons for snowboarding, and that's honestly how I got better in that same sense. Jesus wants to be your trainer, the Holy Spirit wants to train you in how you live a godly life. See, it's not just gonna happen, he's not gonna force you into maturity or into growing up. It's a choice that we make, but we need God's help to accomplish it. And I want to illustrate this through another passage, and this is gonna be in 2 Peter, it's gonna be chapter 1. We're gonna read verses 3 through 10 and just kind of look at what does it look like to mature in our faith and how do we know that we are maturing? And how does God play a part in this if we also have a part in it? Because I know that can kind of be a little confusing. So if you want to turn there in your Bibles to 2 Peter 1, we're gonna be in verses 3 through 10. Alright, it says his divine power, it's also on the screens if you want to see it up there. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Circle the word everything or underline it if you want to. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. That means that you are not lacking a single thing to live the life God has called you to live. There is not a single thing on the face of the earth that you are lacking. And that's good news. That means that you can actually live the life that God's called you to live right now. You don't need to go and study some deep theology. No, he's given you power through his spirit to live the life he's called you to. And that's freeing for us to really understand. Let's continue. It says, through these, he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature. Right? There's a participation with us, with the Holy Spirit, to accomplish the maturity that He's called us to. Having escaped the corruption of the world caused by evil desires. This is the point we're going to kind of focus in on this next verse. It says, for this very reason, right, in light of the fact that God has won you over through Christ and given you his Holy Spirit in light of the fact that the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, mutual affection, and to mutual affection, love. Right? So he says, for the reason, for this very reason that you have been made right with God, that the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you, right? We're not working to earn God's love. He already loves us. He's saying, because God loves you exactly as you are, exactly where you are, as a son or a daughter, says, for this reason, make every effort. Underline that if you can. Make every effort. Isn't that interesting? And what this is not saying is that our growth with God is fully dependent on ourselves. It's not saying that our growth with God is dependent on what we can do for God, and that's the only way we grow. But it's also not telling us that we just get to kick back our legs and kind of lay down and not do anything. It's telling us that we play a part in this growth process with God, and the part we play is actually very crucial, and the manner in which we pursue what he's calling us to do is vital. See, make every effort. Do it to the best of your ability. Do whatever God calls you to do and do it in full force. He's telling us to make every effort to live the life he's called us to live, empowered by the Holy Spirit. See, the Holy Spirit is the one who's actually leading us and guiding us into this. We couldn't do this without him. That's why we mature with God, right? Because we can't do it without him. And so we make every effort to live the life God has called us to live. And this is saying that as the Holy Spirit prompts you, we need to take the next step of obedience into our maturity so that we can actually live in the life that He's called us to live. This will ultimately bring growth in our lives, but it is a choice for us that we have to make. Is do we want to make every effort or we just want to kick up our legs and hang out and wait for something to happen to us? Because the world's not going to stop pressing in on us. It's not going to stop, and we have a choice to fight against what the world is trying to force on us, and we have a choice to also relax, and we'll just look more and more like the world. And I can tell you from seeing other people's lives and even in my life that you don't want to just relax. We need to make every effort. And this isn't saying that you're working for your salvation or anything like that. This is saying as the Holy Spirit's prompting you to do something, are you attacking that in full force? Are you giving your full self to God, saying, God, you've called me to serve in this area, you've called me to go to this place, I'm going to go there, and I'm going to run as hard as I can to do that. And I'm going to keep on reading. And we're going to have to kind of skip over this passage from verses 5 to 7. I'd love to break it down, but we just don't have time. But what I want you to focus on is that last word, love in verse 7. It's this word in Greek, it's agape. And that word means sacrificial love. So we we get to see that the end result of a mature Christian is a selfless Christian who loves others. It's one who's willing to serve, and not someone who's actually prideful and just looking for the best of their own interest. A mature Christian, the end result will be a Christian who loves well in service. Verse 8 says, if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. I want to pause right there. Kind of a little sidebar. Are you remembering that you're cle you're cleansed from your past sins? Do you remember what Jesus has done for you regularly? Because if you don't, you'll be trying to add all of these qualities to your life on your own power and to earn the love of God to earn your forgiveness when he's already fully forgiven you through the blood of Jesus Christ. Whoever in this room has placed their faith in Jesus, you are fully forgiven right now. It's not because I said it, but because of what Jesus did. You're fully forgiven. You're a son, you're a daughter of the king. You are loved more than you can imagine, and your father wants to see you grow. That's the end of the little sidebar. Know your identity. So Paul or Peter continues, he says, Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. Right? And so Peter is saying, yes, God does the heavy lifting. He's the one who really grows our hearts. We don't have the power in us to grow our hearts, but we do have the opportunity and the ability to what I like to say, we get to open the door for God. Right? We can open the door. And when we open that door, maybe it's more of a flinging of the door open than just opening it nice and slowly. We need to make every effort to open the door for God to come into our lives so that He can be the one to transform us and change us. He's gonna do the heavy lifting, he's gonna do the theological words, he's gonna sanctify you, he's gonna do the sanctifying work in your life. And all that that word means, if you don't know, is that sanctification is just becoming more and more like Jesus. He's gonna be the one to grow you, but he's not gonna force himself on us in the same sense he didn't force you to come to him when you gave your life to him. He gives you the opportunity, but we need to choose to open the door to God and not keep it shut. And in the manner in which we do this, we need to make every effort. We need to run vigorously after what he has called us to because we don't want to miss it. And to further explain this, I want to look at one more uh verse from that first passage that we were in in 1 Corinthians 3. It's in verse 6. It says, I planted the seed. This is Paul talking, you don't need to turn there. It says, I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow, right? And so we have a part in this. We need to do our part as God calls us to, to walk in obedience so that we can be the people that he's called us to be. But God is ultimately the one who brings the growth in our lives. He's ultimately the one who's gonna change our heart and from that change our action. But we have to make the choice to let him in. And we have to make the choice to make that, to let him in with every effort that we can possibly give. So, as we have or as you have opportunity, the question is, are you willing to make every effort to pursue the maturity that God has called you to? Are you willing to let God into your life so that he can transform and change you? Because if you're not, he's not gonna force himself in your life. He's not gonna say, nope, I have a better plan for you and you have to live in it. He's gonna allow you to choose. He's given us the freedom to choose if we want to walk on this path with him or if we want to live the lives that we're currently living. Right? And so what I what I want us to do, we've all been following Jesus for different amounts of time. Maybe some of us, I don't know, ten years, some of us ten months, and kind of everywhere else in between, right? We've been following Jesus for a different amount of time. Then the question I want to ask you, is if you're being radically honest with yourself, and this isn't a question that I'm asking that I want you to experience any condemnation, but if we want to be transformed by Jesus, we gotta be real with where we're actually at. We have to really open up our lives to God and be like, no, this is where I'm actually at. Like the the very first point, we have to be honest with where we're at if we want to see ourselves as we truly are. And so the question I want to ask you is in the past five years, let's say, if you've been following Jesus for that long, have you seen growth? All right? In the past year, have you seen growth in your life? Let's cut down the time a little bit more. In the past six months, have you seen growth in your life if you're being radically honest? And for some of us, there's gonna be a wide variety of answers, right? There's gonna be people who said, Yes, I've experienced so much growth in my life. There's gonna be other people who say, honestly, I haven't. And wherever you're at, it's okay to be there. Because God's vision for each and every single one of us is that we would actually grow and mature into the people he's called us to be. And there's good news. That means that where you're at right now isn't God's finished plan with you. He has more and more for you to experience of himself. But he's not gonna force you to experience that if you don't want to. So if you're being honest with yourself, have you seen growth in your life recently? Or have you kind of hit this, maybe this flat line and you're wondering, like, God, what's happening? Right? And I think there's a difference, kind of what Dre was talking about earlier today. There's a difference in just being in a dark valley and actively choosing to rebel against God and not walk in the ways he's called you to walk in. Right? So if you're just going through a difficult season right now, that's not a bad thing. And God's gonna grow you in a unique way in that. But if you're choosing to live for the world instead of God, that's what honestly is stunting your growth. But there's good news because there's more growth awaiting you, whether you've been following Jesus for 10 years, 15 years from once you were a baby, it doesn't matter everywhere else in between to 10 minutes ago. God's vision for you is maturity, and there's growth awaiting you. And what I kind of want to do as we're kind of coming to a close with this, is I want to give you two really practical steps, and this is kind of taking away from uh the very first passage that we looked at where Paul told the church, he's like, you guys are not ready for solid food yet. You still need spiritual milk, right? And I want to take us to that passage in the sense that let's look at that and say, I'm done with the spiritual milk. I'm done with drinking of the things that are of my old person. I want to live the life that God has called us to be. And so the two points are first, we need to learn to put down the baby bottle. And the second thing is, is we need to learn to pick up solid food. And what I'm saying in we need to put down the baby bottle, is the first thing we need to do, is we need to put away an unrealistic view of ourselves. We need to see ourselves as we truly are, in the sense that, man, maybe we're not as mature as we think we are. Maybe God's calling us to something greater and we've been complacent, living in this life of immaturity. We need to have a real view of ourselves and where we're actually at, but we also need to have a real view of ourselves in the sense that we need to put away anything, any lies from the enemy that he's been telling us. Right? We need to stop listening to the lies that no, you're not chosen, no, you're not loved, because God's word says something better. It says that you are chosen, you are loved. You're a son or a daughter of the king. Another way where we could be putting down the baby bottle is honestly with like habitual sin cycles, right? Things that we've been living in that God has called us away from. We've been drinking of this certain sin, maybe it's lust, maybe it's pornography, maybe it's idolatry, maybe it's covetousness. I have no idea what it is for you. But we've, if we're being radically honest with ourselves, we've been drinking of this thing for way too long. We've been living in this way too long without seeing growth. So we need to make every effort to get out of that. With the power of God, we need to make every effort. We need to radically take the step of obedience that God's called us to and allow his spirit to transform us. And for me, kind of a more silly example, right? When I was uh younger a couple years ago, something that God called me to put away was video games, right? And so this is maybe a little bit more lighter of an example, but he said, Hey Avon, you've been playing video games way too much. I was playing like maybe like eight hours at a time, and I honestly didn't have time for God, for video games, for football, for school, for a job, right? And so he said, Hey, you need to put this away so that you can actually grow up into the person I want you to be. And I know some of us probably just felt a little bit of conviction with that. And that's good, right? The conviction that we're feeling, maybe from that possibly, is God speaking to us like, hey, there's areas in our lives where we need to learn to grow up. And when I did that, I actually experienced more freedom, right? Because I thought, oh my goodness, freedom is me playing video games all day long. That's not freedom, that's bondage to a screen. And uh, in the same vein, maybe maybe God's calling you to put away social media or to limit your time on that. That's something else that God can call us to put down so that we don't, so that we won't be inhibited by the things that are stunting our growth, so that we can grow into the person he's called us to be. We need to make every effort to put this stuff away in our lives. And so, what does that look like? That looks like picking up solid food. The first thing for solid food, I would say, is having a right view of yourself, understanding your identity in Christ, and knowing who God says you are, above over who the world is saying that they want you to be. We need a right view of ourselves. Who does God say that you are? He says you're loved. He says that you're a son or a daughter. I know I'm saying that a lot, but it's because it's important, and I hope that that sticks with you as you leave tonight, that you are a son, you're a daughter, you are loved by God at the core of your being. Because that will lead to a life of radical obedience to Jesus. Another way we can pick up solid food in our lives is simply by reading the Word of God. And maybe we look at our lives and we say, dang, over the past 10 years I really haven't grown in that. And that's not a bad place to be, but God wants you to experience more. He wants you to take that next step. Maybe you've been reading the Bible very sporadically for the past couple of years, but you've been still growing in your faith, and maybe God's next step for you is to start reading the word on a more regular basis. To start attacking that with all your effort, saying, God, I'm gonna carve out the time in the mornings, the noon, night, whenever it is for you, to spend time in your word. Maybe that's a place for you to pick up solid food so that you can actually mature into the person that God wants you to be. Maybe it's for you learning to pray, saying, God, teach me to pray. I I first started like actually getting into my prayer life, like honestly, not too many years ago. And the very first thing I asked Jesus, I said, Jesus, teach me to pray. I said, Jesus, teach me to pray. And you know what he did? He listened and he helped me. He grew me into the person that I wanted to be. But it took me making the effort to say, God, I'm if I'm being honest, I don't know how to pray. And I want to, so let me first let me carve out time for this and then step into this prayer life with you. Maybe picking up solid food for you is simply, very practically, getting a job. Maybe that's the next step that God's calling you into, is that you need to get a job. You need to start working. If you read the books of 1st and 2 Thessalonians, which is in the New Testament, Paul talks so much about working hard with your hands. Maybe that's your next step that God's leading you into. Maybe it's getting into a community of other believers, a life group. We have them at Rocky Peak or whatever your home church is, going there and saying, Hey, I'm going to join a community group at my church. So that You can actually learn to grow. And for me, that's honestly where I found the most growth in my life. It was when I surrendered and I said, Jesus, even though I don't really like people and they can be kind of messy, I'm gonna choose to go to Life Group. And there was a group of guys and they invited me to Life Group, actually in RPYA. That's when I first started going to Life Group consistently. And it changed my life because I had brothers around me at that time that I needed to help point me in the right direction, help point me to Jesus. So maybe that's your next step. Maybe that's what it looks like for you to pick up solid food. Maybe it's going to the ministry that we have here at Rocky Peak called Regeneration that meets on Thursday nights. Maybe that's your next step. The point of that ministry is if you're struggling with any sin cycle, you're struggling with something in your life. It can be small, it can be big. They want to help you find freedom. That ultimately comes from finding your identity in Christ and learning to do the things that Jesus tells us to do. So maybe that's your next step is going to regeneration. Or maybe your next step is simply just walking in the light with your friends, saying, hey, this is who I really am with the people around you. This is who I really am. I'm done giving you this fake version of myself. I'm going to be who I actually am with the people around me. And that is where we can actually find freedom and growth because when we walk in the light, God is with us in the midst. He's teaching us how to do relationships with other people. And you can't do this life on your own. If you're a solo Christian right now, the best thing you could do is just try to find some friends, try and find some people to get around you. And it's a great first step to be here at RPYA. But let's keep walking in the things that God's called us to. And so the question is, are we making every effort, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to live the mature life that God's called us to? That's the question we got to wrestle with. Is there something that God's putting on your heart, like, dang, I need to put this down? Or something that He's calling you to pick up in this season of your life, and they can change season to season. But are you making every effort? Are you saying, no, God, you're calling me to get friends in my life, to get accountability? I'm going to do everything I can to do that if that's what you've put on my heart. You're calling me to read the word. I'm going to carve out time for that during the day. Are we willing to take that next radical step into what Jesus has called us to do? And it's not going to be easy. There's going to be difficulties along the way, but we'll learn to focus on Jesus and what he's done for us and the fact that he's with us in the midst of the difficulty, in the midst of the pain, and we'll actually be able to step into this life that he wants us to live. And so as we wrap up and we're going to go into a time of prayer and reflection for a couple minutes, I want to leave you with this very, very broad question. The question is, Jesus, where do you want to mature me? So as we go into this time of prayer and reflection, we're just going to go before the Lord and be very honest. Jesus, this is where I'm at. This is who I really am. Not who I want people to think I am, but this is who I really am. And Jesus, where do you want to mature me? And notice who's the one who's doing the maturing. It's not you, it's Jesus. But we just have to invite him into that area. We have to radically open up that door. Say, Jesus, come in. I need your help. I can't do this on my own. And the good news is, you don't have to do it on your own. Jesus is right there. He's waiting for you to open the door. But the question is, will you? So let's go before the Lord. Anna Gloria's gonna put on some music in the background, just some instrumental worship. And we're all just gonna take some time and go before the Lord and say, Jesus, where do you want to mature me? Maybe he's been placing something on your heart. And if we're being honest, we've kind of been too relaxed in what he's called us to do. And we need to take that next step, but we need to take it with full force. So we're gonna go before the Lord and ask him, Jesus, where do you want to mature me? RPYA, it's time to grow up lovingly. It's time to take the next step that God's calling us to take. And it might be a scary step, it might require a lot of faith, but know that the God that's with you is the one who created the world. He's getting control of every single situation and circumstance that you will ever encounter. He's the God of all creation and he's your God. He's the God of all hope and he's your God. He's the God of all comfort and he's your God, and he wants to meet you right where you are. So let's go before the Lord. Let's ask Jesus where he wants us to mature. So, Father God, I just thank you for just the opportunity that you've given us tonight to come before our King, God. It's not me who's going to change anyone's life, God, but it's ultimately you, Lord. So I pray and I ask, God, would you show us where you want to mature us? And I pray that we would make every effort empowered by the Holy Spirit to step into the life that you've called us to live, God. We cannot do this on our own. We mature with you, God. We need your help. But would you open our eyes and would you lead us? Would you guide us in the places where you want us to mature and would we learn to trust you and to love you, Lord? We thank you for all that you've done for us, God. And it's in the mighty name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.