COLOSSIANS - The Point Is Maturity

9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over every ruler and authority;COLOSSIANS 2:9-1024 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.COLOSSIANS 1:24-29 THE POINT IS MATURITY (message title)Maturity: the state, fact, or period of being mature.Mature: fully developed physically; full grown. Having reached an advanced stage of mental or emotional developmental characteristics of an adult.JESUS IS THE FOCUS; MATURITY IS THE GOAL.Emotional Reasoning: letting your feelings guide your interpretation of reality. “I feel depressed; therefore, my life is not working out.”Catastrophizing: focusing on the worst possible outcome and seeing it as most likely. “It would be terrible if I failed.” Overgeneralizing: perceiving a global pattern of negatives is based on a single incident. “This generally happens to me. I seem to fail at a lot of things.” Dichotomous Thinking: viewing events or people in all-or-nothing terms. “I get rejected by everyone,” or “it was a complete waste of time.”Negative Filtering: focusing almost exclusively on the negatives and seldom noticing the positives. “Look at all the people who don’t like me.” Discounting Positives: claiming that the positive things you or others do are trivial, so that you can maintain a negative judgement. Labeling: assigning global negative traits to yourself or othersMind Reading: assuming that you know what people thinking without having sufficient evidence of their thoughts.IMMATURITY/MATURITY IS NOT A RESULT OF WHO YOU ARE.13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock[b] I will build my church, and the gates of hell[c] shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed[d] in heaven.”20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ 21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord![e] This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance[f] to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”MATTHEW 16:13-23Jesus exposed how Peter came into this satanic way of thinking. He didn’t make a deliberate choice to reject God and embrace Satan; he simply let his mind settle on the things of men instead of the things of God, and Satan took advantage of it. Peter is a perfect example of how a sincere heart coupled with man’s thinking can often lead to disaster.DAVID GUZIKIMMATURITY/MATURITY IS NOT A RESULT OF WHO YOU ARE. IT’S A RESULT OF HOW YOU THINK.Do not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.ROMANS 12:21. MATURITY IS NOT AUTOMATICTo them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.COLOSSIANS 1:27CHRIST IN YOU, not Christ (at church), not Christ (in me, Paul), not Christ (in them), not Christ (in theory). Your hope for maturity is Jesus in YOU. Maturity STARTS with Jesus in YOU. 2. MATURITY IS A PROCESS And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,[e] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.[f] For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.2 CORINTHIANS 3:18(TRANSFORMED GRAPHS) 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.LUKE 2:523. MATURITY IS GROWN THROUGH THE WORDYou are a hindrance[f] to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”MATTHEW 16:13-23All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.1 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 Maturity starts with Jesus IN YOU. It is grown by you IN THE WORD. The end result is HUMILITY.Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.MATTHEW 5:1“WE SHOULD GROW UP IN OUR THINKING SO WE CAN GROW DOWN IN OUR HUMILITY.”JOHN PIPERFor I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am,1 CORINTHIANS 13:11To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace...