I need a mic, but I don't have to hold my hand because I talk like this. So I'm very like, like I'm like a one arm paper hanger when I have my mic in my hand. So I need to get myself freed up. We try it now.
We good? We're going to go with the mic. It's okay. Well, good morning.
Hey, good to see you guys. Great day. Come out in the rain today. Be honest with you.
I told my wife this morning if there's ever a day, I wish I could stay in bed. It was today. And I can hear the rain on the roof, you know, and just thinking, no, I would just love to stay in bed. It's not reality, but it's a, I appreciate you guys crawling out of bed, making an effort to get to church today.
And here we hope to pray that you're blessed today when you leave here and going to grow some more in God's word. That we're in a series about increase and I just kind of want to do a little bit of catch up from last week. Because last week I talked from Ephesians chapter four and I just felt like there were some more things God wanted to share with us from Ephesians four this week. So we're going to pick back up a little bit where we left off then.
I'll have to undress in order to take that off. So I'm good. Let's not do that right now. Right?
You guys good? Oh my goodness. Let me start with a joke today or something. Huh?
Let's wake up. Alright. So last week when we looked at Ephesians four we talked about measurement. And that if you're going to have increase in life or in your spiritual walk or in your physical life or your marriage or whatever it is, when you have increase there has to be a way to measure it.
Right? You just can't say, well, I want to grow. Well, that's great. It's kind of nebulous.
But there should be some standard of measurement by which we gauge am I going up or going down, am I going ahead or going backwards, am I increasing, decreasing whatever my be. And as we look in Ephesians chapter four, God talks about or Paul talks about that grace was given to each of us. And so the first thing we talked about last week is that each person is given grace. Each person is empowered equal to the measurement of the gift that God gives you.
That God gives you gifts and he actually gives you grace to go with that gift. And sometimes if you try to walk in a gift that you're not graced for, that's when you tend to falter or you struggle or it's really stressful. But when you actually flow in the gift thing that God's graced you to do, you actually do these. And then Paul transitions to talk about what we call five-fold ministry gifts.
He talks about the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, and the teacher. And he says everybody's given grace, but these five ministry gifts are given a special grace and their grace is for the purpose of equipping the body or the work of the ministry. And so that what God's intention is is that the pastor or the teacher or the evangelist, the prophet of the apostle, they're actually not the ones that do the work of the ministry that we're all ministers, that we all have a function within the body. So that maturity needs to take place within the body so that everybody can function and grow into their ministry that God's equipped you to do.
So he says that they equip them for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body. Let's go ahead and go through the slide. Actually, let's go to the first slide because it says, I kind of want to open with this anyway. It says, as a result, we're no longer children.
But speaking the truth in love, we're to grow up in all aspects into Christ, into him who is the head. And so that when we're talking about growth, we don't want to just grow in one or two areas. And so what we call says, God's intention for you is that you grow, that you actually increase, that you get bigger, not just here and there, not just in one or two areas, but in all aspects, in every area. And so I was thinking this morning about what happens a lot of times is, when I was a kid, there was this movie, it was really traumatic as a kid, it was called the elephant man.
Okay, so it's about a guy to elephant Titus. And it's a grotesque disease, but essentially what happens is you'll have a limb that actually grows like extremely large. And what happens a lot of times when we focus on maybe just our own growth, but not the growth of the body or the growth of just one area of our life, that one area gets really big. But that's not God's intention.
What he wants, he wants the body to grow in sync, to grow in unison, to all grow at the same time. And so that you're not have one limb that's like this and one limb that's like this. Or last week we had like the T-Rex arms. Like you don't think so far you can go and your body grows, but your arms know.
And so he says, as a result, we're going to talk about what that result is today. As a result, you're no longer children, but you should speak the truth in love growing up in all aspects into him who is the head that is Christ. And so the word grow up is the word increase in it's a Greek word for increase. It means to grow.
It can mean to infants. It can mean it can talk about plants. It can talk about physical growth or spiritual growth. But a lot of times it's used to talk about the growth of a believer.
He says, I want you to grow up in all aspects into Christ. And so then in Ephesians chapter four, we looked at verses 11 through 13. And as well as kind of talking about a minute ago, it says that we're equipped for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ until we all come. Or on some translations say until we all arrive.
And so here he's telling us how long these ministry offices should be functioning in the church, how long equipping should take place, how long edification of the body should take place until we all arrive. Guess what? We haven't arrived yet. We're not there yet.
Part of you, when you accept Jesus is made completely new, but the other part of you, your body part of you, your mind part of you is continually being renewed and conformed to the image of Jesus. So we're not there yet. It's just because until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect, for that word means mature man, according to the stature of the measure of Christ. Or the measure of the statue of theinance of Christ.
So here's what he's saying. He's saying last week we talked about measurement. And when we're in the body of Christ, the measurement is not the person who equipped you. The measurement is not your pastor.
The measurement is not your spouse. The measurement is not your Sunday school teacher. The measurement's not the evangelist. The maybe comes in periodically and charges everybody up.
The measurement is the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ. And so that if you think about this measuring tape, it's not just, here's where I need no hands. But let's just say this thing went all the way to the ceiling, right? And if it was measuring Jesus, it would go way beyond the ceiling.
Like it would never stop. And it says when we measure our maturity, we don't measure it against people, we don't measure it against each other, we don't even measure it about where we used to be. Because a lot of people are like, well, I'm better than I used to be. Great, you should be.
But how do you measure up against the fullness of the stature of Christ? His fullness, the one who had the Holy Spirit without measure. The one that believed that everything was possible. The one who was fully submitted to his father.
The one that exhibited unconditional love and grace. Like how do you measure up to the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ? And so along with having a measuring stick, if you will, Jesus is essentially our measuring stick, there's also a little tick mark, right? If I look at this measuring, there's inches and there's quarter inches and there's feet and there's yards.
And so that there's marks along the way that actually let us know if we're growing according to that measure. Today, I want to look at a couple of those marks. I want to look at a couple of the marks of measurement or marks of the measure. I'm sorry, the marks of maturity.
Let's go ahead and read the last, we're going to focus on verses 14 through 16 today and I'm going to pick up one toward the end of the chapter. Let's go ahead and read this. It says, I feel like I need my Bible today. Actually, this isn't going to work.
It's not going to go both hands held up. You know, Mike, follow it. I think I just hold it. Appreciate the offer.
It says that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men. In the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. We're going to kind of unpack that a little bit. But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ.
From him the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share. Fuses growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. Father, I just asked today, Lord, that you would teach us Holy Spirit. Give us revelation even beyond Father what I'm saying.
Lord, I just pray that you open eyes, ears and I thank you that growth is going to take place today. In Jesus name. Amen. All right.
So the three things we're going to look at today start with G number one marks of maturity is grounded and that's specifically going to be grounded in the word. The number one grounded number two growth focused. That seems kind of obvious if we're going to mature, we need to be growth focused. But I really want to talk about an intentionality of growth because what happens?
You know, I was thinking about it. The only thing that really grows unattended is what weeds like you can ignore your garden and weeds grow. You don't have to nurture them, but that's not the type of growth we want. And so we want to be growth focused and attentionality to it.
And also the last thing is going to be grace oriented. So grounded specifically grounded in the word growth focused and grace oriented. The first thing we're going to come to is this. Oh, thanks for putting those up there.
Number one grounded. Okay. Next slide. It says this as a result, we should no longer be what?
Children as a result, we should no longer be children. So what does that tell you that that says, remember, clisiacis three one says this says there is a time and a purpose for every what season. There's a time and purpose for every season under heaven. So there's a time to be a baby.
Like none of us would be here if we weren't babies once. See, there's no shame in being a baby. There's just a shame in being a baby when you should be an adult. Like no shame in being a baby.
I love babies. Matter of fact, if you got a baby, I need practice for grandkids. Like I need somebody to prophesy grandkids over me. Bring me babies.
Like, but babies, there's no shame in being a baby. But if I'm holding your baby when he's 40 years old, like if I was carrying Seth around in my arms and burping Seth. And burping Seth. Come on, burp pastor.
Come on, burp for me. Yeah. That would be embarrassing. Because he says, as a result, we should no longer.
That means there was a time when it was okay. But now we should no longer be children. I think a lot of people are like the Toys R Us kids. I don't want to grow up.
Oh, you guys know I'm a Toys R Us kid. I got lots of toys and games that I can play with. Like we just want to play spiritual Nintendo all night. I don't want to grow up.
I like being a baby. If I'm not, I want to stuff my family if you're in the corner. I don't want to grow up. What are babies?
Babies are like, they're lovable, but they're selfish. Like they're not about you. They pee, they poop, and they eat, and they sleep. And they're dependent on you to do something for them.
They don't prophesy over you. They don't pray for you. They just cry and complain. But it's cute, right?
It's cute when they're two months old. If Seth stands up here and way, way, way, it's not so cute. Because he should no longer be a baby. And Paul says, as a result, we should no longer be children.
Paul talks about spiritual babies in 1 Corinthians 3. Sometimes people will give her the term carnal Christians. Carnal Christians are not people that live in sin. I mean, it could be.
It doesn't mean they don't. But a carnal Christian is just a baby Christian. A carnal is the word flesh. S-A-R-X, S-A-R-X, S-R-X, S-R-X, S-R-X, and in the Greek.
It just means that you relate to the flesh. You relate to the world. You relate to what you can see more than what you can't see. And that you're anchored in the natural realm more than you're anchored in the kingdom of God in the spiritual realm.
And Paul says this. He says, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as carnal, as there's the same word nepios or infants. I could only speak to you as babies. It's like he's talking to the Corinthian church and saying, I couldn't preach to you.
All I could do was say, da, da, da, da, and mama, mama, car, bus. Like if I got up and preached like that, you'd be like, what's wrong with you? Like talk to me like an adult. Go, go, go, go, go.
That's silly, but that's what he's telling them. He's like, I couldn't talk to you like adults because you're still babies. You're still carnal. I fed you with milk and not solid food, for until now you were not able to receive it.
Like you can't feed a baby solid food. So my goal at this church is that we grow up, that you get solid food on Sunday, so that you can come in here, and we're not sucking on a bottle on Sunday morning, but we're eating tea bones. Like we need some meat. He said, I tried to feed you a solid food until now you're native, receive it, and even now you're still unable for your still carnal, and you're still rooted in the natural realm for where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you.
Are you not carnal behaving like mere men? What was the sign of maturity? Paul said this, he says, I want the fivefold minister gifts to operate in the church until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. So that unity is a mark of maturity.
If this body is mature, it says I want that to happen, not only to your equipped to do your job, but until you are in unity, you're in oneness, you actually think the same two things. That you come in unity to the faith of the Son of God and of the knowledge of the Son of God. So think about this, having faith in Jesus, can a baby Christian have faith in Jesus? Yes, the moment you put your faith in Jesus, you're a believer.
So he's not talking about us believing in Jesus the same. He says, until you all come to the unity of the faith of the Son of God. He's actually said, here's the measuring stick, until everybody arrives at a place where we believe the same way Jesus believed, that he actually believed that all things are possible, that he actually believed, Father, I thank you that you always hear me, that everything I ask you answer, that if we can get to the place where we actually believe that way, he says you're mature. He said, until you come to the unity of the faith of the Son of God, and also do you come to the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God.
That just doesn't mean having correct theology about Jesus. It means actually thinking like he thinks, looking at a situation and perceiving it the way he perceives it, not the way it looks from the natural realm, not rooted in the fleshly carnal realm. And he says, I want you to come to unity. So Paul says, you're still babies, and the reason I know your babies is because there's strife, envy and divisions.
There's no unity in the way you guys think or act or believe. What Paul say later in that same book, 1 Corinthians 13 verse 11, he says this, he says, when I was a child, again, he uses the word nebyos. So guess what? Paul was a baby.
But he wasn't a baby when he wrote this book. He says, when I was a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child, I reasoned like a child, but what? But when I became a man, I put away childish things. Like some of you need to put the Nintendo away.
I don't mean in the natural realm. I mean, you got 20 years of being a Christian with one year of experience. Like it's time to grow up. It's time to grow up.
So Paul says that he gives us some indications of what this looks like, what's it look like to be a baby? So if we know what a baby looks like and we're no longer supposed to be that, we can know what not to be. Okay. So if you feel a certain way when you're here one of these today, don't let it make you feel like way.
Just say, okay, I've got somewhere to grow to. Right? Because as the Holy Spirit begins to reveal areas in your life, you need to grow in. Remember, when the Holy Spirit convicts, condemnation pushes you down and away.
He doesn't do that conviction picks you up and pulls you in. So anytime he begins to convict you of an air in your life, you need to change, he's actually drawing you closer to himself so he can change you. And so letting do that. So next slide.
We should no longer be children. So here's a couple things that were listed. First thing, post to and fro. I think this is a new American standard.
It says, tossed here and there by the way. It's tossed to and fro is actually a word that comes from the word cli-dawn or cli-dawn which means wave. It's actually like a super agitating wave. So imagine like this, it's kind of like floating on a wave.
You got no stability. You're over here one day and you're over here the next. You ever met a believer, let's just talk about believers because I'm not going to expect the world to be mature. You ever met a believer who was emotionally down one day and emotionally high the next?
Oh man, you see it. Oh man, praise God. Oh God's the best. Amen, holy, bless and holy favored.
And then you run into the next day. Oh man, life sucks. Oh, I don't know. Right?
Signing maturity. Because you've allowed your emotions to run to and fro. You've gone from one extreme to the other. Like you're hot and you're cold.
You're up and you're down. You're in and you're out. Like next week, man, they're here. They're serving in church.
They're involved. And then you don't see them for three months in maturity. So you said there shouldn't be this variable in this to your walk with the Lord. There should be a consistency.
Because we look later about speaking the truth. Truth is received from somebody who has a consistency in their life. Like I don't want somebody speaking into my life that can't manage their own. Like when you're up and down and high and low and like, like get some consistency in your life first.
And then I'll probably be more attentive to what you're going to say. See, Jesus was consistent. Would you agree? Hebrews 13, 8, Jesus Christ, the same.
Today, yesterday and forever. He doesn't change. James 1 17 says this, says every good and perfect gift comes down from the father of lights in whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning. God doesn't shift.
He doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. And so that's your measuring stick. Like your measuring stick's not me.
It's not Kristen. It's not Royce. It's nobody. But Jesus.
And he doesn't change. And he said, so I don't want you to act like a baby and be crying one night and moaning the other. And he's like, yeah, we all got emotions. But I want you to experience emotions, but you don't allow emotions to control and drive you.
Like you let God's word drive you. Impressionable. Carried about by every wind of doctor. Boy, never talk to somebody.
And they're like latched onto this subject this week. And then next week they're on something else. And then next week it's something else and variables. Impressionable.
I hear one thing. I see people though watch one TikTok that I could preach the same thing 10 times in a row. And they watch one TikTok video and they fall off the cliff. And somebody I used to be associated with got delivered to drugs, got healed in their body, got restored in relationships.
And then had one thing go wrong in their life and decided they didn't believe any of it anymore. Because they had the experience without the grounding in the word. See, I want you to have the experience, but I want the experience to corroborate what God's word says. And when you have the two together, you're not going to be shaken from what you believe.
See, I had that same person come up and be like, hey, you know what, I just want you to read a book on why miracles don't happen anymore. I'm not wasting my freaking time. Like I'm not reading that. Because I know that I know that I know that God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
I know it because his word says it. And I know it because I've experienced it in my life. And you're not going to talk me out of it. So why would I waste my time reading a dumb book about why that doesn't exist anymore?
See, if you're trained by the US government to identify fake dollar bills or fake hundred dollar bills, they don't train you on the fakes. They train you on the genuine authentic one. And the more you identify and understand what the genuine hundred looks like, you'll be able to pick up on all the fakes. See, you're not going to talk me out of what I believe because it's part of me.
And Paul says, I don't want you to be wishy. Watchy. Don't want you to believe. I want you to be grounded on a firm foundation.
Not going back and forth, not being impressionable, gullible. That's another immature thing. A bunch of Charlie Brown's trying to kick field goals. You remember that peanuts Lucy's like, come on, Charlie.
Now, you know what she does. She pulls the ball every time. It's like, oh, I've got it written right here. I will not pull that up.
But you always do. Okay. And after she pulls the ball away, she did it again. I fell for that trick again.
Like some of you keep falling for the same dumb tricks. This word trickery actually is the Greek word kubos, which means where we get the word cube. It actually means loaded dice. You're actually trying to win a game where you're playing against somebody throwing loaded dice.
Like you're going to lose. You're going to pull a Charlie Brown. Why is up? If they did it to you three times, they're probably going to do it to you for.
Don't fall for those tricks. He says, scheming and craftiness. Those are two words actually to describe what the enemy does. Craftiness, Paul says, and second Corinthians 11, he says, I fear by some way that the, as the same way the serpent beguiled Eve with his craftiness.
He's sneaky. The word scheming is the same word in Ephesians 6, 11. It says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the King James wiles. And he says, I think it's interesting, the first one that he talks about waves, the second one talks about wind, the next one talks about demonic influence.
When Jesus was in the boat asleep, remember this, the boat's sinking, oh, save us. And he stands up and says, peace be still. He says, why do you have no faith? And it says in Mark 441, they said, man, who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey him?
When Jesus sends out to 72 and Luke 10, they come back, they said, even the demons were subject to your name. To some of this is about knowing your authority in Jesus, that you don't have to stand for some of this stuff. Some of it is just being a moron. Like you're spiritually, you become spiritually stupid.
Like I've been there, I'm there sometimes. So I'm going to pray God quickens your spiritual intelligence. You become wise as serpents, gentle as doves. You don't fall prey to these stupid things people do to you, because those are all signs of immaturity that we need to grow out of.
We're going to grow up into Christ. Do you think Jesus fell for that stuff? No. Did anybody ever pull the wool over Jesus' eyes?
Never. When the devil tried to do it, what did he say? As it is written, you've got to be grounded in the word. If you don't want to go back and forth, if you don't want to be carried away by every wind of the doctrine, if you don't want to be tricked out of stuff by people trying to scheme against you, if you don't want the enemy eating your lunch, you've got to be grounded in the word.
Next, growth focused. Here's where we talk about intentionality. I'll read the next verse. So verse 15 to 16.
Now I want you to notice here that two times this word growth is used. It says, speaking the truth in love, you may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body. See that? When you do your share, when you do your part, what does it cause?
Growth, where? In the body. So the body does not grow to the degree that God wants it to if you don't do your share. Like, I can't do your part.
You can't do my part. I might be able to do it a little bit. You may be able to mind a little bit. We were never effective unless we all do the part that God's given us to do.
Remember, he's graced you with a gift. See that part where it says, join the knit together. I think it's a great word. It's two words, but it means compacted.
And it's kind of like you ever seen particle board? Do you know what particle board is? It's like actual pieces of wood scraps that are put together, like press board. Something that's called a press board.
We used to call it Aspenite when I was a kid. I don't even know if that's a thing anymore. But in my house, if you ever been in my house, you won't see this, but the beams that hold my house up are made out of scrap wood. It's actually pieces of wood that get compressed together and actually become stronger together than they would individually.
And can actually hold the entire weight of a house. And that's the picture here, is that we're actually compacted together that we can do something as a group that we could never do individually. See, that chip of wood would never hold my house up. But if you put enough chips of wood together and compact them tight enough, the strength collectively increases to where, in a lot of cases, it's stronger than just a solid piece of wood.
It's amazing. See, what happens a lot of times is we just think, well, you know, this hat has really grown. There's got to be an intentionality. There's got to be, you know, you're actually making a focused effort to growth.
And it's not you just focusing on your growth. Right? Like, well, I just want to worry about my growth is important. I need to grow.
I need to get in the word every day. But there's also, I also need to recognize that I got to contribute to you. You need to grow on your own. And you need to contribute to me.
Like, I need what you have. You need what I have. And together, when everybody does its part and says the body increases. Next slide, please.
Later in the chapter, he says, put away lying that each of one of you speak the truth to his neighbor for we are members, one of another. Could you imagine if I went, when I was a kid, I was about probably four years old, we had that old, the, like, electric stove where it gets like glowing red. It's like a coil. Remember those?
And I put my hand on it because it was red. And my dad will say, it didn't take you long to look at that, did it? Yeah, it doesn't take you long to look at something when it's hot. But why did I know to pull my hand off?
Because within a millisecond, my brain sends a signal to my hand and says, hey, you idiot, pull your hand off there. Literally, it happened so fast. But what if my brain said, oh, doesn't that feel good? Wow, that feels great.
I wouldn't have a hand. See, when you lie to your, when you lie to your neighbor, you're lying to yourself. Because we're all part of the same body. And I have to be confident that when the brain sends a signal to the hand or the toe or the, whatever it is, then I can rely that it's the truth.
And so that's why he says, lay aside lying and speak truth to one another because you're all members. And if I'm lying to you, I'm lying to me. And if I'm hurting you with a lie, who's it also hurting? It's hurting me because we're part of the same body.
He says, I want you to speak the truth. So a couple of things on truth and we'll just have to hurry up. Let's go the next slide. It says in Psalm chapter 119 verse 160, David says this, he says, the entirety, the entirety of your word is what?
I believe this book. Like, I believe everything in it. I don't care. Oh, somebody missed, missed, you know, a thousand years ago, they translated something wrong.
I believe that God said it. I believe in the inerrancy of God's word. David said the entirety of it is truth. Jesus said in John 17 17, he says, sanctify them by your word.
Your word is truth. So here's the thing, all truth. This might, I don't know if it says before, the Bible is 100% true. But all truth is not contained in the Bible.
The only one time does the phrase all truth ever show up. Jesus says this. He says, I have so many things to tell you, but you can't bear them yet. However, when he, the spirit of truth is come, he will lead you or guide you into all truth.
See, this is a record that's 100% truth, but I propose to you that all this is 100% truth, but all truth is not in this. All truth is in God. All truth is in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, Jesus says, he will take of what is mine and declare it to you.
Jesus himself said, I am the way the truth and the life. So all truth exists in Jesus. Even John said this, he said, all the things that Jesus did never could be recorded because had he been recorded, the books of the world could even contain all the things that would be written. So there's truth.
This is 100% true. But there's also things in your life that aren't written in here, like this God care about who you marry. Yeah, I think he does. I mean, if he cares that the sparrow falls to the ground, it says not a sparrow falls that he doesn't know about it.
You think he might care where you were, who you marry, where you, yeah, but it's not in here, but it's in there. It's in him and the Holy Spirit takes from him and declares it to you. And so what happens a lot of times when people say, well, if you can't show it to me in the Bible, I'm not going to believe it. I get it, but when you go by that theology, you limit to yourself to what's written here and you actually don't ever tap into all truth is contained in Jesus.
Now, the Holy Spirit will never lead you apart from what's written here, but he's going to add some clarity to the general truth that's here will give you specifics. So think about this, is it God's will that we preach the gospel in all the world? Yeah, but there was twice the Paul tried to go to what he thought was all the world, and it said the Holy Spirit stopped him and sent him somewhere else. Like you need the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth.
Like the Bible says this, says the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of God is you receive it like a little child. Right. It also says that the kingdom suffers violence and those that violent take it by force. What do I take it by force or do I receive like a little child.
I don't know. I got to ask the Holy Spirit because it depends on the situation. So the word is truth next slide. The Holy Spirit leads you into all truth.
I will cover that next slide. What about love? Because it says a lot of people want to do a lot of speaking. But what's it tells to do speak the truth in love.
Do you remember that word meant for infant called nepios? Remember that? That comes from a obsolete particle and a and e is nay and epos means word. It actually means without the power to speak.
What's a baby have? No power to speak. See God wants you to grow up to a point where you have power to speak into somebody's life. See, you can't speak into a life that you're not connected to.
What did it say? It says we're all one body. So I run into people all the time. Like they want to go thumping a Bible over somebody's head that they have no relationship with.
Like I want to thump you and make you learn God's word. How about developing a relationship first so in the context of family and unity that you actually trust me that what I'm saying is not just the truth but that I have your best interest in heart. It says this it's not just the truth but it's the truth in love. See truth is the message but love is the approach.
It says this love is patient. I'm going to speak the truth in patience. I'm going to speak the truth in kindness. I'm going to speak the truth without envy or boasting.
I'm going to speak the truth without arrogance or being rude. I'm going to speak the truth without insisting my own way. I'm going to speak the truth without being irritable or resentful. I'm going to speak the truth without laughing at you in your mess.
I'm going to speak the truth and I'm going to love you through everything. I'm going to speak the truth and believe that God's actually going to do it. I'm going to speak the truth and hope for the best. And I'm going to speak the truth and endure till the end.
That's a tall order. That's a tall order. But the measuring stick is who Jesus and guess what that's what he does is that grid the next slide So what's the opposite of truth don't look that yet? What's the opposite of the truth?
I lie right simple so the opposite of love is what a lot of people say hey I actually think that my opinion opposite of love is selfishness Because love agape love is self sacrificing giving and so that the opposite of actually agape love is me itself centered It's about self so as I was preparing for this God really said be careful of mixture of these four components And so I want to just touch on a couple because here's what happens Let's start in the red right because nobody's there. I know nobody's there. See instead of telling the truth in love Sometimes we tell lives rooted in selfishness. What's the purpose of that?
Manipulation it's that I'm telling you a lie rooted in selfishness so I can control you or the situation you're in You never say anybody do that? This morning this morning you're talking about yourself or your husband told a lie rooted in selfishness I cast that demon out in the name of Jesus Right, but here I want to tell you I think most Christians operate in the yellow Like I and there are even some things I told Saturday There are some even some things I wanted to preach today that when I evaluated my motive my motive was not love I had to cut him out of my massive like I've been challenged by this own work because there's so many times I want to speak something But if I'm speaking it with my own agenda in mind or like selfish reasons You know what I tell you this week I think instead of practicing the truth in love I need to practice the truth inviting my tongue I think that's probably more what I need to do But you too so true look at this well, I'm not gonna tell a lion selfishness. I'm gonna tell a lion love What do we call that coddling somebody enabling somebody? I don't care about your growth I just want to tell I love you, but I'm scared to tell you the truth even though I love you So I'm just gonna tell you what you want to hear because I don't really care if you get out of the mess You're in and thereby I'm gonna enable you to stay where you're at telling a lie rooted in love sounds odd But that's what a lot of people do well I'm not gonna tell a lie rooted in love, but I'm gonna tell the truth rooted in selfishness the bottom right when people tell the truth But it's rooted in self.
It's because they're on a mission because they have their own personal agenda Like I'm gonna tell you the truth But the reason I'm telling you the truth is because I've got an agenda I'm trying to push my agenda See none of those are what God wants the environment in which God grows us is the environment of truth spoken in love Which says this I am interested in your growth 100% and I'm gonna tell you what you need to hear and I'm gonna do it in such a way that you realize I have your best interest at heart See love always seeks the best love always seeks the best When God loved you what did he do he gave his best he gives best And if I'm gonna give you the truth it needs to be wrapped in My hundred percent desire that what I'm giving you is for your best It might hurt it might hurt but truth in love all right last one next Love always seeks what's best when you're speaking the truth that should be done in such a manner that here's realized that you have their best interest at heart All right, let's wrap it up last one mark some maturity grounded. We need to be grounded in God's word We're not gonna go we're not gonna go back and forth. We're not gonna go up and down We're not gonna go be like a wave, you know toss on a seat It says the it says and James it talks about the double-minded man He's like a wave of the sea and toss same thing, you know, you're here then you're there you're multi-focus But he says I want you to be grounded I don't want you to be influenced by every winded doctor I don't want you to fall prey to the trickery of people in the schemes and in the craftiness of the enemy I want you to be grounded in God's work and he says I want you to be growth focused I actually want you to do your part so that the body grows that you actually are intentional about it that when you see Something in somebody's life that needs address that you speak the truth from God's word from the Holy Spirit wrapped in God's love And in that environment God will actually bring change and growth to that situation and then finally grace oriented What could we all use a little more grace oriented speech? Later in this chapter and there's other things in this chapter by just wonderful these the verse 29 says this it says let no corrupt Now corrupt word is not a bunch of cuss words It could be but it really means unwholesome talk It means the Greek intention is is something that's become putrified because of its age So I'm one of these guys and if I have some jelly in the refrigerator and it grows mold Like just scrape it off like it's like below the mold.
It's okay, right? Like no, yeah, so I tried that I Yeah, somebody lied to me somebody told me a lie rooted in self-ininess So a couple months ago we had some some sour cream in the refrigerator and it had a layer of purple and green on top What I do you videoed it I scraped it off, but you didn't sour cream bacteria anyway, like no, what is it? Oh, it was bad. Well, it actually was I got sick, but yeah, so that was where I didn't receive the truth My wife was giving me but the experience was a good teacher on that one But he says let no putrified or unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but what is good and necessary?
edification so like there's It's needed like you need to grow it's it's needed like wholesome talk is actually needed for you to grow and he says that it may impart what grace Undeserved favor see when you think about what you're saying or the things you're speaking over people remember this God graced you Equivalent to the gift he's giving you but are you releasing the grace to them equivalent to the grace he gave you? See a lot of times we only want to speak things to people that they deserve well. He doesn't she doesn't deserve To hear that That's not what it's saying grace is undeserved favor Like you need to release things over people's life that they don't deserve if you expect them to grow see when you release what they deserve You're probably gonna keep them at a certain height But when you release grace of undeserved favor you actually release unlimited growth And he said and grace is what empowerment grace is not only undeserved favorites empowerment when I release grace filled words over your life It should actually empower you bless you. It should actually empower you to do what God's gifted you to do Like if think about this we're all a body right if I lie to you I'm lying to me if I limit you I'm limiting me See when I try to release words that keep people down instead of empowering them to move up Actually limit me and I limit you I limit everybody and so God wants you to release grace undeserved favor into somebody's life Words that actually they don't deserve but actually release power in their life That God can grow them and all that he intended for them to be Let's go back a slide a lot of times we pull these two verses apart It says like no communication proceed out of your mouth What is good necessary for education that may impart gracely here's what does the next verse start with and what does and do?
It connects two sentences two phrases two thoughts and so impart grace to the hearers and Not grieve the Holy Spirit whereby you're sealed today redemption So a lot of people talk about grieving the Holy Spirit and I get there's a lot of things that grieve the Holy Spirit But Hebrews chapter 10 calls the Holy Spirit the spirit of grace And I really believe when you release words that are not grace filled words You actually grieve the Holy Spirit because his intention is to release grace and not condemnation and when you release condemnation You're actually inhibiting what he wants to do in that person's life And so many times we don't think about the things we speak. It's not even just speaking something Okay, if I'm not adding grace to it Colossians actually says grace is the seasoning salt to your words. I'm actually giving flavor. I'm giving I'm enhancing Their life what I'm speaking of that's the environment that God begins to grow us together So I want you to be grounded like you're not gonna get grounded on Sunday morning I want you to be here Sunday because we grow as a church But you have a responsibility you got to grow yourself during the week You've got to get in the word during the week It's been time to always spear during the week You're gonna let him to begin to challenge you and shape you and to mold you and then we come together and we get some more on Sunday But this won't do it.
You're not gonna build a firm foundation just only here you need to be here You need to be part of the body, but you need to put in your own your own time your own labor in the word you need to be grounded I want you to be growth focused. I really want you to be intentional about say this. It's not about me not about me It's about us It's about us If I lie to you online to me if I limit you I'm limited me if I release grace over you Grace over me like God wants us to be able to live in this environment of Unconditional love for one another that we can actually speak truth and know that you have my best interests at heart And then wrap all that up and make sure that it's flavored and seasoned I'm gonna give it to you even though you don't deserve because I want See if the standard is Jesus didn't he give us more than we deserve