Churches that Heal Pt.5
PPT Churches that Heal Series Part 5
“Becoming an Adult”
Sunday, December 6, 2020
Senior Pastor, Dr. Janet Cook
©2020 Praysers Ministries, Inc. d.b.a. River of Life Community Church
Note: Unless otherwise indicated all scriptures are taken from the NKJV
Spiritual Immaturity
Hebrews 5:12-14 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Dr. Henry Cloud’s Recap: Three steps to becoming an adult:
- Stop comparing yourself to others.
- Learn from your failures.
- Give others the opportunities to prove their expertise.
- Stop Comparing Yourself
Paul’s Apostolic Mandate
2 Corinthians 10:12 “Of course, we wouldn’t dare to put ourselves in the same class or compare ourselves with those who rate themselves so highly. They compare themselves to one another and make up their own standards to measure themselves by, and then they judge themselves by their own standards. What self-delusion!”
Jeremiah 1:5 ““Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
1 Peter 4:10 “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
- Learn from your failures
Failure – the fact of someone or something not succeeding – Cambridge Dictionary
Failure often involves sin. And sin must be confessed.
Confession of Sins
Proverbs 28:13 “He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
- Give others the opportunities to prove their expertise.
Proverbs 22:29 “Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings;
they will not serve before officials of low rank.” (NIV)
Train Up a Child
Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Proverbs 22:6 “Dedicate your children to God and point them in the way that they should go,
and the values they’ve learned from you will be with them for life.” (TPT)
Proper Correction
Proverbs 22:15 “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away.”
Proverbs 23:13-14 “Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod and deliver his soul from hell.” (NKJV)
Proverbs 23:13-14 “Don’t be afraid to correct your young ones; a spanking won’t kill them.
A good spanking, in fact, might save them from something worse than death.” (MSG)
Proverbs 23:13-14 “Don’t withhold appropriate discipline from your child. Go ahead and punish him when he needs it. Don’t worry—it won’t kill him! A good spanking could be the very thing
that teaches him a lifelong lesson!” (TPT)
God Disciplines Those He Loves
Hebrews 12:5-6 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”
Maturity
1 Cor 13:11 “When I was a child, I spoke about childish matters, for I saw things like a child and reasoned like a child. But the day came when I matured, and I set aside my childish ways.”
Philippians 3:12-14 Pressing Toward the Goal
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:15-16 As Many As Are Mature
“Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.