The Christian life is difficult sometimes, isn't it? God asks us to leave behind our selfishness and devote ourselves to Jesus Christ in the service of others. This journey has a clear beginning and an even clearer end, but its path is littered with dangerous obstructions and precarious curves. Thankfully, its destination provides lasting, eternal rewards.
Chances are you have experienced the difficulty of losing your way on the journey. We've all been tempted to stray, to step away from the fundamentals of authentic Christian living toward the more immediate fulfilments we desire for ourselves. But God calls us to a life devoted to studying the Scriptures, to prayer, and most important, to knowing Christ Himself.
Let these resources remind you that the goal isn't just reaching our heavenly destination but walking closely with Jesus as we get there.
As we enter adulthood in our faith, one of the most significant realizations to dawn upon us is a healthy understanding of and appreciation for the church. Most go through real battles in coming to this conclusion. In this message, we want to come to terms with the role of the church, its importance in our lives, some of the major reasons for its effectiveness, and why Christ established it in the first place.
Tough though it may be to admit it, most of us resist growing up. We say all the things that suggest otherwise, but in reality, we resist launching out into the ocean of adulthood. It seems only logical that we spend a little while analyzing why there is such a strong resistance within us to move on into the responsibilities and challenges of adulthood.
If we are not careful we could easily get the impression that adolescence is a disease with headaches and heartaches, pressure and pain as its only symptoms. Not so! Adjustments and struggles may be present, but not to the exclusion of tremendous growth and remarkable achievements. These can be some of the most exciting years of one's spiritual pilgrimage.
The more we study the “Peter Pan Syndrome,” the more we understand what we are dealing with. Although the name is new, the problem is old. In fact, we can trace its roots all the way back to the fall of man in the garden. As we shall see, not even the early church was free of this insidious problem.
Although young in the faith, those Jerusalem believers demonstrated a commendable growth toward maturity. But this condition was not found throughout all congregations. As is true today, there were some who were old enough to be well on their way to maturity, but they preferred to remain immature and irresponsible…adolescents in adult bodies.
One of the most remarkable eras in the history of the church occurred during the first century. Shortly after Christ had left the earth, His disciples (who became apostles) led congregations into new and exciting vistas of faith. Though young and relatively inexperienced, the believers who comprised the first-century church showed evident marks of maturity…the children were now growing into adolescence!
Which “childish things” have no business lingering once we become mature? Believe it or not, God's expectation that we grow spiritually is firmly rooted in the Old Testament, where the prophets of old laid down a clear path for knowing God deeply.
There is a well-worn path stretching across every adult's life. It is impossible to grow up without travelling down that path. That path is the path of childhood. What is true physically is equally true spiritually. How essential is a healthy, happy childhood in the family of God…yet how rare!
Few things are more foundational to a productive life than walking. That is not only true in the physical realm but especially so in the spiritual realm. However, the tragedy is apparent: many in God's family (dare we say most?) have little or no knowledge of the way to do it. Let's dispel the ignorance and remove confusion regarding the manner in which God's children are to walk.
Infancy is back-to-basics time! It is during that era that we set the cornerstone and fix in place the initial blocks, upon which we develop the balance of our lives, spiritually speaking. Because of the essential nature of these truths, it is helpful for us to return to them periodically and be reminded of their importance.
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