RandyBell's Blog

GOAL: To be freed from the lifestyle of spiritual crime. Deliverance from sinful habits takes focus and effort, and you must learn how to received God's grace for the power necessary for freedom.<br />

[1 John 2:12 NKJV] I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name�s sake.<br />

What does "little children" mean to us? The Greek means...teknion = an infant, i.e. (plural figurative) darlings (Christian converts) :- little children. <br />

From this we can see he is talking about brand new Christians, and like brand new babies the only thing you can say is, "Praise God, you are alive, like a new born baby!" The only truth that the new convert knows and has experienced is that their "sins are forgiven." But, the believer comes with a lot of old baggage, habits, false ideas, wrong attitudes, selfishness, pride, and all kinds of disgusting things to God. In the first steps of repentance and salvation, the sinner admits all known sin, accepts God's mercy of Christ's substitutionary death for their crimes, and surrenders to His Lordship.<br />



So what does the new Christian need, now that they are babes in Christ?<br />



Repent! Repent! Repent! If we can picture a real baby here it will help. What needs to happen to a new baby? They must leave their worthless existence of just lying there helpless and weak; and grow, get stronger, mature, learn to sit up, crawl, and walk. They need to develop communication skills, become self sufficient, then understand the need to care for others, etc. Change needs to happen! A new Christian needs to learn how to grow in grace in order to receive the strength and balance necessary to learn to walk in the Spirit. This simply means to leave the weak life of sin and live rightly through the powerful grace of Christ now pouring out of their spirit.<br />



Yes, pouring out from within them! When you are born again, you are a new creation, all things pass away, and all things become new. The Holy Spirit of God invades your being literally, flooding you with eternal life, God's Spirit with all the power, strength, wisdom, etc. that you will ever need. The old life must be killed off completely, so that godliness can grow and take over.<br />



Here is the old stuff according Galatians 5:19 NKJV, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, [20] idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, [21] envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." The King James breaks it down this way...<br />



Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;<br />

Adultery, [moicheia = adultery]<br />

fornication, [porneia = harlotry (including adultery and incest); figurative idolatry :- fornication]<br />

uncleanness, [akatharsia = impurity (the quality), physical or moral :- uncleanness.<br />

lasciviousness, [aselgeia = continent); licentiousness (sometimes including other vices) :- filthy, lasciviousness, wantonness.<br />

[20] Idolatry, [eidololatreia = image-worship (literal or figurative) :- idolatry]<br />

witchcraft, [pharmakeia = medication (pharmacy), i.e. (by extension) magic (literal or figurative) :- sorcery, witchcraft. In the past drugs were most always connected with sorcery and witchcraft, not recreational like modern society.]<br />

hatred, [echtho (to hate); hateful (passive odious, or active hostile); usually as a noun, an adversary (especially Satan) :- enemy, foe]<br />

variance, [eris = quarrel, i.e. (by implication) wrangling :- contention, debate, strife, variance.]<br />

emulations, [zelos = properly heat, i.e. (figurative)zeal (in a favorable sense, ardor; in an unfavorable one, jealousy, as of a husband [figurative of God], or an enemy, malice) :- emulation, envy (-ing), fervent mind, indignation, jealousy, zeal.]<br />

wrath, [thumos = passion (as if breathing hard) :- fierceness, indignation, wrath.]<br />

strife, [eritheia = properly intrigue, i.e. (by implication) faction :- contention (-ious), strife.]<br />

seditions, [dichostasia = disunion, i.e. (figurative) dissension :- division, sedition.]<br />

heresies, [hairesis = properly a choice, i.e. (special) a party or (abstract) disunion :- heresy [which is the Greek word itself], sect.]<br />

[21] Envyings, [phthonos = ill-will (as detraction), i.e. jealousy (spite) :- envy.]<br />

murders, [phonos = (to slay); murder :- murder, + be slain with, slaughter.]<br />

drunkenness, [methe = apparently a primary word; an intoxicant, i.e. (by implication) intoxication :- drunkenness.]<br />

revellings, [komos = a carousal (as if a letting loose) :- revelling, rioting.]<br />

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and such like: [there are more sinful habits also]<br />

of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. [These are spiritual crimes punishable by eternal @!#@#ation in hell! How many people do you know that love to party (revellings)? Get smashed and take drugs (witchcraft, drunkenness)? Look again at this list of common everyday practices of the people around you.]<br />



All have sinned, and the first thing God wants of you is to begin drinking in His Word, the Bible, for the purpose of convicting and convincing you of all the wrongs you have been practicing, and continue your humbling process of admitting your sins and repenting of them all. Repenting does not mean you mentally agree they are wrong, but begin to feel like God does about the above list. HATE THEM! Be repulsed by them. Grow in your desire to rid them from your life. Beg God for mercy, forgiveness and the power to turn away from them permanently. This demands diligence on your part to agree with God, leave it forever, and mature.<br />

Think again of a little child. They persist diligently trying to roll over, then sitting, then crawling, and finally standing and walking. It seems to be a growing desire in them to change and mature. Yes, they fall, stumble, and trip; but they get up and try again and again. And when they finally learn to walk, they are weak, unsteady, and inconsistent. New Christians have the same weak, unsteady life that a young child has.<br />

What Process Of Maturity Is Being Done By God?

As quickly as a child learns to change and grow, so the Christian has the same supernatural process going on inside them as the Comforter [The Holy Spirit coach and counselor] helps them as they do their part of reading and diligently studying God's Word [1 Peter 2:2 "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:"] to understand and know God, His ways, and His will for them. And make no mistake, His will is that as quickly as possible you must learn to "Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife" [ 2 Timothy 2:22-23 NKJV]. Grace continues to flow like energy from God pushing and shoving the new baby to hunger for the truth of His Word, hunger for fellowship with the Father, and hunger for a connection with other believers. This relentless process is like the relentless growth of a baby as it puts on weight, enlarges in size, and increases in knowledge.<br />

1/ So the desire of the sincere milk of the Word is the grace of God electrifying and energizing your spirit and soul with holy impulses from the Holy Spirit life within.<br />

2/ Then the constant flow of grace enriches your life to a powerful place of strength to obey His commands and to repent from the dead works of disobedience.<br />



What Does The New Christian Need To Understand?<br />

1. The commands of Jesus Chris!

[Matt 28:18-20 THE MESSAGE] Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: 19 Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 20 Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." All the commands of Christ must be understood, fully implemented, and practiced. There are at least 49 commands that the Lord gave to pass on to each generation of disciples. So, the major focus must be to fully repent of all sins, by mastering all His commandments. This is now possible with the grace of God rushing through your spirit.<br />



2. Also the new believer must understand the importance of devoting themselves to the fellowship of the church. As you just read the disciples are to train the next generation of Christians. The new babies must see the importance of clinging to mother [the church]. This clinging is explained in Acts 2...<br />



Acts 2:41-47 AMP<br />

41 Therefore those who accepted and welcomed his message were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.<br />



42 And they steadfastly persevered, devoting themselves constantly to the instruction and fellowship of the apostles, to the breaking of bread [including the Lord's Supper] and prayers.<br />



43 And a sense of awe (reverential fear) came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were performed through the apostles (the special messengers).<br />



44 And all who believed (who adhered to and trusted in and relied on Jesus Christ) were united and [together] they had everything in common;<br />



45 And they sold their possessions (both their landed property and their movable goods) and distributed the price among all, according as any had need.<br />



46 And day after day they regularly assembled in the temple with united purpose, and in their homes they broke bread [including the Lord's Supper]. They partook of their food with gladness and simplicity and generous hearts,<br />



47 Constantly praising God and being in favor and goodwill with all the people; and the Lord kept adding [to their number] daily those who were being saved [from spiritual death].<br />



All four commitments are absolutely necessary for healthy spiritual growth. This is group devotion to the apostles' doctrine, group devotion to fellowship, etc. Not individually doing these are your own. There is nothing wrong with praying and studying by yourself, but like a baby, you do not know anything! Humble yourself and listen to your elders!<br />



3. There is responsibility on the new believer to wrestle with their past, be honest about their sins, start a campaign to get support from your fellow believers, fight through old dirty habits, and plan on being clean from sin; like drug users or alcoholics do to get freedom from their destructive habits. Most do not see that they are in trouble with sin, or that bad. But, this is God's will for thorough repentance!<br />



Peter explains, "SIMON PETER, a servant and apostle (special messenger) of Jesus Christ, to those who have received (obtained an equal privilege of) like precious faith with ourselves in and through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue). By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature. For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy)..." [2 Peter 1:1-5 AMP]<br />



Virtue is moral excellence, which again, clearly means, to fully obey all Christ's commands. Your heart must be totally committed to this total makeover. With the grace of God flowing inside, the Word of God giving strength, the mature saints showing you by example, and training you through teaching your life will change dramatically!<br />



What is the Milk of the Word For the Babies to Study?

1. Milk is baby food. Without teeth you cannot eat steak! So before you get ahead of yourself, make sure you fill yourself with what God calls spiritual milk. Even the first century churches got in trouble by not focusing on the foundational teaching before they jumped ahead to more exciting stuff!<br />



[Heb 5:12-14 AMP] You actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God's Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food. [13] For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action), for he is a mere infant [not able to talk yet]! [14] But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law.<br />



2. Here is a list of the milk of God's Word...

[Heb 6:1-3 AMP] THEREFORE LET us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ (the Messiah), advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead formalism) and of the faith [by which you turned] to God,<br />



2 With teachings about purifying, the laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment and punishment. [These are all matters of which you should have been fully aware long, long ago.]<br />



3 If indeed God permits, we will [now] proceed [to advanced teaching].<br />



Do you notice all these subjects together focus on turning from sin, and fully obeying Christ as His disciple! Well, this ends the overview we will offer a lot of teaching to help you through this spiritual phase of eternal life! If you have questions remember to contact us personally or through the website [DelRioCommunityChurch.org]. God bless as you grow up in the faith!

The moment of conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ, when you are really born again, the Holy Spirit invades your spirit making you a spiritual infant. This is phase one of the Christian experience. Like physical birth you are "a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!" [2 Cor 5:17 AMP] Now we understand that there are four phases of spiritual life from 1 John, chapter 2. And John describes this first spiritual state with these words, "I am writing to you, little children, because for His name's sake your sins are forgiven {pardoned through His name and on account of confessing His name}." [1 John 2:12 AMP]<br />

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PHASE ONE: THE NEW BORN SPIRITUAL INFANT<br />

"Little children" is translated from the Greek word for infant, showing the parallel to the natural birth stage of a person. The new baby is alive but weak and totally dependent upon his parents to survive. A new spiritual baby is forgiven, but spiritually ignorant and helpless just like a new born baby. This is where the church family is required to "make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you..." [Matt 28:19-20 AMP] The parents nurture and teach their child everything about life, and the spiritual church family nurtures and teaches all the commands of Christ to their spiritual babies.<br />

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PHASE TWO: THE SPIRITUALLY IMMATURE CHILD<br />

The next stage of life for the Christian is the immature, child stage. John describes this group of saints like this, "I write to you, boys (lads), because you have come to know (recognize and be aware) of the Father." [1 John 2:13 AMP] The toodler through teenage years are times of great change, learning, and development, but they are still years of immaturity. The difference that is experienced by the believer in this phase, compared to the infant stage is stated to be "because you have come to know the Father." Again John explains it this way, "Here's how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments." [1 John 2:3 (from THE MESSAGE)] Development and school are a part of the toodler to teen years and so it is to be the same in spiritual maturity. Peter warns these years are hard spiritually, just like growing up can be challenging. He warns, "Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, 'I am holy; you be holy.'" [1 Peter 1:14-16 (from THE MESSAGE)] And Paul explains graduating from school is a lot of hard work, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." [2 Cor 10:5-6 KJV]<br />

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PHASE THREE: THE MATURE SERVANT OF GOD<br />

Every parent wants the best for their kids! They need to graduate, get trained, get a good job, and change the world for good, etc. And Your heavenly Father wants you to do the same. You can see phase three in John's words, "I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." [1 John 2:14 KJV] Three clearly defined things must be achieved to be considered mature according to John. In everyday life, the strong and vigorous young men and women finish school and join the work force, commit to military duty, or enter college for specific training to accomplish their dreams and goals. In a similar manner, strength of character comes from long exposure to God's commands, until they are forged into your nature, and you can be described as not just knowing the words of God's commands, but you live them! God has plans for your future!<br />

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Next, the success of every believer is determined as "the Word of God is [always] abiding in you (in your hearts)." [1 John 2:14 AMP] The importance of this in non-optional. To graduate from God's school of obedience and live successfully is founded on this fact. The Lord promised in the Old Testament, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." [Josh 1:8 KJV] Don't be lazy, or you will never succeed!<br />

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Just like Christ withstood the temptations of the devil, using God's Word that filled His mind and heart, God's will is for you be be mature in your faith so that you also withstand the enemies attacks, and not fall! When Peter explains the seven steps of obedience to climb to spiritual maturity he proclaims, "For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed one). For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins. Because of this, brethren, be all the more solicitous and eager to make sure (to ratify, to strengthen, to make steadfast) your calling and election; for if you do this, you will never stumble or fall." [2 Peter 1:8-10 AMP] Your success is vital, and Paul reinforces this in his letter to the Ephesians, as he explains the preparation and training necessary to withstand temptation. "Put on God's whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil." [Eph 6:11 AMP]<br />

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After Jesus withstood the evil day of great temptations, He then began His ministry. Therefore, we can understand then, to graduate from phase two, the school of immaturity, is to begin phase three, which is to follow our Lord's example and serve our Lord. God uses the strong and vigorous, truth filled saints because "the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds..." [2 Cor 10:4 AMP] The work required to see hardened sinners converted, the church healthy and strong, and the culture and communities transformed is a spiritual task beyond any human plan or effort. Remember the immature disciples were unable to help people who were strongly controlled by the enemy. At that point, the Lord Jesus "said unto them, 'This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.'" [Mark 9:29 KJV] Paul adds, "For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere." [Eph 6:12 AMP] The eternal destiny of your world is no joke, and it takes strong, dedicated believers to serve the King of Kings, relying on God's power to fulfill His mission.<br />

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PHASE FOUR: THE EXPERIENCED TEACHER OR MENTOR<br />

Finally, as time and experience take their course God intends for every believer to move into the final phase of their maturity. Spiritual grandfathers and grandmothers are essential to the stability and future of the church. John used a word for phase three Christians, "young men," that in normal usage then described a man up to forty years old. Then a new phase of life was entered. In the same fashion God expects the battle hardened veteran to slow down and pass on the legacy of the faith to others. John uses the words, "fathers, because you have come to know (recognize, be conscious of, and understand) Him Who [has existed] from the beginning." [1 John 2:14 AMP] The understanding and wisdom of the faithful servant must be passed on to the next generation or the church weakens and fails to be the testimony of Christ Jesus. Let these words sink into your heart, "By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves..." [Heb 5:12 (from THE MESSAGE)] Time, not a special calling, is clearly voiced as the reason to become a teacher in the church. This is the reason you find in Acts the church leaders are called, elders, with teaching responsibility. This is why Paul ordered Titus to teach to the end that "the older women similarly to be reverent and devout in their deportment as becomes those engaged in sacred service... They are to give good counsel and be teachers of what is right and noble, so that they will wisely train the young women..." [Titus 2:3-4 AMP<br />

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Now that you understand the four phases of spiritual life, you need to know what God requires of you to grow spiritually and please your Lord. We are not left to our own opinions for this, but God's Word provides clear steps of action for every Christian to take. This is covered in the Seven Steps of Obedience To Spiritual Maturity found in 2 Peter 1. Do you love the Lord? Are you willing to grow up and serve Him? I pray that you do!