\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload Audio\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\tText: I Peter 1:22-2:3<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. It seems every parent at some point tells their child, “Why don’t you just grow up?”<\/p>\n A. In one sense, that is what they are doing; but what the parents want is for the child\nto stop acting so much like a child and more like an adult.\n B. Children are flighty creatures who live for the moment. They don’t look ahead to\nsee the consequences of their actions. They avoid responsibility for actions of the\npast – especially if they are seen as bad actions by adults.\n
II. The parable of the feast – Luke 14:16-24<\/p>\n A. People had been invited to a feast. They knew of it in advance. But when it was\nready, they suddenly had excuses as to why they could not come.\n B. Each was a lame excuse, especially in light of the fact that the dinner party was\nplanned in advance.\n C. One needed to look at land he had just bought. How many of you buy land sight\nunseen?\n D. Another needed to try out five yoke of oxen that he had just bought. How many of\nyou buy an automobile without a test drive?\n E. Another stated he had just married and could not come. So why not bring his\nbride?\n F. The lord was rightly angry and filled his home with people willing to come.\nPeople who would truly appreciate what he offered.\n
III. The application – Luke 14:25-35<\/p>\n A. There are many people who accept the Lord’s invitation to become a Christian,\nbut they are unwilling to follow through on the commitment.\n
B. Family first – Luke 14:26<\/p>\n 1. Children have strong ties to their family. Such is needful, but it cannot be\npermanent. \n
2. One mark of adulthood is the ability to stand on your own – Genesis 2:24<\/p>\n
3. It is very easy to put prior relationships ahead of our Lord. <\/p>\n
4. It is easy to look at the immediate instead of the one we cannot see.<\/p>\n a. Just as the man who claimed not to be able to come because he\nrecently married.\n
5. The example of Paul – Philippians 3:3-11<\/p>\n
a. The goal is far more important than anything this world offers<\/p>\n
C. Me first – Luke 14:26<\/p>\n
1. Children only think about what is in it for them.<\/p>\n
a. Being at grandma might be fun, but they don’t want the trip.<\/p>\n b. People want heaven, but you mean I have to sit through worship? –\nMalachi 1:12-13\n
2. The adult view is to see the benefit of the journey – Psalm 122:1; 84:10<\/p>\n
3. Often we want the results, but not the education – James 1:2-5<\/p>\n 4. In the Judgment, notice the basis of judgment is what we have done for\nothers and not what we have done for ourselves – Matthew 25:31-36\n
5. The example of Christ – Philippians 2:3-11<\/p>\n a. The goal was far more important and greater than the misery in\nreaching it.\n
b. Others are more important than self<\/p>\n
6. An adult will do without so that others can do with.<\/p>\n
D. It’s someone else’s responsibility – Luke 14:27<\/p>\n
1. Children play, but they rather let someone else clean up.<\/p>\n 2. People come to worship, but they let others do the actual work – Ezekiel\n33:30-31\n
3. Take advantage of opportunities – Galatians 6:10<\/p>\n
4. Work hard while you can – Ecclesiastes 9:10<\/p>\n
5. Your salvation is your responsibility – Philippians 2:12-18<\/p>\n
E. Commitment without forethought – Luke 14:28-30<\/p>\n 1. Children often get themselves into trouble because they did not think\nahead as to the result\n
2. Redeem the time – Colossians 4:5<\/p>\n
a. Limited time to work – John 9:4<\/p>\n
b. Take advantage of youth while you have it – Ecclesiastes 12:1<\/p>\n c. Adults will put off momentary pleasure to get work done. It is not\nbecause they don’t like to play, but they foresee the consequences\nof not working.\n
3. Prepare by studying – II Timothy 2:15<\/p>\n
a. We need adults to teach others – Hebrews 5:12-14<\/p>\n
b. The example of Ezra – Ezra 7:10<\/p>\n
F. Knowing your goal limits your choices – Luke 14:31-32<\/p>\n 1. Children are easily distracted. They can easily loose themselves following\none interesting thing after another.\n
2. James warns us not to be double-minded – James 1:6-8<\/p>\n 3. As children we can be tossed about by the changing winds of doctrine –\nEphesians 4:14-15\n 4. Knowing where I want to go, I will limit my choices to those which will\ntake me to that goal quickly. Distractions are more easily avoided –\nHebrews 11:24-26\n
5. Adults keep the goal in mind and are able to persist.<\/p>\n a. Have you ever walk with a child? Halfway there he will stop and\nannounce he’s tired. Of course, now he is in the middle of\nnowhere, but he won’t take a step further.\n
b. Hebrews 12:1-3 – Keeping a goal prevents weariness.<\/p>\n
IV. Isn’t it past time that you grow up?<\/p>\n
A. Now is the time to wake up – Romans 13:11-14<\/p>\n
B. Now is the acceptable time – II Corinthians 6:1-2<\/p>\n
C. Today is the day to stop acting like a stubborn child – Hebrews 4:7-11<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: I Peter 1:22-2:3 I. It seems every parent at some point tells their child, “Why don’t you just grow up?” A. In one sense, that is what they are doing; but what the parents want is for the child to stop acting so much like a child and more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[608,513,515],"class_list":["post-62885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-excuses","tag-maturity","tag-priorities"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62760,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-to-grow\/","url_meta":{"origin":62885,"position":0},"title":"How to Grow","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hebrews 5:6-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each of us started life as a cell so small it would take a microscope to see you. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But we don\u2019t stay that size, we grow \u2013 and rapidly \u2013 into a small infant born into this world, we become toddlers, children,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50011,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-it-means-to-be-a-child-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":62885,"position":1},"title":"What It Means to be a Child of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23370,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fathers\/","url_meta":{"origin":62885,"position":2},"title":"Fathers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62721,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/parents\/","url_meta":{"origin":62885,"position":3},"title":"Parents","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert Speer The Home","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62417,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":62885,"position":4},"title":"The Children","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Scott Smelser The Family","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47717,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/generational-degeneration\/","url_meta":{"origin":62885,"position":5},"title":"Generational Degeneration","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62885\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}