Study Notes

Foundation Statement: You have to be a doer of the word to develop spiritually.  Babies are unskillful in the word because they have practiced the Word.  Mature believers are skillful in the word and they got to that place of maturity through the practice of the Word.  They are mature by reason of practice.  You develop through training.  If you will not practice the word and be a doer of the Word you will stay a baby.

 

I.      You have to do the Word to develop spiritually – Hebrews 5:12-14

A.    Babies are unskillful in the word (Inexperience, without experience)

1.      The reason babies are unskillful in the Word is because they have not practiced the Word (Ex: Many are unskillful in golf-Why? They haven’t practiced)

2.      The way to get experience and get skillful is to practice

3.      If you will not practice the Word and be a doer of the Word, then you will stay a baby

B.     If babies are unskillful in the Word, mature believers are skillful in the word and they got to that place of maturity through the practice of the Word

1.      Mature people have become mature by reason of use (power acquired by practice or use) – NOT by reason of time, by reason of title, but by use

a.    Hebrews 5:14-CJB-Trained by continuous exercise; ESV-Trained by constant practice; PHIL-Developed by experience; NIV-By constant use have trained themselves; NLT-Who through training have the skill

2.      1 Chronicles 12:8-You develop through training (There’s a reason they could handle that spear and sword)

a.    ERV-Part of the tribe of Gad joined David at his fortress in the desert. They were brave soldiers trained for war and skilled with the shield and spear. They looked as fierce as lions, and they could run as fast as gazelles through the mountains; GNT-They were experts with shields and spears

b.    To develop spiritual maturity you have to practice being like Jesus by practicing the Word – You will not develop in that which you do not practice  

 

Foundation Statement: Feeding on the word, alone, will not cause you to grow up.  You can’t grow without knowledge of the Word, but you won’t by knowledge of the Word alone, you have to practice. There’s a difference between knowing something and practicing it, between hearing something and doing it.  Some people stay babies because they don’t do the Word they hear. We are to practice what we have learned.  You have to listen with the intention of doing what you hear. 

 

II.     Feeding on the Word alone won’t cause you to grow up

A.    You can’t grow without knowledge, but you won’t grow by knowledge alone – You got to practice

1.      EX: I can give somebody a golf lesson and give them knowledge of what to do to improve but that doesn’t equal growth

B.     There’s a big difference between knowing something and practicing it, between hearing something and doing it

1.      Some people stay babies because they don’t do the Word they hear, they don’t practice and as a result they never develop

2.      John 13:17-AMP-If you know these things, blessed and happy and to be envied are you if you practice them [If you act accordingly and really do them].

C.    Philippians 4:9-What do you do with what you’ve learned? (Do-Exercise, practice, be busy with) AMP-Practice what you’ve learned…and model your way of living on it

1.      You’re learning for life, you’re learning for living, you’re learning so that you can put into practice what you’ve learned 

2.      The word is not just for encouragement – He didn’t say let these things you’ve learned encourage you, He said do them 

a.    You’re not just suppose to read the Word so you can feel better, you read the word to live better

3.      Joshua 1:8-The word isn’t just for hearing and meditating it’s for doing

a.    James 1-ERV-Do what God’s teaching says: don’t just listen and do nothing; VOICE-Put the word into action. If you think hearing is what matters most…you have been deceived

4.      Are you doing what you’re learning?

D.    Ezekiel 33:32-How do I listen? Why do I listen?

1.      How do you listen? – Luke 8:18-Take heed how you year (after what manner, in what way)

a.    To develop you have to listen with the intention of doing what you hear – Some listen with no intention of doing what they hear

b.    Ezekiel 33:32-TLB-So they come as though they are sincere and sit before you listening. But they have no intention of doing what I tell them to; they talk very sweetly about loving the Lord, but with their hearts they are loving their money.³² You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings lovely songs with a beautiful voice or plays well on an instrument. They hear what you say but don’t pay any attention to it!

2.      Why do you listen? Some listen for the wrong reasons-To be encouraged, to be entertained, to feel better?

a.    2 Timothy 4:3 AMP-Do you listen to hear what you want to hear or what you need to hear?

1)       ERV-But people will find more and more teachers who please them. They will find teachers who say what they want to hear; HCSB-According to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new; NCV-Will find many more teachers who please them by saying the things they want to hear; VOICE- They’ll scratch their itching ears by surrounding themselves with teachers who approve of their lifestyles and tell them what they want to hear

b.    I listen to be trained not to be entertained and this training is for living; This is not entertainment this is training for living

1)       Ezekiel 33:32-Voice-They come to you, just as people flock to see someone famous .My people sit at your feet and seem to hang on your every word, but they never apply those sacred instructions to their own lives. For they act as they speak—with lustful desire—and think only of how they’ll make a profit. ³² To them you are nothing more than a gifted singer of lustful songs, a teller of tales, a master of instruments! They hear what you say but fail to put any of it into practice.

2)       Entertainment-The goal of entertainment is to hold your attention by agreeable conversation or discourse; To entertain the mind agreeably; To occupy or detain attention with agreeable objects, whether singing, conversation, or a show; To detain your attention with something of little value; A pleasurable occupation of the senses, or that which furnishes it, as dancing, sports or music; The amusement, pleasure or instruction derived from conversation, discourse, argument, oratory, music, dramatic performances; The pleasure which the mind receives from anything interesting and which holds or arrests the attention

3)       When you go into the army for training the training is not meant to hold your attention – You get it or you die – If you can’t pay attention to in your training sessions you don’t stand a chance in the real world