Childlike Qualities• Al – Trust in Parents (children don’t

worry about the things that adults worry about)

• Matt B. – Humility (children don’t think they know everything; spirit of submission, like Christ)

• Jay – Forgiveness (children forgive and forget)

• Matt T. – Innocence (harmless; adults should strive to live blameless, though not sinless)

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Stop Acting Childish

Stop Acting Childish

1 Corinthians 13:11; 14:20Ephesians 4:14-15;

Colossians 1:28

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Stop Acting Childish

1 Corinthians 13:11 (KJV) When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

1 Corinthians 14:20 Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.

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Stop Acting Childish

Ephesians 4:13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—

A Mature ManNot Easily Deceived

Christ is the standard by which we must measure ourselves

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Measuring our growth

Colossians 1:28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:28  He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. (NIV)

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Childish Things to Put Away

• Tattling and Gossip (Psalm 41:6-7; Proverbs 16:27-28; 1 Timothy 5:13; Matthew 18:15)

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Tattling and Gossip

Psalm 41:6 And if he comes to see me, he speaks lies; His heart gathers iniquity to itself; When he goes out, he tells it.

Proverbs 16:27 An ungodly man digs up evil,And it is on his lips like a burning fire. 28 A perverse man sows strife, And a whisperer separates the best of friends.

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• Be Careful what you repeat

Tattling and Gossip

1 Timothy 5:13 And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.

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• Be open and straight forward with each other.

Tattling and Gossip

Matthew 18:15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.”

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• A Desire to be the Center of Attention (Pride)

Childish Things to Put Away

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The immature feel the need to be the center of attention!11

Childish Things to Put Away

• A Desire to be the center of attention (Galatians 6:3; Romans 12:3; 1 Peter 5:6; 2 Corinthians 10:18)

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A Desire to be the center of attention

Galatians 6:3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

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A Desire to be the center of attention

1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

2 Corinthians 10:18 For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.

Maturity Is Found In Humility

x14

Childish Things to Put Away• Envy (Galatians 5:26; Proverbs

14:30)• Sibling Rivalry

• Classroom Envy

• Fighting at the Playground 15

Envy

Galatians 5:26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Proverbs 14:30 A sound heart is life to the body,But envy is rottenness to the bones.

x16

Childish Things to Put Away

• Instability (1 Cor. 15:58; Heb 10:35-36)– A child will quit when the work gets

tough

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Instability1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Hebrews 10:35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:

Maturity Is Found In Being Consistent. Make a decision to serve the Lord and stick with it!

x18

Childish Things to Put Away

• Pouting and hypersensitivity (1 Cor. 13:4-6; Ephesians

4:26)

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Pouting and hypersensitivity

1 Corinthians 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

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• Don’t just quit or leave because you don’t get your way.

Pouting and hypersensitivity

Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,

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Marks of Maturity– One magazine has defined

maturity as being “able to carry money without spending it; to be able to bear an injustice without retaliating; to be able to keep on the job until it is finished; to be able to do one’s duty even when one is not watched; and to be able to accept criticism without letting it whip you up”

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Marks of Maturity• Eat meat (Hebrews 5:11-14)

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Eat meat

Hebrews 5:11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 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. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 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.

“You need to raise your head.”

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Marks of Maturity• Do not be easily swayed or led

astray (Ephesians 4:14-15)

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Do not be easily swayed or led astray

Ephesians 4:14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—

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Follow the Word and not the preacher.

Marks of Maturity• Do your duty (Philippians 3:13-16)

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Do your duty

Philippians 3:13 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, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 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.

Act Your Age.Parents Should Act Like Parents, Not Like Children.

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Maturity takes EFFORT!Hebrews 6:1

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Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

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