Acts chapter 9 and I'll read verse 10 through verse number 16. This is dealing with Paul when he was on the road to Damascus and was struck down. The Lord had made a statement to him. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And of course he used his old name. And then after he was struck down he, we find, we find that he went, well he went and it brought him into Damascus on the street called blinded for three days. But here we find, we pick up verse number 10 where God speaks to a human instrument to go talk to, to Paul as he's on the street called Stray. Verse number 10 of chapter number 9, 9 chapter 9 of Acts verse 10 through verse number 16. Acts chapter 9 verse number 10, There was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayed, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard of many, by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to the saints at Jerusalem. He's just a little apprehensive about going to deal with can you understand because he made havoc of the church and I've heard about him and here he said I've even heard he here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on his name but the Lord said unto him that's Ananias go thy way for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel and I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name. Let's pray. Father, help us again tonight. I plead the blood just asking that Your will might be done. Give us insight, understanding, give us a nugget, give us something, Lord, that will encourage us, give us some that will give hope to others, each of us tonight, and grace to keep on keeping on. Lord, we're in, we're in trying times. We're, things are, are rougher day by day and, and You're speaking. It's not that You're trying to speak. You are speaking through all these storms and may we hear even though you, you've blessed us but not being hit directly by that, Lord, but I pray you just give us the grace we need to stand and, and listen to what you're saying and heed it. That means to obey it. Lord, we'll thank you for it. I pray now for help and, and guidance. I pray you'd use this message to speak to our hearts tonight some way, somehow, Lord. I don't know how you, you want to do and what you want to do, but I pray you'd do it. and we'll be careful to praise you and give you the glory for it. We ask it in Jesus name for his sake we pray. Amen. You may be seated. I want to seem like I can't get away from this and yet it seems like that it doesn't really fit in tonight even and but yet the thought this just seemed like I can't get away from it because I've been thinking for some time. about the thought about the major problems of new converts. And I know we don't have many converts, I understand that. But I think that God can use this even to whet your appetite, cause you to get thirsty if you please for wanting something in your heart. And even as a seeker, there's some things as you begin to seek the Lord that you need to practice in a sense and that you can get hold of some truths that will help you is what I'm trying to say, I believe. And yet, like I say, I don't know sometimes what we need, but I know that this is the only leading I've got tonight, all right? That's the only nudge, and I just pray there's something. Many problems, or major problems of new converts, and of course, there'll be more than one part to this series on this, and so we've talked about, read about Paul, and of course, Paul was his name, as well as Saul. We used to say Saul was his old name, and God changed it to Paul. remember one of his parents were Gentile one was a Jewish so Paul grew up with a with two names a Gentile name and a Jewish name even though it wasn't used so much later on Paul was used because he was going to the Gentile so he used the Gentile name but so but still it refers to him as Saul here at this point and of course he was going out with with letters from the high priest threatened to against the Christians at Damascus and And Ananias knew that. We read in our text a while ago when God spoke to his heart about going and seeing him. And he was making havoc of the church, putting people in prison, even having people stoned. He witnessed the stoning of Stephen, by the way. But here he is as he goes down the road to Damascus, probably several men with him, I don't know how many or who it was, but he had a, in those days you didn't travel alone because of the thieves and what was there knocked you in the head like the one that talked about, you know, the good Samaritan found. The thief had knocked that man in the head on the road. But there were several with him. We do know that. So as he was traveling down the road, going about his business, and really he was, I think, was eat up on the inside. I think there was, you see, he'd heard Stephen preach, and he'd watched Stephen, heard him pray, and he watched him die. And he couldn't get over that. There was something, a nagging inside him, even though he thought he was right. he thought that God was the, the one that he, in other words, the one he was worshiping was the true God and he, and, and basically he had the truths of the Old Testament, but he still did, he believed that Christianity wasn't right. He didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah. He was kicking against that and, and I think because of what he had heard, the conviction set upon him to the extent that he, he even got meaner, meaner, going against the others, trying to, harm to anybody called himself Christian. So here he is walking down the road with his people with him and all at once the Lord showed up and visited him and it was such a brightness there. Now Paul actually saw the resurrected Lord. I Corinthians 15 said he saw him and as one born out of due time he had a resurrected Lord, and Paul was a lost man at that time, and, and yet he respected what he, the vision because he knew there was something special about it, and, and, and this voice spoke to him and said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Now something to learn there, he was persecuting the church, was he not? But to persecute the church is to persecute the Lord. In other words, they're one is what it amounts to. It's like husband and wife. You persecute my wife, you're persecuting me. You're hurting me. It's amazing how many people will try to get to me through my wife. And you don't do that here, but many preachers have people who try to get to the wife to get to the preachers, what they're trying to do. And so we're one. And when she's affected, I'm affected. And when the church is affected, the Lord said, why persecute thou me? But you notice something here when Paul made this statement in verse number, verse number Well he also said, well back up verse number 4, let me just read this, verse 4 of chapter 9, he fell to the earth because of that light and he heard a voice saying unto him, now this voice spoke to Saul, Saul's the only one who heard this voice, in distinction, the rest of them heard a noise but they thought it thundered, they didn't know what was going on, they didn't see anything else, see the Lord appeared to one man and yet the rest of them heard, knew there was something going on, but they didn't know what it was. And he said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he, Saul said, who art thou, Lord? With a capital L. Now the word for Lord here can be translated Sir. This is a title of respect. Many people say, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Therefore they say Paul was saved right there because He said, Who art thou, Lord? He didn't have any understanding who he was. You're not going to be saved without understanding. Amen. I don't care whether you say I'll do it or whatever you say. You're going to have to have some understanding about who the Lord is. And he didn't know who he was exactly at that point in time. Who art thou, Lord? sir, in other words, and then he said, and Jesus revealed himself to him and said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest, even though you're doing it to the church, in other words, but he said, it's hard for thee to kick against the brick. Now, that day they drove oxen, and these boys may use, I've talked to them a little bit about Timothy and Michael, they got a stick that they used to punch their oxen with, that's what she told me the other day. It may not be like the ox goad was in that day, I don't know, but it's a sharp pointed stick, and they used it to make the oxen obey and do what they wanted to do, but if the oxen rebel, and for instance, if you ever, I plowed a mule sometime, kick out of the traces. They'd kick backwards, you know, and do anything to try to get out of that. But if you plow a while with a trace between your legs that isn't long, when they get it back in after it gets sore, they won't do that no more. Amen. That's what it amounts. You remember that, brother. You probably remember that from your earlier days. But the thing about it is, if they kick, the oxen kicked, if they was trying to, they'd stick the stick in him and make him go. What's going to happen if the oxen kicked against that stick? It's gonna stick deeper. So the oxen soon learned Would the God we'd learn quicker wouldn't it? But the oxen soon learned when you just barely touch him He wanted to move forward away from that stick and that's what you're trying to get him to do. Is that close enough boys? Okay, that's close enough. They've got some big ol oxen. They they similar to that. All right, but he's kick its Holy Ghost conviction and he's kicking against it and it made him meaner and he went after the church and so He said, It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And Saul, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Now he called him Lord, a title of respect. Sir, what would you have me to do? Lost man now. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. In other words, most people say, oh, Saul was saved right there, and he became Paul. No, he wasn't, because we know from Acts 22, 16, he wasn't saved until Ananias got over there. His sins wasn't forgiven, and when you're saved, your sins are forgiven. And so Paul did what the Lord said. That's part of continuing in His Word. That's part of doing what you know to do at the time. Paul was a seeker here and didn't know what he was seeking. didn't know who he was seeking and so as a result he and the men he said which journey with stood peace speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man they didn't know the voice in distinction it was just noise that they heard and saw the walls from the earth and when his eyes were open he saw no man but they led him by hand and brought him to Damascus here he is blinded now in a sense he can see no man even though he opened his eyes it's still like he's a scales over his eyes and they led him brought him down to Damascus, and there for three days he was without sight, neither did he eat nor drink any water at that time. What was he doing? For three days, we know what Saul was doing as we read Philippians chapter 3, he was counting the cost. He had had an encounter with the Lord. The Lord had been revealed to him. And you say, well, what would have happened if Paul had rebelled and went the other way? Well, he didn't, amen. I don't believe anybody will ever reject the revealed Lord. You may have to wallow in some things and count the cost like Paul did because he said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. If you want to know what I was, as far as pedigree, he said, man, I'm registered. I'm double registered in a sense. And as far as my pedigree is concerned, But he said, I was willing to take all of that. As he took and counted the cost for three days, he took everything and put it in one basket, in a sense, and called it but dung, in Philippians. In other words, he said it's not worth even a dung of a cow. or a water buffalo or an oxen and they used that by the way to heat with and cook with a lot of times and it wasn't even worth that. In other words he said all that's nothing but he said I gave all that away that I might have one thing that I might win Christ. that I might be saved. And here he is. He, he don't know what to do. And he said, but the Lord had already said, you go down there and you stay there and I will tell you what to do. And God moved on an Ananias, man by the name of Ananias and said, you go down there and you tell him what to, what to, that I want him, he's a chosen vessel and I want him to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of And I'll show him how great things he must suffer for my namesake. And whenever at the point he came there, Paul was saved. How do we know that? Acts 22, when Paul appeared on the steps of what's called the pletorium and asked to speak to the people, he gave this part of his testimony. Now anytime you give a testimony, you're not going to give every detail of everything. Amen. You already know that. many times have people said, I wish I would have said this, I wish I would have said that. Well, you give what the Lord wants to and that's what he did. And he said this in Acts 22 about an Ananias coming, verse 12 said, he said, And one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, Now most people say, well Saul was already saved because he called him brother. But you realize something, you can call a man brother by faith, believing that God's going to do something, or in a sense he was a Jew, and somebody, I asked me one day, when I put that in the paper they called me, early one morning and said, if I just knew he was a Jew. I said, it don't matter whether he's a Jew or not, because I told him it was a Jew, he was a Jew. I said, it wouldn't matter whether he's a Jew or not, what did the Lord say? Well, you see, he called him brother, I believe, because he was a Jew, or by faith, either way it would be, but he said unto him, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour he looked upon him, in other words, his sight came, and he, Ananias said, the God of our fathers, chosen thee, that's what God told him to tell him, that thou shouldest know his will, and see the just one, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. And for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now, why tarryst thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling the name of the Lord. Now the phrase is not saying your sins are washed away with baptism of water, but baptism was a picture or confessing the Lord publicly that you have received Jesus as your Lord. In other words, the Bible said if we believe in our heart and confess with our And when you confess to, I want to submit to baptism, it's confessing publicly that Jesus is my Lord. But he said, you need to do this quickly. But you notice he said, you call on the name of the Lord, that's what washes away your sins. The Lord does that. And folks, you realize something, there's where Paul was saved at that point in time. In other words, his sins had not yet been forgiven. So anybody who wants to believe that, that Paul was saved on the road to Damascus, they're, they're having they're blinded or once they've been exposed to it and go back on what they say, they don't want to deal with the fact that he wasn't saved there. They're really denying Scripture. Why? The reason they don't want to do that is because they're afraid they'll have to go back and suffer the shame and reproach of lostness like others have and be saved because they're not saved. And therefore they'll just twist the Scripture to make it fit their experience. And so therefore, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord Lord, and you can say Lord all day long, but I Corinthians 12, 3 says, No man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. In other words, it takes the work of Holy Ghost conviction to bring you to the place to where your heart cries out to the Lord. And so he said, Arise and wash away your sins by calling on the name of the Lord. And I just told Paul that. and Paul did that and Paul was saved and submitted to baptism and of course identified with the Lord's death in his baptism. Now the amazing part about this, if you'll go, you realize something, he told him you're a chosen vessel because God told him to tell him that. But you know something? The Lord already spoke to Paul and told Paul that. How do I know that? Read the Bible. See, no scriptures of any private interpretation. So we can turn over to Acts 26 and read here Paul's testimony to King Agrippa. Now he testified before Felix and Festus and Agrippa, but I want you to see the part that he dealt with in his testimony to Agrippa. Now I don't know why he said it exactly like this, but he did. But he said here in verse number, I guess we can say And verse number 14 through 18 is what I will probably read. OK. He goes back and well at third risk go back up the first 13. Well back up to verse 12, Acts 26 verse 12, Paul's giving his testimony, he said, Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priest, at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, midday. It was brighter than the sun was shining round about me, and then which journeyed with me, And when we were all fallen to the earth, in other words, they all fell down. They were struck with such power. You remember how that whenever the group come to arrest Jesus, Jesus just spoke and they fell backwards? Did you know that? They fell backwards. One of the scriptures brings that out. They fell backwards when He spoke. And here they fell, all of them fell to the earth. But Paul said, I heard a voice, verse 14, speaking unto me. It wasn't speaking to the rest of them. They only heard, if you'll read another place where it talks about what happened and it talks about how that they heard a noise like a thunder. but they didn't know. They saw a light, but they didn't see Jesus. I saw Jesus and I heard the voice distinctly speaking unto me, saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saw, saw, why persecutest thou me? It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But arise, but rise, and stand up on thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. Now, that wasn't spoken in the book of Acts, chapter 9. That wasn't recorded. Now, remember, the Acts is a history book. You don't have everything recorded. And it's just like the synoptic gospels. Do you know what synoptic means? Matthew, Mark, and Luke. means they're similar, and sometimes you've got to read all three of them of an incident that happened, and sometimes even John, which is the Gospel given that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, you've got to read that, and when you read all four of the Gospels, it tells about everything. and you can, you can put it all together and you've got the entire story. So here, here we find that he gives this bit when he talks to Agrippa, this part that Jesus said to him when he was down on the road to Damascus, there before he was ever saved, he said, he said this to him, he said, I have appeared unto thee, verse 16 of Acts 26, unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a preacher, a minister, and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things into which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in thee. In other words, they are on the road to Damascus, he said. The Lord spoke to him and called him in the ministry, and yet he wasn't saved. Three days later, he was saved. But here he knows that God said, I've called you for a purpose to carry the message to the Gentile. Now, folks, that was a no-no in those days to a Jew. They didn't want to have anything to do with the Gentiles. In fact, they just didn't want to be around them because they considered them dogs, they considered them nobody. Many times they were outcasts, but God is dealing with Paul, saying, I want you to go. Now, what's Paul going to think? What's he thinking? When he gets on the street called straight, for three days he's thinking, if I go to the Gentiles, I'm going to be branded. I'm going to be persecuted like nobody, worse than what I've even persecuted the Christians for because I'm, I'm going to have all the Jews against me. My own family is going to be against me. And therefore he counted that cost knowing that the call of God was on his life. And therefore he came to a conclusion, said that I'm willing to give up everything to be saved. And then I'll, I'll do what God wants me to because he told Verse 19, he said, Wherefore, O king of Rippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. In other words, I did what he said. I went to the Gentiles, is what he did. Now, you've got to put it all together to find out the time. Damascus' call and God said you're a chosen vessel to go to the Gentiles, you're to be a minister to me. Now he already knew that is what I'm saying at that point in time. Now as we think about that, Paul being saved of course on the street called straight, you see we all have a problem after we're saved, we've got major problems with new converts is what I'm still dealing with. but I'm building a foundation and introduction about Paul. And, and you realize something, Paul was a chosen vessel. Well now folks, you and I are chosen vessels too. You know that? What is Ephesians chapter 1 verse Ephesians chapter 1 verse number 4, 3 and 4, he said, Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, according as he hath chosen us in him. Now that, that, you don't have to get excited about the term. That's the equivalent term to being elected. And, and we are God's elect. Listen, the Jews was God's elect nation in the Old Testament time. But he turned from the Jews and the olive branch was, was, was, was taken out. In other words, it was pulled out of the tree and the wild olive branch, which was against nature, was grafted in, and that's the Gentiles, grafted in that olive tree. And so as a result, are, are, are chosen but it's in Christ. We are the elect of God but it's in Christ. So you don't have to worry about that name. That doesn't, that's not something for you to brag about. You, you see it's to give God the glory because blessed be God and Father. In other words, eulogizing Him. Why? Because He had chosen us. In other words He chose His Son and if you allow the Holy Ghost to bring you to the end of yourself and save you, He puts you in Christ and there is where you are in the chosen one. Now God in foreknowledge knew all about that. Amen. And so therefore He could write it down before the foundation of the earth and say these are my elect and you have no problem with that. you understand, but we're chosen, he said there and he goes on to say according as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Now that's back in the council halls of God. God the Father said I've got a plan and the Son in a sense said I'll, I'll provide the sacrifice for that plan and the Holy Spirit said I'll cause them to come. I'll draw them. I'll work in them that they may come. And so therefore God knew all about that. He could write the end before the beginning and have no problem. But it's in Christ. You understand? In Christ. Next time somebody says, well I'm chosen. But are you in Christ? You'd be surprised how many people think they're a part of the elect and they don't even believe in Holy Ghost conviction. They just hope to be. Christ one day. They hope to be at the end that they're going to make it, but if they've not got a time and a place where God brought them to the end of themselves, where He convicted them and drew them by His precious Spirit of God and, and, and caused them to approach in a sense by, by throwing them a, a, a stick or something, I mean not a stick but a, a dog, like a dog, I talked about that meat in their hand, and He drew you with cords of love. And you've got to come to that place where repentance is granted and faith is produced so you can repent and believe. If you don't have that, you're not one of His. Now it doesn't mean you can't be, it's just right at that point. So you'd be surprised how many say, well I hope to be in heaven one day. I hope I'm one of the last. I hope I'm good enough. There's none good, no not one. God said I chose my son. You allow the Holy Spirit to place you in his son and you'll find out you're chosen before the foundation of the world because he chose his son, amen? So we're chosen. So we're a chosen vessel. He was a chosen vessel, if you please, at that time. Now, since we're chosen, and God wants us to understand that on this side that you're saved, and I'm talking about still major problems of new convert, you see, since we're chosen, we seem to think that the Lord would honor us. If you're chosen, well the Lord will honor us. The Lord will magnify us. He'll treat us with care. He'll not let any harm come to us. He'll let no tragedy come to us. In other words, He'll not let us have any trials. He'll not let us have difficult ties, in other words, or He'll just not let us have any problems. That's what sometimes, if you're not careful, that's what you think. Some people think, boy, I've got so many problems. I want to be safe so I won't have any problems. Huh? Anybody ever thought that? Well, if I get saved, I won't have any problem. I'll have a life of Riley. I can kick my foot up on the porch like I remember an old man down the road. Every time I went by, his feet was higher than his head up on the porch. I think a life of Riley. His name wasn't Riley, but that's what he had, the life of Riley. And I don't know what Riley's life was like, but that's an old show sometime. But we got the idea that if we get in Christ, man, our problems is over. and it says all things are passed away behold all things become new I understand that there's no more conviction of sin as far as penalty is concerned but listen there's going to be some things you're going to have to face in other words what did the Lord say to Paul he's a chosen vessel and verse 16 says of Acts 9 and I will show him how great things he must suffer for my namesake he said he's going to have to suffer for my namesake and he told Paul that Paul knew that, and yet he said, I'm willing to go, I'm willing to junk everything that I might be saved, because he got a good glimpse of who Jesus was. And I'll say this, again, no man will ever reject or reveal Christ. Amen? You may have some days like Paul did before you get to that point, where you receive him as Lord, but you'll come. his way, or he wouldn't reveal himself to you at that time. So some people think, we're just going to have it easy, if I can just get saved, I'll be a new convert, man, I won't have to worry about that anymore. But the exact opposite is really true. It's really, it seems to be true. Paul said, in other words, the Lord said, I must show him how great things he must suffer for my namesake. In other words, if we're speaking that, we'd say, I'm going to show him how many things he can enjoy for my namesake. I'm going to tell you, even though they're suffering, there's still some joy going along with that, but you see, all new converts face problems, many never expected them, they've never expected to face those problems but they in fact all say face problems whether you've just saved or whether you've been saved for several years you're still going to face problems. Now some of us are new converts in a sense or young converts not that old in the Lord but we're older physically and say well that and then the other people and by the way and I'll get into that in a minute don't let me get ahead of myself, amen, but some say they've been saved a long, longer time, a long time, but you realize something, they didn't grow and they too got major problems and one of the main problems that most of those have got, they're saved but they're not, amen, they're not really saved and you understand they're not really new converts. Now the Bible says in the book of Hebrews chapter 5 verse number 12, for when for the time ye ought to be teachers. Paul is writing to the saints, the Hebrew saints, in other words, the professed Hebrews. Now we know that a lot of them wouldn't say we understand that as we read the scripture, but he still gives them benefit of the doubt, and he said, for a time you ought to be teachers, You have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. And you realize something, that there's some who say they've been saved a long time, and they've got problems because they've really not really grown like they should have grown. And really I think the most biggest problem they've got is a lot of them just never been saved in that condition. But as I said, we'll give them benefit of the doubt as we deal with the major problems of new converts. Now, there's several things that I want to deal with, and I probably won't even get one of them done tonight, but there's seven of them all together. But I want to look at the first thing I think that new converts have a problem with, and not only do they have a problem, but other people when they're first saved have a problem with them as well, and that is expecting too much too soon, expecting too much too soon. I mean, boy, you realize something that's a two-way problem. New converts expected of others in the church expect this of a new convert, especially if they're an adult when they get saved. Well, I expect them too much too soon in one sense. We do that. That's a problem. Now after you're saved, if you're not careful, you expect to know it all. Boy, I tell you what, if I get saved, I tell you what, there won't be nothing that I can't answer. You think know what I'm talking about. You get to that point but you, you realize all the darkness that you were in and now you have light and you expect to know all that, that there is to know. You expect to be filled with complete knowledge about the way of God and the will of God but instead you seem to be swamped with complete ignorance. For instance your They're growing up, and they grow up and get to be teenagers, and they think they know everything, amen? They think they know everything. Mom and daddy, you're just a box of rocks, that's all you are. You're just a dumb money, amen? Y'all didn't think that when your mom and daddy, yeah, Ms. Sanders tailing off back there behind, look around, she has just confessed, okay? They say that'd be good for the family, okay? Yeah, I understand. But we all were that way. We thought, my, my, they just don't know a whole lot. Then you come along and maybe get married. Some don't get married, but maybe you get married and all at once you find out in just a few years that your mom and daddy learned a whole lot. They've learned, Billy, they learned a whole lot even though you hadn't gotten married. You figure, you really admitted they've learned a whole lot in the last few years. But we're that way. Children are that way. You understand what I'm saying? Children are that way. We think that mom and daddy's an old fuddy-duddy, but then you find out you're amazed to see just how much your parents learned, though, when you grow a little bit older. They really learned a whole lot. So what happens, we expect too much. too soon you see that's the problem we have and in other words we expect to know it all if we're not careful and others expect us to also we expect immediate maturity in other words I know the Bible says that we're placed as an adult son which means a mature son that's in position but there's got to be a growing process for instance you think about immediate maturity we say well boy I'm just going to know everything I'm going to be mature child of God and we were looking for instantly instantly that to happen at the moment of salvation for our, we're not living in the day of instant things, instant coffee, instant tea, instant, instant, what, tea, potatoes, and there's a lot of instant things out there on the market, and people are looking for instant salvation, and they're looking for instant maturity, and they want instant salvation, and they want, they want instant maturity, they expect that, especially when saved later in life. But now, you know something, children walking in Mama and Daddy's They're not mature as mom and daddy are, are they? Children that try to follow you in your steps, they'll put your shoes on, but they're not mature. And you don't expect them to be as mature as you are, do you? But yet, whenever you're a new convert, especially later in life, you expect it out of them, and they expect it out of themselves to be, have instant maturity. Boy, I'm going to be growing up just like that. But now Ephesians chapter 4, verse 15, he said, But speaking the truth in love, may, in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Notice that phrase, grow up, grow up. It also said in I Peter 2, 2, As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. And then II Peter 3, 18, he said, But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Now you notice the phrase in all three of those verses is grow, got to grow, got to grow. Now most of us want to be grown up with having to grow. We don't want to grow. In other words, we're living in a hustle bustle society that we're living in today, a hurry up to go to work, hurry up to get home, hurry up to eat supper and hurry up to go here and hurry up to go there and hurry up to go to bed, hurry up to get up and we start all over again the next day. Do you feel like a rat race? We are. We're in a hurry-up world. And it affects us in the spiritual realm, and that's why people believe that salvation can happen in a hurry-up way, too. But if we're not careful, we expect when you're saved is to be. We're going to have instant maturity, and we expect it out of others. Well, you're saved. You're supposed to know it all. You may not say it that way, but that's exactly what happens in a sense. The real problem is we don't take time to study in this hurry up world. We don't take time to grow, to study to grow, and that we might reach maturity. Now, the devil sees to it that we don't seem to have the time. You ever wanted to do something and boy, boy, it just seemed like this happens and that happens and this happens and that happens. Well, I've made a statement back some years ago and it's come back to kick me, I guess, and hit me in the face in a way. What was that statement? You do what you want to do. And that is true to a certain extent. But you know what? When you're in ministry, I find myself doing a whole lot of things that down deep I don't want to do. But I gotta do them. It's not that I don't want to in one way. You understand what I'm saying? But you can't get done what you need to get done here because you've got to be here. You've got to do this. You've got to do this. You've got to meet this deadline. See, when I go to, when Sunday night, when Last Amen said, my mind begins to work toward the next week. I'm on deadlines, a deadline every week, every week, you know? And it's a, it's a, it would, I know you got deadlines that you make, but I tell you what, it's in the physical sometimes a whole lot better than being in the mental part. Y'all know what I'm talking about. Can you grasp that? But you know, you expect, you expect that, well, preacher knows it all, he's supposed to know it all, and somebody's, well, they've been saved there, they've been in church all their life, they ought to have instant maturity. They ought to have that and we don't really we're not careful We let the devil sidetrack this and so we expect that maturity without growing up. You see growing up has growing pains, right? Your children never have any growing pains when there's growing up and they say that's just a growing pain And sometimes those growing pains would get a little hurtful in the family, you know a little whiny if you please. You see, if you're being a parent, and by the way, that groin pain is not just in the physical sense, it's also in the emotional and the social realms as well. Especially when you get to be teenagers and out there and all those boys and girls and boy meets girl and you know, well, better leave that alone. I wouldn't say anything about that. But there's some pain, groin pains. Mama, he wouldn't even look at me. He acted like I didn't even exist, you know? Growing pain, right? Y'all know what I'm talking about, hmm? Are y'all with me tonight, huh? Hey, we're not that old, brother Tommy, are we? We're not that old, but there's growing pain socially, physically, and mentally in our children's life. And sometimes, if we're not careful, we'll expect our children to act more mature than what they really are. Why don't you grow up? Now, I know when they get to be on up several years old, they need to grow up. I understand that. But remember, they're not mature yet. They've got some growing pains. And you're sensing the growing pains with them, amen. You're doing that, I guarantee you. So sometimes we expect new converts to act more mature than they really are. We expect too much out of them, and they expect too much out of themselves. Remember, they're just babes. They've got to grow up. They've got to learn some things. And the only way you're going to learn something is by experience. I used the illustration before, but my brother-in-law, he was 14 years old when I, I think, was he 14 when we married? I can't remember for sure, but he was about 14. I know about the time right after we married. And of course, I was down there talking about me driving a tractor when I was seven years old and eight years old. And so Lucy's dad got the idea, well, he's 14, he can do it. He had a little, I think it was about like a 240 International, just a little bigger than the Cubs, about all it was. I don't know whether it was a one plow or two. I guess it was a small plow, I don't know. And he had an EM farm all the way. And so he got him down there on that 240 and it had ditches and a little piece of land had ditches on both ends of it. And he was plowing back and forth and he looked back and the 240 was gone. It was disappeared. And he had run off in the ditch, and the only thing that kept him killing him was a little sapling. You all know what a sapling is. It caught that 240 and held it up off of him. He'd come out of the water and come up. Well, you see, he thought he's old enough to do it, but he still, no matter what age you are, you've still got to learn. You've still got to have those growing pains and learn some things. And we say, well, you're old enough now, and just turn him loose. They need to be taught all the way up and we've got to be taught. We've got to grow up spiritually speaking and so we expect too much out of ourselves sometimes and others expect too much out of us in that sense. So we expect immediate maturity while we're really just growing pains. Who? We're talking about us. In other words, me and you, or you and I, whichever way you want to say it, pains in the neck, groin pains, amen. How? By not be willing to study the Word of God that you might grow. John 6, 63, the Bible says this, He said, It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, their spirit, their life. The Holy Spirit is what quickens to you. The Holy Ghost must take the Word and make it alive to us, and it takes some time. for that to happen. Have you ever tried to study something and then next week try to go back and rehash what you studied last week? It's gone if you're not careful. Y'all have that problem? Sometimes I can't even remember what I preached last week if I didn't have notes to go back to. You know the devil tries to steal that seed away. And I know I know you don't get that. I understand that. But folks you realize something we expect sometimes. Well they're saved. They're supposed to know everything. They're not supposed to have that problem. Listen babies have dirty diapers. they've got growing pains and they, in other words, they've got to grow up and, and in other words, Peter said, desire the sincere milk of the Word. And if you don't study the Word after you're saved, you'll be dwarfed. Now I know most of those that Hebrews talks about is probably not saved, but I, but still, you, there's a possibility, I'll give the benefit of the doubt, being a dwarf, now being a little bitty, a little bitty and never grow, never mature, and not get in on the things of God. Now I don't, I'll say we don't have as many like that as we think we do in this old world today, but like I say, I'll give the benefit of the doubt, but most people are lost in that condition. But there is some who've still not grown like they should have grown. You say, but preacher, I'll come to church and just let the preacher feed me. I've got news for you. The preacher can't feed you enough, often enough, as soon enough for you to reach spiritual maturity. You have to grow on your own in a sense, and when I say on your own, I'm talking about the Holy Spirit leading. The Bible said in John 16, 13, He said, Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, he will show you things to come. 2 Timothy 2, 15, He said, Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Corinthians 4, 16, he said, For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. We need to study and be renewed by the Holy Spirit quickening the Word to us. And that, talking about daily Bible study. Now let me say, if you're not studying the Bible daily, you're not, you'll not receiving spiritual nourishment when you come to church. You won't receive it. You'll just be like a wall. And the fiery darts of the devil will get you away. And like I say, most of those are not saved. I understand that. In fact, what seed you get, the devil will steal from you before you get home. You say, well, I have trouble reading. We'll get you some tapes. Listen to it as you go down the road. Tapes of the Bible and let the tapes or that man on the tape read them to you. And then the Spirit of God can quicken that too, that word in you and help you to grow toward maturity. New converts expect immediate maturity, but instead, they don't grow because they don't eat. You know a sad thing? Have you ever seen a child that's really about 30 years old and never grow? We had one in Crossland when we grew up, where we grew up, I think about the same age of my sister. And they'd come visit sometime, they'd put him off in the other room and he'd beat his head because he was in pain and he passed away now. and thank God for safety in the children, amen. But his little old bones, little arms, he grew in height and length, but he just wasn't right. Things wasn't right. That's sad, you know. But you know what's even sadder is for those who say they're saved, and I know some of them are not saved, but to say that they're not grown, they've not gotten in the Word, 30 years old, in other words, 30 years they say they were Christian, and I know we don't have many in that situation, but we'll give the benefit of the doubt, but it's still sad, so therefore we expect too much out of new converts. Now Paul was a new convert, and I'm sure that, and of course God gave him, but you know Paul, Paul got in the book, Paul, God got him alone and taught him some things. Paul separated himself from some things. He got alone in the backside of the desert and the Lord taught him some things, unlearned some things. And that's what we've got to do. But if you're not careful, sometimes you'll look at somebody, well, I'm going to watch them. And the first time they get a little bit out of line, you say, they're not safe. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Listen, now, after 20, 30 years, they're still out of line? You pretty well know. I mean we're dealing with one right now where we are talking about that it's not what's coming out is not salvation. Amen. But the thing about it given benefit of the doubt you see if you're not you need to realize that converts have a problem they expect too much out of themselves and others expect too much out of them. And so may God help us. We don't know it all. We're still we've still got some in fact you're going to be unfolding what the Lord has done for you. throughout an eternity. He's going to be unfolding all the salvation experience throughout an eternity. May the Lord help us to see and as we stop right there just take take that and let the Lord speak to our hearts and help us to study that we might grow thereby even as a seeker you need to study that you might grow in understanding so the Lord bring you through the straight gate. Father help us tonight. Let no one quench your spirit. Help us to be sensitive to you.