From Milk to Maturity: Take the Next Step

Aug 02, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Finger Painting Becomes a Stalled Masterpiece

The Christian life demands more than nostalgic consistency. Just as a child’s smeared artwork loses its charm when repeated into adulthood, faith stagnates when we refuse deeper obedience. Growth requires embracing new challenges beyond initial spiritual milestones—attendance, basic prayers, or surface-level service. Maturity means letting God add complexity to your discipleship, moving from crayon scribbles to Spirit-led craftsmanship. [42:59]

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. (Hebrews 5:11-12, ESV)

Reflection: What spiritual practice have you repeated for years without deepening? How might God be inviting you to trade familiar routines for holy risks?

Day 2: Alligator Hands and Holy Habits

Fielding grounders requires mastering fundamentals before learning double plays. Knox’s baseball journey mirrors our faith—foundations like prayer and Scripture remain vital, but they’re meant to support new skills: discernment, sacrificial service, and making disciples. Stagnation occurs when we treat spiritual basics as the finish line rather than the launchpad. [49:47]

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. (Hebrews 6:1, ESV)

Reflection: Which spiritual “fundamental” have you turned into an idol? What uncomfortable next step could transform routine into growth?

Day 3: Recital-Ready But Never Evolving

A dancer repeating beginner steps yearly disappoints her teachers. So does the believer content with salvation without sanctification. God applauds our first faith-steps but grieves when we refuse pirouettes of obedience—forgiving enemies, stewarding resources, or mentoring others. Eternal recitals demand ever-increasing grace. [46:36]

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. (1 Corinthians 13:11, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you substituted spiritual nostalgia for actual transformation? What mature obedience have you avoided by claiming “I’m just not ready”?

Day 4: Cruise Control Christianity’s Empty Tank

Milk nourishes infants but starves adults. The writer of Hebrews confronts believers stuck in spiritual infancy—those who treat faith like a highway cruise control rather than an off-road adventure. True maturity means craving meatier truths: suffering’s purpose, costly generosity, and wrestling with hard doctrines. [57:50]

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:2-3, ESV)

Reflection: What spiritual “milk” do you still crave? What bitter-tasting “solid food” have you avoided that might actually strengthen your faith?

Day 5: Your Jordan River Moment Awaits

Joshua didn’t memorialize his first miracle—he waded into deeper waters. Our faith withers when we camp at Red Sea crossings rather than advancing toward promised lands. Next steps feel risky: leading a group, confessing hidden sin, or forgiving lifelong wounds. But dry ground only appears when we step into swirling currents. [01:04:01]

And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap. (Joshua 3:13, NIV)

Reflection: What Jordan River have you been staring at instead of crossing? What practical obedience—today—would prove your trust in God’s power to part waters?

Sermon Summary

Hebrews 5:11 through 6:1 gives a straight warning to believers who have had enough time to grow but are still sitting in the same spot. The writer of Hebrews says there is “much to say,” but it is hard to explain because the people are slow to learn. The issue is not that they never heard truth. The issue is that by now they ought to be teaching, leading, and helping others, but they still need someone to go back over the basics again.

The finger painting picture makes that warning plain. Finger painting is fine in kindergarten, and it is even sweet enough for a grandmother to hang on the wall. But a grown man finger painting the same way is not progress. Consistency is not the same thing as maturity. Attendance is not maturity. Knowledge by itself is not maturity. Years spent as a believer do not automatically make a person deep.

Mallory’s dance story shows what growth ought to look like. Her first little recital was fun, sweet, and worth every dad’s video camera. But if she wore the same outfit and did the same little dance every year, something would be wrong. Dance builds on fundamentals, but it cannot stay at the first tap step forever.

Knox’s baseball story says the same thing. At first, the instructions were simple: keep an eye on the ball, swing hard, use the alligator, and have fun. Those things still matter, but more gets added as he grows. Loading before the swing, stepping toward the target, knowing where to throw the ball, and learning the game all come with maturity. The foundation stays, but the player advances.

Hebrews calls that movement “solid food.” Milk is not bad. Milk is just bad when a believer refuses to move beyond it. Salvation, God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and obedience are never outgrown. They are the foundation that must be built on. John 3:30 says, “He becomes greater, I become less,” and that kind of life does not stay in cruise control.

Hebrews 6:1 says to leave the elementary teachings and go on to maturity. That does not mean forgetting the foundation. It means not laying it again every year like nothing has changed. Healthy faith always has a next step, whether that step is salvation, baptism, serving, joining a group, asking forgiveness, sharing faith, or finally saying yes to God’s call. God never calls His people to stand still. Joshua crossed the Jordan, Noah built the ark, Peter got out of the boat, and Paul pressed on.

Key Takeaways

1. Growth is more than time served Time alone does not make a believer mature. Hebrews confronts people who had been around long enough to teach, yet still needed the basics repeated. Spiritual age can look impressive from the outside while the soul is still finger painting with truth that should have become obedience. [52:32]
2. Foundations must become stronger Milk is good, but milk was never meant to be the whole diet forever. The basics of salvation, Scripture, the Spirit, and obedience remain essential, but healthy faith builds on them instead of circling them in cruise control. Maturity adds discernment, responsibility, service, and the ability to help somebody else take their next step. [57:50]
3. Healthy faith takes next steps Hebrews 6:1 says to leave the elementary place and go on to maturity. That leaving is not abandoning Christ’s foundation, but refusing to stay stuck where comfort has become an excuse. A next step may feel uncomfortable, but standing still is never the picture of health. [60:05]
4. Prepared believers answer questions The greatest joy is not merely watching a child dance or play ball, but being ready when the next spiritual question comes. Parents, grandparents, coworkers, and church members cannot answer well if the Word is neglected and faith stays shallow. Solid food prepares believers to speak when somebody nearby is ready to move from lost to found. [66:50]
5. The church must advance together A church cannot reach families through staff and a few volunteers alone. The body has to grow, serve, invest, and say, “Where today is not where tomorrow should be.” Gospel advancement requires ordinary members to stop watching from the seat and start taking the next faithful step. [68:16]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[40:15] - Opening and Bullpen Introduction
[41:21] - Parenting, Growth, and Finger Painting
[43:24] - Mallory’s Dance Progression
[47:50] - Knox’s Baseball Progression
[50:34] - Hebrews 5 Reading
[52:32] - Time Alone Does Not Mature
[55:36] - Milk, Solid Food, and Training
[58:15] - Building on the Foundation
[59:43] - Healthy Faith Takes a Next Step
[64:01] - Biblical Examples of Moving Forward
[64:48] - The Greatest Joy Is Spiritual Growth
[67:44] - What Is the Next Step?
[68:44] - Invitation to Advance the Gospel

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Hebrews 5:11-14
“About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” [51:15]

Hebrews 6:1
“Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,” [51:53]

John 3:30
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” [58:56]

Observation questions

In Hebrews 5:11-14, what signs show that these believers were not growing the way they should have been? [52:32]
What are some of the basic foundations that should never be abandoned even as a believer grows toward maturity? [58:44]
What pictures were used to show the difference between consistency and real growth? [43:24]
According to Hebrews 6:1, what are believers told to do with the elementary teachings about Christ? [01:00:20]

Interpretation questions

Hebrews says, “by this time you ought to be teachers.” What does that reveal about God’s expectation for believers who have walked with Christ for a while? [53:40]
If milk is not bad, why is staying on milk for too long such a serious spiritual problem? [58:15]
Hebrews 6:1 says to leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. How can a person leave the elementary place without leaving the foundation itself? [58:20]
John 3:30 says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” How does that verse help explain what spiritual maturity actually looks like in everyday life? [59:07]

Application questions

Time alone does not produce maturity. Looking at the last year of life, where is there clear spiritual growth, and where might there still be a pattern of standing still? [55:23]
Attendance is not maturity, and knowledge alone is not maturity. What is one area where truth is already known but still needs to become fuller obedience? [54:10]
Healthy faith builds on the foundation instead of laying it again and again. What would it look like this week to build on salvation, God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and obedience in a practical way? [58:41]
Prepared believers can answer the next question when a child, friend, coworker, or neighbor is ready to talk about Jesus. What habits would help someone be more ready for that moment? [01:06:50]
Healthy faith always takes a next step. Which next step feels most pressing right now: salvation, baptism, joining a group, serving, asking forgiveness, sharing faith, or saying yes to a call God keeps bringing up? [01:07:44]
Staying comfortable can quietly become a reason for not advancing. Where has comfort started to slow down obedience, and what might it look like to move forward anyway? [01:01:52]
The church advances when ordinary believers stop watching and start investing. What is one specific way this group could help one another move from sitting to serving? [01:08:44]

Sermon Clips

53s

#TakeTheNextStep

“Healthy things grow. So my question this morning is what's your next step? Is it salvation? Is it following believers baptism? Is it joining a connect group? Is it serving on a Wednesday or a Sunday in our next generation's department from preschool to students? Is it going to your your roommate, your classmate, your neighbor, your coworker, your community member, and asking for forgiveness? What is your next step? Is it sharing your faith? Is it sitting finally listen to me. Is it finally saying yes to the call that God has placed on your life? That continues to come up over and over in discussions.”

66s

#GrowDeeperNotOlder

“The fundamentals for both of my children don't change. Knox, load before you swing. When throwing, step towards your target. Mallory, it's on the eight count. It's on the four count. When Mallory's first dance, it was just pay attention. Smile. Have fun. They grow. Things change. In Hebrews chapter five verses eleven and twelve, the people are not advancing. And so my first point this morning is to encourage you that it's time. Unfortunately, time alone doesn't produce maturity. There's a difference between growing older and growing deeper. There are Christians who have been saved for years, listen to this, that's still finger paint. There are believers that sit in this room this morning and all across our our county in churches that call themselves followers of Christ that are adults, that are mature in their age, yet they still finger paint in his word.”

36s

#SolidFoodFaith

“Men and women in this room that are professionals and go to a job, someone knows that you're a believer and a follower of Christ, if you're not prepared, if you're not in the word, if you're not ready to advance the gospel, you can't answer the next question. Listen, we can't continue to drink milk as a church. We gotta get on the solid food plan. And what that looks like is something totally different than what you're doing right now this morning.”

38s

#AdvanceTheChurch

“Our church, listen, has a desire to reach 500 families in the next three years. We can't do it with a staff of 12, with a connect group leadership of 30, with with 80 other volunteers. It's gotta be the church that takes that investment to the next level. It's gotta be the church, which is you, say, man, where I'm at today is not where I wanna be tomorrow. I wanna advance the gospel in his name and his sake. So what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna ask you to stand. We're gonna sing.”

63s

#MaturityOverAttendance

“I remember growing up in Sunday school and in the elementary stages of first through fourth grade, it was all about the candy I got before Sunday school started if I attended. And so I never wanted to miss because I like I like candy at the time. But listen, attendance isn't maturity. Knowledge alone isn't maturity. And years of a believer is not maturity. Spiritual growth is measured by your obedience as well. Nobody expects Knox to hit a baseball exactly the way he did in t ball. If he did, something would be wrong. No one also expects Mallory walk into the dance room on her first day of dance and start doing the same tapping that she did seven years ago for the very first time. Right? The expect takes expectation changes because growth is occurring in your life.”

42s

#InvestInYourFaith

“What if you opened a Roth IRA and you put your opening balance in and you never did anything else? You're live high on the hog one day? I don't think so. I think you gotta continually to make an investment to have a good return. I think it's no different in your walk this morning, you gotta make an investment in your walk to see a good return. That means for some of you in this room, opening your bible outside of Sunday and Wednesday is key.”

49s

#KeepAdvancing

“What does that growth look like for you this morning? God has an expectation for us, not because he loves us more, but because he desires us to be more like him. He has a deep desire for us to be more like him. And what that means is we cannot stay in the same spot that we're staying in right now. You can't stay in the same spot that you've been in for ten years. You gotta advance. yourself this this morning. Are you still growing? Have you taken the next step this year? What is that step? Are you closer to Christ today than you were a year ago?”

32s

#GoAllInForChrist

“But the greatest joy is to see the advancement from someone lost to being found. And from there, it's alright, honey, if we're gonna make this decision, you gotta understand what it looks like to go all in, to be a part of the body, not just come, to be a part. So when you go to Sunday school, hey, honey, what did you learn? And look, we're advancing in our family. We don't bring our notebooks, we just write it on our hands.”

42s

#MoveFromLearnerToLeader

“They still do what's the very first thing they learn to do, which is not bad. Listen, we're gonna talk about that a minute. It's not bad, but they're not advancing. In in five eleven, we read this. We have much to say. He has much to say about this, but it's hard to explain because you're slow to learn. What he's saying here look. He's not preaching. He's teaching. And what he's saying, he's saying this to followers and Christ believers that listen, you have been saved. You know the the right things to do. You have been here. Why are you not leading and teaching?”

49s

#LivingForHim

“That tells us it's not about us, it's about him. And if we're in his word, and we're building our faith, and we're building our obedience, and we're serving, and we're we have a giving heart, we're making disciples and sharing our faith, guess what we're doing? We're advancing. We're not just worried about our attendance. We're not just worried about making sure the right people saw us on a Sunday, Wednesday, or they we're not making sure that the right people saw what I put in a in a in offering plate or I dropped it in the giving box or I passed it to someone to give. We're more concerned with what he wants to do in our lives because we're advancing the gospel.”

42s

#PrepareToAnswer

“And then Knox at the age of three, if I would've said in that video, hey. We don't need to invest anymore. He knows how to hit. He knows how to play the game. Let's just call that a day, and let's go do something else. Now, we advance. We give him opportunities to do things that he's never got to do in the game and learn and continue to advance. But the greatest joy is not a game or a dance. As a parent, the greatest joy is being able to answer the next question. Parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, nephew, nieces, if you are not prepared to advance, you can't ask. Answer the next question.”

40s

#StepOutOfComfort

“Just imagine for a moment if we increased our next steps by 20% in this building, what our church would look like. And so what that looks like is little uncomfortability maybe. It's maybe coming face to face with honesty and saying, man, yeah, it's been comfortable. I love I love teaching on Wednesday nights, and I I love doing this. But, man, Lord, I know you're calling me to something more, and I need to do something more. I need to take that next step. I need to advance. Staying in the same spot is never gonna be healthy.”

51s

#TrainToAdvance

“Have fun. That was it. That was at the age of two, three, and four. And then we get into coach pitching some rookie ball. And listen, those three fundamentals are are key still today. But listen, it's changed for him. It is now swing hard, keep your eye on the ball, alligator, have fun, but it's also you gotta load when you get ready to swing. Get that get your front foot up and and drive into the ball. You gotta understand where you're gonna go with the baseball when you get it. At three and four, you're just trying to get them to stay focused on the field and not trample over each other. But as they progress in age, you begin to teach more and more of the game of baseball. Just as Mallory and Dance, they begin to teach her more and more moves.”

61s

#ServeDontSpectate

“Saying yes to when one of our staffs or volunteers come up to you and say, hey, see something different in you. You could be great at x instead of you saying, well, let me go talk to my wife. Listen, men, I'm married to one. You don't have to go talk to her about serving. They want you to get involved. Right, ladies? Yes. That's the truth. They want you to be a game changer in the church. They wanna see you grow. Ladies, the men, they wanna see you grow. No one wants to come in and out of here and just come in and out and receive a service because it's not good. They wanna see you come in, grow, go out, expand. They don't want the the the perfect attendance.”

58s

#InvestInPotential

“As we close, I'll share this one last illustration. I never looked at Mallory and said, man, I think you fit the pinnacle of dance. Let's call it a day. I've never once said, hey, that that that toe tapping foot chasing tap dance you did when you were three or four, five, man, you've reached the pinnacle of that. Let's call it a day. Put the man trophy on the man on, let's move on to finger paint. No. What I did is looked at her and said, do you love this? You wanna do this? Yes, daddy. That's what I want to let's invest in it. Let's let's get you into classes where someone can teach you, someone can mold you, and they can teach you things that dad can't. I could barely get the slippers on the feet, but I knew that she wanted to advance in that.”

40s

#EvolvingParenting

“Moms and dads in this room, you're setting up a parent foundation. I sure hope your parenting style when they're one and two are is not the same when they're 10 and 11. I thought it was gonna be super easy, if I'm honest. Mallory is now 10. It's not easy, but you gotta be preparing. Listen, in your job, if you went and did just the same thing every single day, you are Fred Flintstone every single day. You would not get the advancement because you're not going all in. You're not doing everything else that you could be doing.”

36s

#BeyondFingerPaint

“And it reminded me that this morning, man, as long as we put in force some effort, we'll progress. I don't think you wanna see a 48 year old man finger painting. Right? And I'm not sure that we're gonna go and put these frames of our husband's great adventures at finger painting on the wall. Right? We're gonna be like, hey, that's good. I'm glad you did it with our kids, but we're not gonna put yours up. Right? Because we don't consider that growth or progression. We just consider that coming alongside. Right?”

46s

#FirstDanceMagic

“Alright. So that was her very first dance pre recital. The recital was the next day. Listen. How many dads have a daughter and you remember and then and they're in dance or they were in dance? Can I get a show of hands? Because you're gonna instantly know where I'm going. The very first dance is always the best dance. Right? Gosh, it's so good. When we go to recitals now, that's one of my favorite things to watch outside of my family is watching all the first ones because I see all the dads with the video cameras zooming in. I'm watching. I'm texting. I think I was texting Cody as her doll his daughter was dancing at her recital. Man, it's the best yet. It's the best one. It is fun.”

26s

#TrainToServe

“What does it look like to train? What does it look like to prepare? For some of you, you have served our country. What does it look like to prepare when you're in that environment? What does it look like to train when you're in that environment? Some of you dads or coaches, what's the expectation when you walk on the field? What are you accomplishing? What are you hoping to do?”

39s

#FirstRehearsalMoment

“Well, this morning, I have two examples before we read God's word of of of what growth looks like. And the first one is with Mallory. Mallory is our dancer. She loves to dance. She loves to do all these great acting, theatrical, all these she's built for drama. You know what I mean? Right? That's what we say. She's built for drama. And so in this first little video, there's eighteen seconds I want you to watch of her first rehearsal of her first dance.”

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