Basics to Higher Learning Canis lupus familiaris Dog Canine Canis lupus familiaris

What happens when Children refuse to learn? Do not know what they should Do not progress as they should Are not able to compete as they should Are not able to succeed as they should Do not reach their full potential

What are the consequences for remaining unlearned? Lack understanding Often more gullible Rarely become leaders More dependent on those with higher learning

A passion and appetite to learn is natural 1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, A passion and appetite to learn is natural Similar results spiritually and socially for those who do not learn as they should.

Causing force behind salvation – John 14:6 Hebrews 5:9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, Causing force behind salvation – John 14:6 Obedience must be based on discernment – 1 Peter 1:13-14 John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Acts 4:12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." 1 Peter 1:13-14 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; (14) as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;

Hebrews 5:11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. Difficult to go deeper or speak where people can understand without proper growth “sluggish, that is, (literally) lazy, or (figuratively) stupid: - dull, slothful.” (Strong) 2 Peter 3:16 2 Peter 3:16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. Untaught – “ignorant” (Strong) Unstable – “unfixed, that is, (figuratively) vacillating: - unstable.” (Strong) Twist – “metaphorically to pervert, of one who wrests or tortures language in a false sense” (Thayer)

Sufficient time had passed for growth – Eph. 4:13-15 Hebrews 5:12 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. Sufficient time had passed for growth – Eph. 4:13-15 They remained babes in understanding Ephesians 4:11-16 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, (12) for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, (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-- (16) from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

“inexperienced, that is, ignorant” (Strong) Hebrews 5:13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. “inexperienced, that is, ignorant” (Strong) Milk alone becomes an inappropriate diet at some point – 1 Cor. 3:1-2 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. (2) I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;

“channel of an act; through” (Strong) Hebrews 5:14 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. “channel of an act; through” (Strong) “faculty of the mind for perceiving, understanding, judging” (Thayer) “judicial estimation: - discern” (Strong) From milk to baby cereal and food to steak and potatoes

“beginning, origin” (Thayer) 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, “beginning, origin” (Thayer) “the state of the more intelligent” (Thayer) “metaphorically the foundations, beginnings, first principals” (Thayer) Hebrews 6:1-3 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, (2) of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (3) And this we will do if God permits.

The danger and result of not growing Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame

Metaphorical application Hebrews 6:7-9 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.

Maybe we should do as Paul encouraged the Colossians Colossians 1:9-10 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;