What Are You Dining On?

In 1 Corinthians 3, we learn of divisions in the church. Paul referred to the Corinthians as infants in the Christian life (babies) that were not yet spiritually healthy or mature. Carnality or emotions (senses) guided the believers at Corinth, much like they guide today's Christians.

Are you still on milk (baby, immature faith, elementary Christian teachings) or are you growing in knowledge (mature faith with deeper and complex teachings, greater understanding, advancing, power, authority, meat)? 

Are you walking in power and authority as a believer, or do you respond to a situation out of carnality (body-ruled, fleshly)?

Listen to this episode of Reflective Hour with Tammy Toney-Butler, Healing Evangelist and Host, as she is guided by the Holy Spirit. Glean from her field, but most importantly, glean from the Word of God. 

Reference books used: Life Application Study Bible (NIV), and Kenneth E. Hagin's book, Growing Up, Spiritually.

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Transcript

Welcome to Reflective Hour with Tammy Toney_Butler. I'm your Host and Healing Evangelist. What are you dining on? That's today's message title. Holy Spirit, bring us into all truth. Guide us. strengthen us.

Flow through me and reach your people with your message of truth. Give them ears to hear, eyes to see, and lift any veil off that's been placed on them

so that they know the truth and the truth shall set them free. For he who the son sets free is free indeed. We thank you, Father. Holy Spirit, thank you for guiding us, Lord Jesus. Thank you for your sacrifice on the cross. Strengthen us. Bring us fresh oil and be with us

as we dive into your word. discern the truth and walk in a new freedom. Not giving into emotions, senses, feelings, and carnality, but basing everything we do on the word of God, your promises that hold true, that are everlasting forever more. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray and declare all things. Amen.

Let's look

in your Bibles. Let's go to sec uh first Corinthians. First Corinthians and we're going to start reading out of First Corinthians 3. Brothers, I cannot address you as spiritual but as worldly. mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food. For you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you're still not ready. You're still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? What after all is Apollos, then what is Paul? Only servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. We are the temple of Christ. The Holy Spirit, the spirit of Jesus lives within us, works through us to bring about order,

peace where there's confusion, no chaos,

but an orderly way in which we conduct ourselves

and bring God's truth to a world that needs it. Each of us has our place within the body of believers. You may be the arm, I may be the leg, but we must come under the head which is Jesus. And his spirit of truth guides us. So the arm knows exactly what to do. So that the whole body stays in alignment

and carries the kingdom of God with it wherever it's ordered to go. As you surrender and become more like Christ, as you move from milk to meat and grow in the word of God with fresh revelation and knowledge and wisdom, then you can step out into who all that God's called you to be and who God's called you to be. And you can know exactly what your assignment is and what you're to eat. You see, some of us can only handle milk or we get a stomach upset. But there are others who hunger and thirst for more and can seek those hidden truths and can digest meat better than others. The meat of the word.

Not every thing that comes to you is yours or meant for you. Some things you have to say no to. You have to get out of your feelings, out of being led by emotions and only be led by the spirit of God, the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit. So that we as a body of believers stay in complete alignment, bringing the kingdom of God with us wherever we go, but bringing it exactly on time because God's timing is perfect and there's an order with the way things are done. and we walk in a surrendered heart of obedience, a purified heart unto the Lord and carry out his assignment, what he's called us to do. So, what are you dining on? Are you still on milk, still letting carnality get to you, the things of this world? or are you stepping into who God's called you to be? Let's read a little bit out of growing up spiritually by Kenneth Ehagen on page 113. The carnal man. This is first Corinthians again 3 1-3. And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat. For hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are y yet carnal. For whereas this is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men. So who is the carnal man? He's a babe in Christ. He is a babe in Christ. He has not matured enough walking the way in the fullness I should say of all that knowing Christ and having that relationship with him brings to us because there's more but we have to hunger for it. We have to move from the milk and go to the meat and get enough Christ in us and get the world out of us so that we can step into all God's called us to be. We cannot be guided by emotions. And we can have spiritual gifts, but they don't make us a full-grown Christian. We can still operate in them, but that doesn't mean that we're fullgrown and walking in the power and authority and the fullness and capacity that we have access to as believers, as those that are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus.

We have to get out of our flesh, out of our carnality. He goes on to say on page 115, actually the Greek word translated carnal has created much comment and no little confusion among Bible scholars. I think only in latter years has a spirit of God made this word clear to us. In some scriptures, it is translated carnal and in others it is translated fleshly. It really means a man who is governed by his physical senses. That would be the flesh governing him. Though he is born again in a new creature, he walks after the order of a natural man. He walks after the order of a natural man. Um again on page 116 he says one modern translation instead of saying ye are carnal says you are body ruled. That's a good translation. The outward man, the body which is not redeemed yet and thank God we will have a new body one day rules instead of the inward man who is a new man in Christ and has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him dominating and ruling. We have to walk as mature Christians. We have to refuse to be offended. We have to get out of our feelings, out of our senses, so that we can truly step into all God's called us to be. So that we can take constructive criticism where we need to take it. Where we can receive instruction when people trying are trying to give us instruction. And most importantly, we can receive from God as he's directing us by his Holy Spirit and guiding us into a place of complete surrender unto him so that we can come under the lordship of Christ and be governed by Christ only and his promises and his truth found in the word of God and not give into carnality or to emotions. We cannot enter into over into doubt and unbelief and be doubleminded. This is that's some of the of the great teaching and and and and um uh message that uh Pastor Branson brought to us from the well church uh this past Sunday. We cannot be governed by that. We can't have doubt and unbelief. We must walk by faith and not by sight. So we have to get out of the carnality, out of the world, out of emotions. We cannot have envy and strife and jealousy and division. We have to walk in unity as Christians. So how do we do it? How do we grow out of carnality? How do we move from milk as babes and move to meat and be able to tolerate the meat and crave the meat? where we're no longer satisfied by the milk, but we need the meat to live. How do we do that? When we look again in Kenneth Ehagen's book, Growing Up Spiritually, and we move over to 118, it says God wants us to grow. There's no other way to get out of the carnal state except to grow out of it. Peter said, "Desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby." Paul said, "I have fed you with milk." Paul is trying to get these Corinthians to grow. He didn't tell them they weren't saved. That comes as a shock to some folks, but they'll just have to be shocked. And at the end of the chapter, he said to them, "Therefore, let no man glory in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cphus or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours. and ye are Christ, and Christ is God's. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23. I'm so glad for the Holy Spirit and for the word of God. I'm so glad that the Lord has been patient with all of us and helps us. And he goes on to talk about how he was praying in tongues. And and he he talks to us about using tongues as a weapon, our prayer language. The devil and natural people and sometimes even some carnal people don't like this, but it'll help you praise God. Most of what I know about the Bible, I learn by praying in tonesues. What do I mean by that? The spirit is to be your teacher. If you will take enough time to pray in tonesues, you'll get your mind and body quiet while your spirit is functioning. You're speaking out of your spirit. Then God can communicate with your spirit because it becomes sensitive to him for he is spirit. You must pray in tongues. And how do you do that? You start out just a little bit of time. Say, you know what? I'm going to do it for five minutes. And then you're going to graduate to 10 minutes. and you're just going to become fully surrendered and submitted and start speaking in your prayer language. That is going to get you so spiritually in tune to what the Lord has for you, to what the Holy Spirit has for you. It's a it's a level of communication that is not corrupted by your flesh and by your feelings. So if you're in a situation and you don't know what to do, the most important thing that I can give you is the gift of speaking in tonesues and to say to you, ask, ask the Holy Spirit, ask God to give you that gift. Give me the gift of speaking in tonesues. Believe that you've received it and then just open your mouth and start speaking. Don't worry about how it's going to sound. Just start and it will come and it will flow like a river of living water. And that's how you grow spiritually. That's how you get out of your flesh, out of your emotions, out of your senses, is you pray without ceasing. You pray in tongues. I will be in in a a room full of people. I'll be out on the streets ministering, evangelizing. I'll go into uncomfortable places and under my breath I'm and in a quiet voice I'm praying in tonesues. I am praying in tonesues in church. I am praying in tonesues at every moment. I'm always praying trying to keep that open communication between me and the throne room of God. Calling forth his glory, his peace into every situation. not being governed by senses, by emotions, by carnality. We have to grow away from being led by senses, feelings, uh uh uh being uh offended, allowing envy and strife and division within the body. We have to have order. We have to come under the leadership of the good shepherd of Lord Jesus

and step into who God's called us to be moving from milk to meat. So desire the gifts of speaking in tongues

your prayer language and communicate with pure words because the spirit makes intercession for us. Remember the spirit of truth, the spirit of God, the spirit of of Jesus, Lord Jesus. He's there interceding on behalf of his church, of us, his body to father, to God the father. And nobody comes to the father but through the son. So if you don't know Lord Jesus as your savior, then remember to say, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. I'm a sinner. I know it. I repent. I want you to be Lord and Savior of my life. I want to turn away from my old sinful nature, my carnality. And I want to walk as you walk. I want you to live inside of me, Jesus. I know you died on the cross and you rose again. I know you're the son of God. I know that you're coming back for me. I want you to be Lord and Savior my life, Jesus. I want you to to to be my Lord. I want to be your servant. I don't want to be a part of the world anymore, Jesus. I want to live for you. I want to live for you and grow in you, Lord Jesus. I want to be like you, Jesus, and mirror you to a lost and dying world, Jesus. So, come into my heart and with this prayer, I believe that I've been saved and I I'm a child of God, no longer under the condemnation of the law, but set free by the Son. And he who the son sets free is free indeed. And I believe in this prayer that the Holy Spirit lives inside of me, guides me into all truth, and I'm fresh and new.

I have the oil of gladness instead of mourning. I have joy instead of sorrow. I have peace. I have love.

I'm a new creature filled with your peace, fresh oil.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. And for those of you that want the gift of speaking in tones, just say, "Jesus, I want to speak in tonesues." Oh, Father, Father, Father, give me the gift of speaking in tonesues. believe you've receive it and just start opening your mouth and listening in the spirit because you know you hear God and just start speaking. Open your mouth and speak and it will be given unto you because it comes by faith. He went on to say in this book, uh, this was very very important and I I realize now that I need to to say that he went on to say that he received the gift of salvation through faith. He received the Holy Spirit by faith. And you receive the gift of tongues by faith. And faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. and hearing by the word of God. And hearing by the word of God. So you believe you receive salvation because you believe on Jesus. You believe you the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. In the same way you receive the gift of tongues and and and and and that that that that flowing in in in the the the spirit and and the Holy Ghost, all that's received by faith. So you just believe it and know that you got it and you walk in it by faith, by trust, knowing that you're a new creature in Christ Jesus.

You have the kingdom of God living inside of you. Now access it. Walk in the fullness of who he's called you to be. Get into a relationship with him. Get alone with him. Practice your prayer language.

Study his word. Digest his word. Move deeper in his word. And move from milk to meat. Get out of your feelings, out of your senses, and step into all God's called you to be. And that's today's episode of Reflective Hour. I'm Tammy Tony Butler, healing evangelist and your host. God bless you. God keep you. May his light shine upon you. And may you go out and conquer this day. May you move from milk to meat, feasting and dining on the word of God. Well, remember Jesus was born in a manger, in a feeding trough, and he became our bread of life. And those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, oh, they'll always be filled,

dying on that this day. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. We declare all things and we end this episode with his peace and his truth. We glorify him. We praise him. We exalt him.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit.

Thank you, Holy Spirit. Amen.