But Sin That It Might Appear Sin - Pastor Marvin L. Winans

Main message: The preacher urges believers to move beyond elementary Christian practices into spiritual maturity — fully surrendering to Christ so the Holy Spirit can transform them — and warns that falling away after genuinely tasting the Spirit is a grave, often irreversible, danger.

Key points:

• Hebrews 6 calls Christians to "go on to perfection," not to keep replaying the basic doctrines (repentance from dead works, faith toward God, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection, judgment).
• It is serious — and described as effectively impossible to renew — for those who were once enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift/Holy Spirit, and then fall away; such falling away shames Christ.
• Spiritual maturity means moving from "milk" to "strong meat": receive the true Word, be taught and exercised in discernment, and stop settling for convenient, shallow religion or counterfeit experiences.
• Full surrender is required: give God your whole self (mind, heart, habits); God enables victory over fleshly sins (lust, pride, substance abuse, cursing, sexual immorality).
• The parable/image of receptive ground (earth drinking rain producing herbs) versus ground that bears thorns illustrates that a heart that receives God's word will bear fruit, while an unreceptive heart remains under judgment.

Scriptures mentioned: Hebrews 6, Hebrews 5:11, Romans 7:13, Romans 7, Psalm 117, Galatians (general reference), 1 Corinthians (general reference), 1 Corinthians 10:13, Hosea (alluded), 1 John (alluded)