Pressing on to Maturity
Pressing On to Maturity
Hebrews 6:1–20
Dr. Richard Price • Schrader Lane Church of Christ • March 22, 2026
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1Examine your spiritual dietAre you still on milk — the comfortable, unchallenging basics? Commit to a passage of Scripture that stretches you this week.
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2Audit the fruit of your fieldAsk honestly: what is growing in my life right now? Gratitude and love — or bitterness and drift? Name it and address it.
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3Be someone’s oathIdentify one younger believer or new Christian and make a deliberate investment this week. Share how God has kept you.
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4Let your anchor holdWhen the hard week comes, return to the finished work of Christ. Jesus has already entered the inner sanctuary on your behalf (Heb. 6:20).
“Press on. The world is watching. And so is the generation coming up right behind you.”
Barry’s Bureau — Inspired by Dr. Richard Price’s sermon at Schrader Lane Church of ChristBarry's Bureau | Inspired by Dr. Richard Price's sermon at Schrader Lane Church of Christ
In this penetrating message from Hebrews 6, Dr. Richard Price challenges every believer to stop rehearsing the basics and start pressing forward into the fullness of Christian maturity. God has sealed His purpose with both a promise and an oath — the only question remaining is whether you will trust Him enough to move toward it.
Are You Still Warming Up When the Race Has Already Begun?
Picture a student who has spent five years in first grade. Not because of any lack of ability — but because of comfort. The curriculum is familiar. The expectations are low. The questions are easy. And every time someone suggests it is time to advance, they panic and retreat to what they already know.
That image may seem extreme, but if we are honest, many of us have been spiritually warming up for years — revisiting the same foundational questions, circling the same starting points, never quite pressing forward into the deep, challenging waters of a mature and advancing faith. We know how to talk about God. We are just not growing with Him.
That is the crisis the writer of Hebrews confronts head-on. And it is the crisis Dr. Richard Price brought before the congregation at Schrader Lane Church of Christ on March 22, 2026 — a Youth Sunday, fittingly, when the urgency of growing up in faith could not have been more appropriate. The message was simple and direct: it is time to move.
The Call to Leave the Starting Line: Hebrews 6:1–3
The anchor passage for this lesson is Hebrews 6:1–3: "So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding... And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding."
As Dr. Price carefully explained, this passage is not calling believers to abandon their foundation. The foundation of repentance, faith, baptism, and eternal life is real and non-negotiable. What the writer is challenging is the tendency to stay there — to make a permanent home at the starting line when God has called us to run.
The original audience was a Jewish crowd being pulled backward toward Mosaic practices. They were mixing the old covenant with New Testament freedom, and in doing so, they were in danger of missing Jesus entirely — the eternal High Priest who fulfilled and surpassed everything they were clinging to. "If you stay there talking about the same things," Dr. Price warned, "you're going to miss out on something much bigger that God has in store for you."
There is a freedom in Christ that goes far beyond membership. Being a believer is not just a starting position — it is a daily, advancing direction. We are bloodwashed, grounded, and free. Now God is calling us to live like it.
Two Fields, Two Futures: Choose What Your Life Will Grow
One of the most searching sections in Hebrews 6 paints the picture of two fields. One soaks up the falling rain, receives the blessing of God, and produces a beautiful crop for the farmer. The other drinks in the same rain — and grows nothing but thorns and thistles. That field, the writer says, is useless. The farmer eventually condemns it and burns it.
Dr. Price brought this imagery home with pastoral directness: "Is there a sign on your life that says condemned? Or is there a sign on your life that says fruit for the Master's use?"
Here is the sobering truth: the rain falls on both fields equally. God's Word, His grace, His goodness, and His provision are available to all. The difference is what each field does with what it receives. And this is where Hebrews 6:7–8 becomes personally convicting.
Some of us have tasted God's goodness. We have seen Him open doors, heal wounds, and make ways out of no way. And yet — we complain. We play spiritual hopscotch with God, fully committed when life is comfortable, drifting when it is not. We have forgotten how good He has been. Dr. Price put it plainly: "When we used to eat bread sandwiches and wish sandwiches and now you can go out to eat three times a day and everything is so wrong — we forget the goodness of God that we have tasted."
Maturity means staying rooted — not because the journey is always comfortable, but because we trust the God who brought us this far. It means being the field that produces good fruit even in dry seasons.
"I've just made up my mind — God, I trust you so much that I'm going to make a good crop out of everything you give me. Things might be tight sometimes, but I'm still going to make something good out of it."
You Are God's Living Oath to Someone Watching You
Perhaps the most stunning insight in this entire sermon was the connection Dr. Price drew between God's oath to Abraham and the responsibility of every mature believer toward the next generation.
In Hebrews 6:13–18, the writer reminds us that God made both a promise and an oath to Abraham — and that these two things are unchangeable, because it is impossible for God to lie. We hold to this hope, verse 19 declares, as a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary — into the eternal priesthood of Jesus Himself.
But here is the insight that should stop every mature believer in their tracks: you are part of that oath-keeping system. "A lot of times," Dr. Price shared, "God will use you and I to demonstrate His power in the life of the believer as an oath to somebody else to whom He has made the promise." In other words, your faithfulness through hard times is not just personal testimony. It is God's living proof — to someone younger, weaker, or newer in faith — that His promise can be trusted.
Dr. Price shared his own story with raw honesty: dropping out of high school, walking away from good opportunities, learning lessons the costly way. "I will be the oath," he said, "that God kept me only so he can be a demonstration model for you." He wore a young entrepreneur's company shirt to church that morning — a visible, deliberate act of investment in a college student's future. That is what it looks like to be someone's oath.
Your life, lived faithfully in Christ, is a sermon that needs no pulpit. Your grandbabies are watching. Your children are watching. Your neighbors are watching. And God is asking: will they see full confidence in Him?
4 Ways to Press On to Maturity Right Now
- Examine your spiritual diet. Are you still on milk — the comfortable, the unchallenging, the familiar? Commit this week to studying a passage that stretches you. Hebrews itself is a remarkable starting point.
- Audit the fruit of your field. Honestly ask: what is growing in my life right now? Gratitude, generosity, and patience — or complaints, bitterness, and spiritual drift? Name it, and address it with prayer and intentional action.
- Be someone's oath. Identify one younger believer, college student, or new Christian in your life. Make a deliberate investment this week — a call, a meal, a conversation that shares how God has kept you through the hard places.
- Let your anchor hold. When the hard week comes — and it will — return to the finished work of Christ. He has already entered the inner sanctuary on your behalf (Hebrews 6:20). Your hope is not theoretical. It is anchored in a risen, eternal Savior who cannot be moved and cannot be shaken.
📺 Listen, Watch & Learn More
Watch Dr. Price's full sermon, "Pressing On to Maturity," on YouTube: Watch the Full Sermon Here
Deepen your understanding with the interactive quiz and study game available at BarrysBureau.org.
The Question That Cannot Wait Any Longer
Dr. Price closed his message with a question that deserves an honest answer from every one of us: "Will you turn your back on God?"
Not in some dramatic, public gesture — but in the small, daily decisions to skip worship, neglect prayer, drift from community, or trade God's long-term purposes for short-term ease. The enemy, Dr. Price reminded us, would love nothing more than for us to give up and conclude that God cannot help us. But we are an oath-keeping people, held by a God who cannot lie and will not forget our work and our love (Hebrews 6:10).
Maturity is not a destination you arrive at on a quiet afternoon. It is a direction you commit to — pressing forward even when you are tired, even when the field feels dry, even when the road ahead looks uncertain. God has given you His promise. He has given you His oath. He has already sent His Son through the curtain as your eternal High Priest.
Press on. The world is watching. And so is the generation coming up right behind you.
Where is God calling you to press deeper in your faith this week? Are you being someone's "oath" — a living demonstration that He can be trusted? Share your reflection in the comments below, and pass this post along to someone who needs the encouragement to keep going.
Join us for worship at Schrader Lane Church of Christ or visit BarrysBureau.org for more resources, study tools, and weekly lessons.
Pressing On to Maturity
Hebrews 6:1–20 • March 22, 2026
Dr. Richard Price delivered this powerful challenge to every believer at Schrader Lane Church of Christ. How well do you know the lesson? Test yourself below.
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Priceless Lessons from Dr. Price — Pressing On to Maturity
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Pressing On to Maturity
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Pressing On to Maturity — Hebrews 6:1–20
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