Let's go and jump into the Word of God.
We're going to launch out tonight and from Ephesians
chapter 4. And really, my key text for
tonight is going to be Ephesians chapter 4, verse, verse #15 As I
was preparing, though, I'm going to back up and read starting in
verse #11 just to give context from the Word of God.
You know, earlier this year, Pastor had a series called The
Fivefold Effect. Most of you were here for that
series, but it's a great series. You can go back and listen to it
online talking about the fivefold ministry, the apostle,
prophet, evangelist, teacher, and pastor.
And so let's read about them starting in verse #11 of
Ephesians chapter 4. And then we'll really focus in
on verse #15 because tonight I want to talk to you about Max
reps Anybody like to work out? Anybody thought about working
out? Does anybody have a membership
to a gym? OK, so Max reps, it's called
Kingdom growth. That is what is going to be
spoken of tonight. So in Ephesians chapter 4 verse
#11 Oh, just by the way, to pastor Tim just texted me and
listen, he said take your time. It's it's Nautilus fun night.
So we can go a long time. No, I'm not going to keep you
too long. 10:00 So it says this, he and he himself, which is
Jesus gave some, not all, some. There's no insignificant members
in the body of Christ. Some of the members though have
this gift upon them. And he goes on to say the
apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor and
teachers. Why?
Why did he give them? These are Christ, we'll call
love gifts to the church. And he gave the five fold
ministry that are that are those that have been called into full
time ministry and they're called in the full time ministry to
equip the Saints. Number one, you'll see that in
verse #12 that means to help supply, furnish and put them in
their fit in the body of Christ. And the reason that's important
is because after that the Saints are going to do the work of the
ministry. It's not that the five fold
ministry is equipped and then they do all the work.
The FIFO ministry helps equip the body so that the work of the
ministry can happen. And the third, the result of
that. The third thing is for the
edifying or the building up of the body of Christ.
It goes on to verse #13 to say, till we all come to the unity of
the faith, and to the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect
man we could say this, a mature man to the measure the stature
of the fullness of Christ, 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. And verse 15 is the key verse.
But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into
him who is the head Christ. Say this with me, grow up in all
things. Say it's the Lord's will that I
grow up. Another translation, The
complete Jewish Bible reads verse 15 like this.
Instead speaking the truth in love, we will in every respect
grow up in. Grow up into Him who is the
head, the Messiah. The Message Bible reads it like
this. No prolonged, No prolonged
infancies among us, please. OK, I'll read that again.
No prolonged infancies among us. And I like this, please.
Will not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are
easy prey for predators. God wants us to grow up to know
the whole truth and tell it in love, like Christ and
everything. We take our lead from Christ who
is the source of everything that we do.
He keeps us in step with each other.
His very breath and blood flow through US, nourishing us so
that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
The the word grow means to cause, to grow, to increase, to
become greater, and to enlarge. Other parallel passages.
I'm going to give you to go along with Ephesians 415 in
Colossians chapter one verse #10 if you're taking notes, you can
write that down. Colossians chapter one verse #10
It says that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him,
being fruitful in every good work, and increasing or growing
or enlarging in the knowledge of God.
First Thessalonians chapter 3 verse #12 says, May the Lord
make you to increase, or to grow, or to enlarge, and abound
in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you.
First Thessalonians chapter 4 verse #10 says this.
And indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all
Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that
you increase, or you grow more and more.
Second Peter chapter 3 verse #18 says this.
But grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and
forever. Amen.
So the Bible encourages and monitors and monitors us to grow
up. And you know what?
It takes time to grow. You don't grow up physically
overnight. And you're not going to grow up
spiritually overnight. Educationally, you don't
graduate 12th grade one first through 12th grade and 1 here.
It takes time to go through the process of education, right?
And you got to pass each grade to get to the next grade to
know. So they know through test to
qualify you that you're able to get to the next level.
So there's a lot of parallels between spiritual growth and
natural growth. And, you know, I was just
reflecting on this coming in today.
You know, Abby is 17 now. She only has one more East Coast
camp, but she has she's growing up.
Hallelujah. And it's been a great ride in
parenting. Zechariah chapter 4 verse #10
says this. Zechariah chapter 4 verse #10
says do not despise the day of small beginnings, for the Lord
rejoices to see the work begin, to see the Plumb line in
Zerubbla's hand, and God loves to see the work begin in your
life. When you declare that Jesus
Christ, you are Lord, you have just entered into His family.
And we're going to talk about stages of spiritual growth, the
characteristics that go along with the stage.
But when you're born again, you're in a babyhood stage.
Now that's an awesome stage, but guess what?
God ultimately doesn't want you to stay there.
He expects you to grow up. No prolonged infancies, please.
I remember when I gave my life to the Lord in 1997, I literally
got the hell scared out of me 'cause I went to a conference by
Mary Baxter called the Divine Revelation of Hell.
And a good friend of mine, Steve Miller, who actually passed
away, he was relentless in pursuing me after he gave his
life to the Lord. We ran around in high school, we
parted together, We were jocks, you know, we like to lift
weights. We did everything to get.
But he gave his life to the Lord.
And then I kind of stiff armed him, but he would not let up on
me and he kept on calling me and I thank God that he didn't stop.
I thank God that he was persistent.
I thank God that he prayed for me.
I thank God that he sowed the seed.
He watered the seed and he would not relent.
And one night really out of him just pestering me, I said, I'll
go to this conference with you. And lo and behold, when we went
to the conference, I had the hell scared out of me.
I was like, I don't want to go there at all after she got done
talking about that. So I gave my life to the Lord,
found a great church, and God's been faithful to connect me to
three churches over my journey since 1997 and got plugged in
there and started the process of growth.
But I remember sitting in a church I grew up in a certain,
certain religion, I'll call it that was very ritual.
And so, you know, you would go to church, you were going to get
in and out in 45 minutes, right? Very methodical, but not really
the relationship or the connection or the truth of the
word went forth at that that church.
I really was not saved. I was going to that church as a
child into my teen years, but I was not born again.
I just thought I was saved 'cause I was going to church,
never made Jesus Lord. But when I got to Rhema
Christian Center, completely different approach, atmosphere,
reverence for the word, teaching of the Word, completely,
completely different praise than what I was used to.
But I remember sitting there, I had my notebook in my Bible and
I was taking notes and I was like a sponge.
I was so hungry. At that time.
We had cassette players. So I'm getting older,
Hallelujah. You know, 30 years ago when
somebody talked about something they had in their generator, I
was like, they're old. Now I get to talk about cassette
players. So never knew what an 8 track
was, but some of you do. But I know what a cassette
player was. And in that season, man, I, I
had my little 1990 Honda Civic and I would just have the, the
pastors tapes playing. Sometimes they'll eat the tapes.
So you got to take it out, you got to get your pencil and roll
it up, y'all. And then if, if the, if the
thing broke, that was really a bummer 'cause it's such a good
teaching, you know, but I would, I would put scriptures on my
mirror and my car on index cards, you know, and just
hungry. But I remember listening to
Apostle Scales, who was my pastor at that time, and I would
got really frustrated thinking, man, where has this been?
I want everything and I want it now.
I quit taking notes in the middle of service 'cause it was
so good. But I was like, I want
everything now. And what I'm telling you is that
spiritual growth is a process. I determined that in that
moment, man, I'm going to stay connected.
I'm going to stay committed. And I didn't know all these
points or principles that I'm going to give you tonight, but I
just knew I, I'm, I need to be connected.
And nobody ever told me go to church.
I just knew, man, I need to go to church.
Nobody begged me, forced me. And that's been part of my
journey in growth. And we'll get to some other
points on that. But God loves to see the work
begin. And that Plumb line is the Word
of God, the truth of His Word, and the work of the Holy Spirit
in your life. See, we were building a life
apart from Him before we came to Him.
But God loves when you gave everything to Him.
And now that Plumb line is laid, He said, now let my word and let
the Holy Spirit work. I love to see that work began.
God rejoices when somebody comes into His family, into His
Kingdom, and He loves to see the beginning of that.
And the process of that change is a constant in life.
Learn to enjoy every season and area of life.
And back to Abby, I've enjoyed every season of parenting with
her. That's one thing that Andrew and
I have enjoyed. And with Chloe too, it hasn't
gone by too quick. I've enjoyed every moment, have
no regrets. We've made great moments and
memories and it's it's gone by. It hasn't felt like too quick,
but it's been a blessing though every season from her birth to
childhood, you know, in adolescence now we'll call her a
young woman. It's been great in every season.
But we need as change as a a constant life, we need to learn
to enjoy every season in every area of life.
All life is lived on levels and arrived at in stages or seasons.
There is no growth without change.
The way dead things are differentiated from living
things are the amount of changes you're willing to go through.
The example of the children of Israel.
God called them out to bring them in, but they never changed.
You know, wanderings, we call it the wanderings of the children
of Israel. That's a common theme throughout
Scripture. And number numbers tells us
about the children of Israel. Their wandering journey was full
of murmuring and complaining. It was full of movement without
progress. They walked around the same
space for 40 years with no progress, no growth.
I don't want to be like that. God has better plans for you,
church. When He delivered you out of
darkness and brought you into His light, He had a wonderful
purpose and plan and pathway for you to grow into.
He doesn't want you being stuck in the same rut, the same
habits, the same low level of living as the world, But you got
to be willing to change. You need to be a fully devoted
disciple of Jesus Christ that's willing to grow into change.
So let's look at some characteristics in our first
stage of development. It's called the babyhood stage.
So we got characteristics on the screen for you.
The positive thing about babyhood is babies are innocent
and pure and there's no past with them.
Hallelujah. So when you give your life to
the Lord, guess what old things have what passed away.
All things have become new. So in the babyhood stage, you
never want to lose that mindset, that spiritual attitude, that
man, I have a redeemed life. I'm not an ex anything, not an
ex alcoholic, not an ex drug addict, not an ex abuser.
Anyone that's in Christ is a brand new creation, old things
that passed away. All things have become new.
Psalms 103 says he's able to remove the east as far as the
West, which means your past is under the blood of Christ.
He completely expunges the record as if it never happened.
So we need to keep that mindset as we go on with God as that's
pureness, that innocence, realizing that our past has been
redeemed and we now have a future.
Some other things about babies, they live off of milk.
They are not developed fully enough to take in solid food.
And because of that, first Peter 22 obviously tells us his
newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may
grow thereby. So thank God for milk 'cause
it'll grow you up. What is the baby's primary?
A food source is milk to get them to grow.
But you don't expect them to stay on the bottle forever,
right? It would be weird at camp this
week if my daughters are walking around with a bottle in their
hand. That would not be good.
Not at 16 and 17 years old, let alone if you're 60.
I don't care what the world's doing.
It's not right to for you to put a pacifier in your mouth.
Yeah, 50 years old. All right.
See law. If we go over to Hebrews chapter
5, I don't have this verse up there, but it says that babes
are unskilled in the word of righteousness.
That means they're, they have, don't have experience or they're
ignorant of some things when it comes to truth.
They know that they're born again, but now they need to
continue. They need to get a knowledge
base and an acquaintance with the truth, with the Holy Spirit
so that they can grow. Here's something with babies
too. They will put anything in their
mouth. Is that not true?
Especially if you had your very first child, you know, you drop
the pacifier, you're going to sterilize that by running water
over that. The second child, you just stick
it in your mouth and lick it off yourself and give it back to
them 'cause you're a little less worried, but they will take
anything. I remember one time when we were
watching our niece when she was little or nephew, I can't
remember if it was Joshua, Jade or no.
It was Joshua. And they came to our apartment
and we had broken a, a glass or a vase or something.
It was on the carpet and he had, he had crawled over there.
He was just an infant and Angie's sister had just dropped
him off. She's still in the thing.
And he had grabbed that glass. She watched him as a little
piece of glass and was gonna put it in his mouth and thank God
she caught him. But as a baby, guess what?
We just don't need to be putting any doctrine or teaching.
There is a lot of stuff on the Internet right now and not
saying that all of it's bad. There's some great stuff, but
the baby does not have discernment 'cause they don't
know the word of righteousness to understand.
Should I be eating this or not? It could be poisonous.
It could be glass that could cut their throat and do much damage
to them, right? But a baby will put anything in
its mouth. So it's important, you know,
that we have some mature people around, some pastors to help
make sure they're getting the right nutritional value in their
mouth and not something that's going to contaminate them.
Babies are easily irritated and easily spoiled.
Hallelujah. So if you've been walking with
the Lord for one year, the next point says when they they will
cry when they're hungry and want to be held.
So that's great if you've been walking with God for six months
or a year, but if you've been walking with God for 10 years
and you want me to come hold you and put a bottle in your mouth,
I'm just Hallelujah. Just giving you examples, right?
After 10 years, you should start to be able to help out babies
grow up. That's the point of the night
we're going to get to it is we should get a mature body that's
able to help reproduce strong disciples, a body that's mature,
that looks out for one another, listens, observes, and making
sure we help each other in our spiritual journey.
We don't want any sheep to wander off from any kind of fake
prophet, fake teaching, bad doctrine, 'cause it's out there.
We want to make sure as much as within us, we keep people on the
pathway of progress and truth. So those are some
characteristics of babies. Let's go on to childhood
characteristics. The positive thing about
children. So babies we could say what one
to two, maybe 3 years old at children will will say around 4
years old to about nine years old is in the naturals about
when we would consider that that childhood.
All right, The positive thing about children, they take
parents at their word. If you say you're going to do
something, they really believe you're going to do it.
I remember my Uncle Jim when I was back in Ohio, he told me he
was taking karate and that he had sparred with, like, Bruce
Lee's a karate partner. I believed him, but he was not
telling the truth. But children take their parents
or leadership at their word. If you say you're going to do
something, if you say you're going to take them to the Magic
Kingdom, guess what? They are going to remind you of
that promise. They will be dogmatic to make
sure that you follow through on that word.
And that's a positive trait about a child as they just
believe what their parents or relatives tell them.
And they're going to, if you say you're going to get them
something for Christmas, they believe it's coming.
And that's a good characteristic to hold onto.
And in the childhood stage, 1st Corinthians 1311 says this.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish things. So the apostle Paul says,
listen, this is a stage of development.
Enjoy every season. You're going to, if you've given
your life to Lord, guess what? You're not going to go from an
infant to a mature person. You're going to go through the
childhood stage. But when you're a child, you're
going to think like a child. You're going to reason like a
child. You're going to you're going to
talk like a child, right? But when you become a man or a
woman of God, you're supposed to put away childish things.
So childish thinking. The Bible encourages childlike
faith, but warns of childishness, childish reason.
And if a man in a marriage acts like a child, he forces his wife
to act like his mother. So we need men and women to grow
up. Hallelujah.
Child is talking. You know kids will just talk,
Talk, talk, talk, talk. Matter of fact, Josh, I didn't
get permission and Danny sent us a video of Indy, Indiana giving
a 30 minute dissertation, talking just non-stop to them.
They said she just loves to talk.
So she's just rambling on. They sent us a video.
I don't even know all that was saying, but that's what kids
are. They just like to talk.
But as you grow up, though you understand Proverbs chapter 10
verse 19, it says in the multitudes of words, sin is not
lacking, but he will strange as lips, as wise.
So as you grow, you're just not always being gibberish, right?
Talking, talking, talking, talking.
Another characteristic about children is they're curious
children. You have to say no to them at
times because curiosity can get them in trouble.
If they see the electrical outlet and they go to stick
their hand in it, what are you going to say?
No. That makes you a good parent,
not a bad parent. I remember when we were training
our girls and raising them, if Abby or Chloe did reach for
that, we would actually smack their hand and say no, it
didn't. It didn't take them long to
understand our no with the pain associated not to do that.
Were we? Were we punishing them 'cause we
didn't love them? No, we didn't want a bad outcome
outcome for them if they would have.
Even on a stove, if they would touch a hot stove, that could
burn their hand, right? So as parents, it's our
responsibility to make sure we create safe boundaries for them
and train them up in the way they should go so curiosity
couldn't get them in trouble. Children to throw a temper
tantrum if they don't get their way, they will.
What flail on the floor, pounding their their feet and
their hands on the ground and crying if they don't get their
way? In Ephesians chapter 4 verse #14
Another trait of children is it says this, that we should no
longer be children tossed to and fro, cared about with every wind
of doctrine by the trickery of men and cunning craftiness of
deceitful plotting. So children are unsteady.
They can be all over the place pastoring for let's see now.
Well, 21 years, I've experienced some congregation members in the
childhood stage and they'll they'll grab a teaching or a
doctrine. They'll come to me and say, you
know this, listen to this. Or they'll get in like the Book
of Revelation and I'll tell them, listen, eschatology is
great. Revelation says Blessed is a man
that reads it. But right now, right now, we
need to work on your love walk, your faith walk.
We don't need to be thinking about who the Antichrist is, but
children can do that. They could start to run off and
getting all these different doctrines with the slide of men
and the cunning craftiness, and we got to get them back to
steadiness on a pathway that's going to lead to progress for
them. The next stage of development is
adolescence, and here's some characteristics of adolescence.
This period of growth and development is between childhood
and adulthood, typically between 10 and 19 years old.
Hallelujah. Hormones are alive and well and
at on a positive side. They feel like they can conquer
the world and that's a great thing.
However, guess what? When hormones are alive and
well, there becomes a self-awareness.
There becomes a self consciousness.
They can start to try to seek popularity and try to fit in.
Guess what? In adolescents, they're prone to
think that they know it all. We've been teenagers before.
Come on, you remember when you're 1617?
Their decisions can be based off short time desires.
It's that's not snot, that's not all those short terms.
Desires can be like snot. You need to wipe it off, clean
up your nose and get off not realizing long term results or
consequences, right. So out of the spur of the
moment, they'll want to make a decision, but they don't think
through what the results or consequences of that decision
may be. Can you put that screen back up?
Are you fixing snot? It's probably my bad.
I send them the notes so they just copy and pasted.
And you know what? Spell check didn't catch that
one. So it's not grammatically
correct, but there you go. Listen, when you're that age,
they're ready to be independent, not realizing we are built by
God to be interdependent. So they're really the center of
their own universe. But I'm painting a picture in a
pathway for you that enjoy every season, but continue to grow.
This is a self evaluation and examination for you tonight.
Some of you been walking for with the Lord for 30-40 years,
some for a month, some for three years, some for six years.
The great thing about the congregation, we got a a great
mixture of growth that's taking place within this body.
And guess what, There's always going to be a rotation of
different stages and seasons of growth because what when people
come to church, we give an altar call and somebody may come to
Lord tonight and they've just entered into.
So we can't expect them to just get it right all the time.
Has the Lord been patient with you?
Has the Lord showed you mercy? Has the Lord still cared about
you when you've fallen down? But like the proverb says, get
back up. Adjustment falls down, buddy.
What gets back up? But there's also accountability.
On the flip side, if you've been walking with God for 30 years
and I see you throwing a spiritual tantrum, we may need
to get a little spanking out for you.
Say what are you doing? How you can say Amen or owe me
or Hallelujah. So let's get on to manhood and
womanhood stage. What are the characteristics of
this? When you be, when you are mature
in Christ and that's the aim of God.
He wants us. Ephesians 415 says that we would
grow up, no prolonged infancies, no babes in the woods, but that
we develop and all that God wants us to be.
So when you're a a real man or woman of God and you've matured,
there's a God consciousness that you carry with you every day.
It's not a self consciousness, you have grown and now I'm just
aware of God, His presence, the work of the Holy Spirit.
A second thing is you become acquainted and you've got to
know the Heavenly Father. When you're a a mature man or
woman of God, you're not in survival mode anymore.
Survival means it's not enough. You're full of self and
self-interest. You've had success, but you
realize there's a higher calling and a life of significance as a
mature man or woman. Mature mature disciples invest,
impact and influence. One of the greatest laws and
expectations in the Kingdom of God is the law of reproduction.
In Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 through 28, in the creation of
man, God says this. He said let us make man in our
image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle,
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps
on the earth. So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God. He created him, male and female.
He created them. Then God bless him, and God said
to them, be fruitful, multiply, be fruitful.
What's that? Reproduce, multiply, fill the
earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of
the sea, over the bird of the air, birds of the air, over
every living thing that moves on the earth.
So reproduction or the ability to reproduce is a sign of
maturity. A mature person understands the
principle of succession, Succession.
The they understand the law of succession.
Succession is the peaceful and orderly transfer of authority,
resources, and leadership to the next generation.
The goal of succession is perpetual advancement, progress
and growth. The mature believer knows I'm
not a success without a successor.
And they have the mentality, the baton mentality, I'm gonna pass
off. They have the mentality.
They're not jealous. A mature believer wants you to
get your 10 thousands where you got your thousands and is
willing to invest and take the time with you to help grow you
up so you can do greater things than they ever did.
The spirit of Saul got jealous at King David, but a mature
person doesn't get jealous. They get excited to see you do
greater works. It's exciting to me to know if
these youth are at East Coast camp because when I was that age
I was not at an East Coast camp. So it's exciting when I started
my journey in my mid 20s. It's exciting to me to know that
somebody's starting their journey at 13121110 and I,
they're going to be so much further ahead than I was and I
get excited about that. And we should get excited about
that and we should come along in collaboration and do everything
we can to see them grow. Maturity does not come with age,
but it comes with the acceptance of responsibility.
You just get old with age. Somebody could be more mature at
25 than somebody is at 60 'cause if you're going to grow up in in
Christ, you need to go ahead and take responsibility for your
actions. When God confronted Adam in the
garden, guess what Adam did? He did not take responsibility,
which is a sign of immaturity. What did Adam do?
He blamed his wife. I believe God was just posing a
question to him so a real man could say I missed it.
Please forgive me. The difference with King David
when Nathan confronted King David after failure, David said
I am that man. And even when the judgment came,
there was three different judgments and David chose to
give three days to the the mercy of God basically said I want to
fall in the hands of an enemy and even we saw the death Angel
come and David said don't destroy the people.
It was me, Lord, it was me. What a man that took
responsibility for his actions. And the Bible calls David a man
after God's heart. You could be called a woman or a
man after God's heart if you just take responsibility.
I'm going to give you 5 M's that we teach at 318 just for a
pattern for you of expectation. All right, And these are really
5 M's for the mature. So if you've been walking with
God sometime, this should be your life number one.
You need to model it. You need to model it.
First Corinthians 11/1. Paul says follow me or imitate
me or model me as I follow Christ.
Paul had the boldness and the confidence say I'm really living
this thing out. You shouldn't be one way at
church and nothing at the house. You shouldn't be one way at
church. Another thing at your job.
There should be consistency, there should be steadfastness,
there should be fruitfulness. Model means that I'm imitating,
I'm living it out. I'm I'm walking it out.
I'm doing this thing even if I fail or falter, I'm mature
enough to take responsibility and still walk it out and model
it to somebody else 'cause God wants us.
He wants the body of Christ to grow up and be mature so that we
could have models or really be salt and light to the world.
If you're modeling it, that qualifies you to mentor.
Mentoring is a relational process in which a mentor who
knows and has experienced something transfers that
something, whether it's resources, wisdom, information,
experience, and insight, to a mentor E at the appropriate time
and manner so that it facilitates development and
growth. That's what a mentorship is.
I'm transferring resources, wisdom, insight, experience to
another person so they can go on and do the work that God's
called them to do. You see this at the Bible.
Paul mentored Silas, right? You see in the Old Testament,
Elijah mentored Elijah. Elijah, y'all know what I'm
saying? OK, But you see it throughout.
Paul mentored Timothy, right? So there's individual mentorship
that could take place, but you need to model it first, qualify
it, then you can mentor after that.
You have to monitor those that you're mentoring.
Mediocre men want authority without accountability.
Mediocre women want authority without accountability.
You can get online and call yourself whatever you want.
Profit so and so, prophetess so and so.
That doesn't make you a model or a mentor.
That's why the local body church is so important.
Why 'cause there's accountability that takes place
if we see you putting something in your mouth that you shouldn't
be putting in your mouth. If I see you run across the
street spiritually, I'm gonna say stop.
Amen. You can get hurt doing that.
So accountability will help you grow.
After accountability, guess what?
You got to motivate people 'cause sometimes when there's
accountability, it could feel like, OK, the Bible says no
Chastening for the present seems for the present time seems
pleasant. But it yields the peaceable
fruit of righteousness. So anytime there's correction,
it may not feel good, but if you're doing it in love, it's
for your benefit. And after that you got to
motivate to say, come on, you can do this now, but the whole
goal is to multiply. The 5th M is to multiply.
I want to really for the next the amount of time we have left
till 10:00, I want to go over a a plan.
It won't be till 10. Give me 27 minutes.
And if Nautilus is still going, you can go have fun with them
because it is their fun night. But in all this, as we look at
the characteristics of each stage, I want to give you a plan
and a pathway for growth because to grow naturally in training
and developing, it's very similar in the spiritual growth
and development, there is a plan and a pathway to progress in the
things of God. In First Timothy chapter 4 verse
#8 the Bible says for bodily exercise profits little, but
godliness is profitable in all things.
Having promise of the life that now is and that which is to
come. Glory to God.
There's promises that can be fulfilled in this life.
We serve a great God who wants to do great things through his
great people. First Corinthians Chapter 9
verses 24 through 27 from the message says this you've you've
all been to the stadium and you've seen the athletes race
every run. Runs one, wins, run two win all
good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that
tarnishes and fades. You're after one that that's
gold eternally. I don't know about you, but I'm
running hard for the finish line.
I'm giving it everything I've got.
No lazy living for me. I'm staying alert and in top
condition. I'm not going to get caught
napping, telling everyone else all about it, and then missing
out myself. What a word of encouragement and
admonition of awareness to live this life for Christ.
I brought up those two verses though, because Paul, it's
talking about characteristics of athletes in the natural.
How do they get better at what they do?
So I'm going to go over 5 natural things that carry over
to the spiritual life. And this is actually what I
build my life upon spiritually and then my goals physically
'cause I have gold, spirit, soul, body, family, financially,
socially and ministry. I set goals every year.
Ask God, what do you want me to do in 2025?
In October, I'll start praying about 2026.
What do you want me to do in 2026?
So this is how I build my plan #1 nutrition.
I'm going to name all five and then I'm going to come back and
explain them. Number 2 is rest #3 is
anaerobics #4IS aerobics, and #5IS flexibility and mobility.
So the very first thing in any successful program that's going
to help you grow in the natural, but more importantly spiritually
is nutrition. What are you eating now?
A few months ago, I talked about Steakums.
About two weeks ago, Steak EMS showed up at the church.
You can have what you say. We're sitting in service a
couple Wednesdays ago, and Laura Wade could witness this.
She's waving back there. Somebody delivered groceries
during service from Publix, and I asked her next day what was in
them. She said some steak EMS, right?
I like Tang growing up. Hallelujah.
I used to take Tang and sprinkle it on my vanilla ice cream.
That would pucker your face up right there, you know?
You realize as you grow up though, no bueno.
If I'm really going to get somewhere, you know the seed you
sow determines the destiny you reap.
You have control through the Word of God to determine what
life you're going to live in the Kingdom by the seed that you
sow. I know Twinkies last for 20
years. I've heard in the wrapper, don't
get on false theology or doctrines of demons and think
just 'cause I ate Twinkies, it's going to preserve my body.
Now I'm being funny. But what are we doing
spiritually? Cause Matthew 4/4 says man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of
my out of the diet, out of God, the mouth of God.
Sorry, I was thinking about My fitness Pal.
Hallelujah. I started doing My Fitness pal
about 3 weeks ago 'cause I was like, I really wanna see what
I'm eating. And so you gotta type in what
your calorie aim is. What's your protein, what's your
carbs, what's your fat? And boy, that does not lie
unless you're lying, entering the data, but then you need to
repent, be a real man or woman of God putting the right data.
But man, that was really eye opening.
But how much more? What are you eating spiritually?
Are you eating spiritually 'cause if you're going to grow,
guess what? You need nutrition from the Word
of God. Are you doing the fundamentals?
Are you reading the Word of God every day?
You know, we encourage and pass out a Bible reading plan at the
beginning of every year. We keep those stocked throughout
their Why? Because we want you to connect
with God the Father so you can grow.
Whether you're an infant, guess what?
You need milk. Whether you're a mature person,
Hebrew says that you could have strong meat.
You know a mature person doesn't talk about the deep things of
God. I'm not trying to wow you,
impress you with deep things. Really.
If you look at Hebrews chapter 5, it says by reason of use they
exercise. Really.
A mature person doesn't think, get up and talk about oh, I know
this and I sound the oratories great.
And hermeneutically I'm on point and I know about hermetology,
pneumatology, I know about theology, bibliology, you know,
I know about homiletics. I don't care.
Are you applying the word 'cause you're not deep and mature?
You're not mature just 'cause you think you're deep.
Really deep means you don't know what you're talking about.
The Bible says in in Hebrews chapter 5 that really strong
meat belongs to those who by reason of use practice,
exercise. It you look up that word
exercise and strongs, it means to train vigorously.
That means I apply the word, that means I mature.
So a mature person applies the word of God.
Are you developing and nutrition your prayer life 'cause prayer
is vital to growing up and you know God wants you to connect
with him. It's not always about asking for
things. Do you just take time with him?
Brother Barry was telling me at prayer today about his testimony
and they were needing some money.
I didn't ask if you could share, but I don't think he cares.
We good and they were in a tight spot and he said I'm and really
he said I'm going to tithe no matter what and they needed
groceries, right? If I mess up the story, people
could see you after, but I got the premise of it.
But he said he told his wife, man, we're going to be
committed. We're going to tithe and like
they didn't have nothing. He knew that he could have ran
to his dad who was sitting on the porch close to his house,
'cause I think they live in close connection, right?
He's talking about back in the day they had the fat wallets.
You know, his dad always had hundred $100 bills, $50.00
bills, $20 bills. But he trusted and got his
father. So he tithed.
He trusts in Lord. And you know what a mature
person did instead of crying and snotting and throwing a temper
tantrum and how we going to make it, he started praising the Lord
so loud his dad came off the porch and said, you OK?
I thought something happened. But you know what?
Somebody came up. Was it a gooseneck when you had
your shop? Was that a gooseneck trailer?
They need it fixed and said, Hey, we need you to fix this,
please. And was it the next day?
What it was the same day. So they, he, he praised him,
praised God super loud and tithed and didn't have anything.
They pulled up said can you fix? He said, sure.
They said, listen, I know you probably don't need this, but
we're going to give you the head of time.
Pulled out six $100 bills, paid them a percentage upfront.
And then I there was another person that came later in the
day that did the same amount, right?
So $1200. And this is back in what year?
OK, so that's a lot of money back then.
Hallelujah, no inflation. 1200, still a lot of money, but it was
a lot of money back then. But that's maturity.
A baby would have cried snodded right, but he prayed he so it's
not always asking God. It's it's praising him, it's
spending time with and it's praying for other people.
It's it's interceding for our nation supplicating for the
Saints. This is what you need as
nutrition right. Church attendance is another
nutrition factor for you man when you come come expecting if
you've heard of scripture, don't think Oh, I've already heard
that. No, I want to get everything
there is to get some will be attentive to what's being said
like it's the first time studying the word of God is
another nutrition factor. Even though you've read you've
prayed, you're attending church. Guess what the Bible says it
doesn't say pastors and apostles and prophecy evangelist
teachers. Only those five study the word
of God to show yourself to prove to God.
No, it's for the body of Christ to study everybody to study.
If you really want to grow, you need nourishment, and the one of
the greatest principles to nourishment wisest to meditate
on the Word. I'll put it this way, meditate
to maturity. A man without an organized
pattern of thought will always be at the mercy of a man with an
organized pattern of thought. If you meditate on the Word,
you're focusing in on the right thing.
There's so many promises in the Bible.
Joshua 18 says this book of the law shall not depart out of your
mouth, but you shall meditate in it.
Get the nourishing, the nutrients out of it day and
night to observe, to do all that's written there in for then
you will make your way prosperous, and then you'll have
good success. Psalms one one through 3 says,
blessed is a man that walks not in the counsel of ungodly, nor
stands in the way of the Sinner, nor sits in the seat of the
scornful, but his delight. His delight is in the law of the
Lord, and in that law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a man or a woman of God, that's mature,
that's planted by the streams of water, whose leaf does not
wither. In whatever he does, it'll
prosper. First Timothy 4:15 it says,
meditate on these things. Paul told Timothy, Meditate on
these things. Think on these things.
Give yourself wholly or entirely to them, that your progress,
your growth would be evident. God wants to show you off.
God wants to use you. He wants it to be evident in
your life that you've grown up. And meditation is vital to the
nutrient side of growing up. Second thing is rest.
When my wife and I went away for our anniversary several months
ago, we were laying out by the pool and I had a book that I was
reading and the guy said, Hey, I know that guy.
I was reading a Christian book and he knew the author.
And so we got to talking, but we got to talking about lifting
'cause I don't even know how we got on that subject of lifting.
We were talking about God first and talked about lifting, but he
told me he just got done speaking at an NFL symposium.
So the guy's a professor at Florida International
University. He used to be a professor at
Bowling Green. He actually lives in Ohio, but
he travels to FIU to teach, but he's kind of well renowned.
But he, we were talking about lifting and growth and
everything and he said, you know, right now in the NFL and
high level college 1 athletes, they are monitoring their
athletes rest. That's serious.
They put devices on them to make sure you're not only getting
five hours of sleep 'cause they realize that rest is vital to
growth. And if you're out partying,
doing the wrong thing with the wrong people, it's going to
stifle the team. So they're serious about making
sure their athletes get rest. But I thought about that
spiritually, and I thought that's important for us to grow
spiritually. You know, Matthew Chapter 11,
verses 28 through 30, it says this, are you tired, worn out,
burned out on religion? Jesus says come to me, get away
with me and you'll recover your life.
I'll show you how to take a real rest.
Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythm of grace.
I won't lay anything heavy or I'll fitting on you.
Keep company with me. You'll learn to live freely and
lightly. God wants you.
He said My yoke is easy and my burden is light, you know, and
rest. You can laugh at things when
something comes up. You don't have to get anxious,
fretting, worrying. A mature man or woman of God is
going to say ha, ha, ha because why?
They have the strong meat and by practice they understand the
faithfulness of God. Brother Barry has a notch in his
belt because he's experienced what a praise life will do.
He's experienced what tithing will do.
You see what I'm saying? So he has confidence in the
midst of any storm. I could rest in the middle of
this thing. Why?
Because if I just keep doing the word, everything is going to
work out. Think about the life of Joseph.
13 years. He had to hold on to that
promise. But guess what?
Everything it worked out well. Hallelujah.
Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 through 7 says this.
Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in
everything, every circumstance and situation, by prayer and
petition with Thanksgiving, continue to make your specific
request known to God and the peace of God.
That peace that reassures the heart, that peace which
transcends all understanding, that peace that stands guard
over your heart and your minds is yours in Christ Jesus.
God wants you to rest. He wants you to take all your
cares, all your concerns and cast them over.
In first Peter 5 it says cast them once and for all on to Him.
This is something that we need to model, mentor, monitor,
motivate and see multiplied people's life.
We shouldn't have a stressed out freaking out body of Christ.
Listen, Israel and Iran are going back and forth, but in the
middle of it we trust God. Proverbs 3 says he makes he
gives his beloved sleep. Sweet sleep is what it says.
I could lay down knowing there's an assurance of confidence that
I'm with God and God's with me. I don't have to be stressed.
You know, stress is counterproductive.
If you worry too much, it'll, it'll aid you prematurely at a
molecular level. I don't care how many creams,
tucks, sucks, plucks that you get right if if you are stressed
at a molecular level it still effects you it it actually
releases cortisol in your body and cortisol is an inhibitor to
actually healthy hormones. But spiritually speaking, guess
what it does? It can stifle your faith, cause
faith and worry don't go hand in hand.
Faith and peace go hand in hand. Faith and joy go hand in hand.
But if you're stressed and worried, you're not really in
faith, so you got to get over into faith.
Are you with me? Psalms 23 Everybody knows Psalms
23, King David, but I want to see it.
Verse verse 2 and 3, David says he makes me to lie down in green
pastures. He leads me beside the still
waters, the calm waters, the peaceful waters.
He restores my soul. God wants your soul, your mind,
your will, and your emotions to be at rest.
Now you need to plan, you need to prepare, you need to work
hard, but ultimately your trust is in the Lord with all of your
heart. You're not leaning on your
understanding. You acknowledge Him and He's
going to what? Direct your path?
The third thing in a good program is what I call
anaerobics. This is called strength
training. You could call progressive
resistant training. You know God wants you to be
strong, but in order to be strong, guess what?
There's going to be resistance. You're never going to get
stronger without resistance. Matter of fact, you can test the
strength to really test the quality of the strength of an
individual. How much pressure can they
withstand? The Bible says if you if your
strength fails in a day of adversity, it's small.
The good news though is if you are getting spiritually strong,
you're going to have more strength to resist things and
God wants you to get stronger. Ephesians chapter 6 verse #10
says finally, my brother, be strong in the Lord and the power
of His might. God wants you to be strong.
Strength is built internally and it takes some work.
It takes some drop sets, some super sets.
Matter of fact, you really don't grow until you go past failure.
I've learned this in the natural.
This is why gym partners are good for me because they can
help me get past sticking points.
If I'm on the bench press and I'm benching, I get stuck.
All I need sometime is 2 fingers tapping on the bar to get
through the sticking point. But guess what?
If you want breakthrough, we need each other and we need to.
We don't need to resist opportunities that grow.
Sometimes we're like the apostle Paul says, remove this thing
from me. Lord over in Corinthians,
remember chapter 12 and God said, listen, my grace is
sufficient for you. Guess what Joseph learned over
13 years. He learned how to get strong,
did he not? I mean, that was a that was a
intense training program. He could have gotten bitterness,
mad at his brothers, but he got stronger in the things of God,
just like we should get stronger in the things of God.
Joshua chapter 1 verses 6 through 7 says this.
Be strong and of good courage. For this people you shall divide
as an inheritance of language. I swore to your father's to give
them. Only be strong and very
courageous, that you may observe to do everything which Moses my
servant commanded you. So he encourages Joshua to be
strong and of good courage. So what I'm what I'm saying
there's going to be pressure in life.
There's going to be tests in life, but by faith, get a
scripture, stand on it, meditate on it, think on it, decree it.
Go hour by hour, day by day, week after week.
Having done all the stand, stand there for God's word will not
return to him void. Hold on to the word.
Look as an opportunity to get stronger, not to retreat or
retract or get weaker. Say, Lord, I'm going to embrace
this thing. If somebody's done you wrong,
hurt you, forgive them that. That helps you get stronger in
the things of God. You get weaker when you stay in
unforgiveness. Exercise your confession life to
exercise your meditation life. Two more things.
Fourth thing in a good training program is aerobics.
Hallelujah, cardio training. Now we went to go see my niece
graduate from Oklahoma Baptist University in May and I was
impressed with all that long distance running, but that is
not me. It was really cool to watch.
But that's a lot of type 1 fibers long distance.
But everybody needs spiritually cardio training.
What's that mean? Endurance.
Spiritually we need to get endurance.
Galatians chapter 6 verse #9 says let us not grow weary in
well doing, for in due season we shall reap.
If we do not lose heart, don't grow weary.
What's that talking about endurance?
You got to have a good spiritual aerobic program.
Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31 says those that wait on the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
like eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint. What does the prophet saying?
Keep going with God to build endurance.
You need a good endurance program spiritually 'cause it's
not just for a short time. You're serving.
God is for the longevity of your life.
When I gave Him my life, I gave Him my whole life.
I'm committed to him until death, which is just a
transition to the eternity. You know the interesting thing
about aerobics too? That Greek word comes from the
word heart. So not only is it endurance, but
it's examined in your heart. So any good spiritual program is
going to have an examination daily examination.
You know, over in Ephesians chapter 4, it says be angry, but
don't sin. Don't let the sun go down on
your anger. What is Paul encouraging the the
church at Ephesus with the heart.
If you're mad at somebody frustrated, he said don't carry
that over day-to-day. Let go of it.
David said in Psalms 26 two, examine me, Oh Lord, examine my
heart. See if there's anything in me
that's unpleasing. So part of this spiritual
aerobics is to search your heart daily and let go of things.
Let go of things. You need to drop it, release it,
let it go. Whether you failed, whether
somebody else failed, whether there's hurt, there's
disappointment. You need to let go of things.
You need to examine your heart. Is your heart attitude right?
Do you feel too edgy with people?
How's your temperament? Do you feel like you're going to
volcanic right? Like you're going to explode?
That's a heart issue. You need a thing called
patience, and that can grow. Last thing is flexibility and
mobility. With the children of Israel, God
was a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day.
When the cloud lifted, they moved.
When the cloud settled, they settled.
I bring up flexibility and mobility because we need to be
led by the Spirit. A lot of us have agendas, plans,
goals, but Romans 814 says as many as are led by the Spirit.
I just want to encourage you with this on flexibility and
mobility as we close is daily listen to the Holy Ghost.
Not every, not every interruption is a distraction.
What I mean by that you may be go to the gas station, you may
be on a beeline to get somewhere and the Holy Spirit say, may
say, I need you to minister to this person.
And in that moment you need to be flexible and mobile to say,
OK, stop. Because this could be an
opportunity to plant a seed, water seed or see somebody come
into the Kingdom. A lot of times when you're a
person that has an agenda or plans, you don't want to deviate
from those plans. But we got to have the
flexibility to listen to what the Holy Spirit is sailing.
So give room daily for the Holy Spirit to lead you and guide
you.