Max Reps - Kingdom Growth with Pastor Mike Krulcik

Let's go and jump into the Word of God.

We're going to launch out tonight and from Ephesians

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. And really, my key text for

tonight is going to be Ephesians chapter 4, verse, verse #15 As I

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

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

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

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

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

#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

1 Thessalonians 3 · chapter mention

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.

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

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.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

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

Zechariah 4 · chapter mention

says this. Zechariah chapter 4 verse #10

Zechariah 4 · chapter mention

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

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

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

Proverbs 10:19

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

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

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

Genesis 1:26–28

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

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

#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

1 Corinthians 9:24–27

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

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

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

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

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,

1 Timothy 4:15

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,

Matthew 11:28–30

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.

Philippians 4:6–7

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

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

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.

Joshua 1:6–7

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

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

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

Isaiah 40:31

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

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

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.