Embracing Maturity!

Five weeks in a row. Y'all aren't tired of me yet,

are you? I wasn't sure how to take that collap

We actually will have three different speakers this next month,

So Jeff Dunleeve, you'll be with us. He's a pastor

out of Lubbock, Mark DuPont. Sign up for the Tabernacle

of David. It's on the church app And we are

doing our best to keep the uh. The tickets inexpensive

if you if you look at our tickets for thirty

five bucks in comparison to a lot of conferences, it's

a ton lower and uh because we we want everybody

to be able to come and yeah, there we go.

All right, you' all want to grow up? Is that

a good question? It's time to grow up. You know.

Every week it seems like there's another exposure, another leader

biting the dust. Lots of things happening. But there's one

thing we know for sure in the midst of all

of this is that the Lord is a jealous God

and he's absolutely after his bride, and he wants us

to look like Jesus. People all the time they're like, oh,

just wish I knew what God's will was for my

life be conformed into the image of Jesus. I've said

this before, but I'm absolutely convinced that we have the

green light in our life way more than we realize.

It says, any door that he opens, no man can shut.

Any door he shuts, no man can open. And there's

a balance in the midst of us and our free

will and stewarding our lives and the providence of God.

I have seen the providence of God on many, many

many even in my own family I have I've seen

the hand of the Lord sovereignly move and I mean

that seriously, and I'm uh forever grateful for that. And

there's there's this balance, and there's there's been arguments through

the centuries of you know, does man have a will?

And does he really have a free will? Or are

we robots? And all this stuff, and you know, we

have a responsibility. I'm absolutely convinced with all my heart

that most of us are actually afraid of the full

responsibility we have over the earth, and so we have

a tendency to take a back seat and kind of

sit in neutral many times. And let me, let me,

let me encourage you this morning. It is your personal

responsibility to grow up. And at the end of the day,

if you stay stuck in immaturity, it's on you. You

are not a victim. You cannot blame someone else for

your immaturity. Each of you don't put no point in fingers.

It's getting real out there, people. We are all fully

responsible for our own lives. I mean even in Jeremiah,

he said the son will not answer for the father's sins. Right,

we're each individually responsible and in a culture that wants

to blame everyone else for their problems, look in the mirror.

At the end of the day, we have responsibility. We

even have a responsibility when we're wounded, when we're trespassed against,

to stuart our hearts with the Lord and allow him

to bring us into a place of health. I was

at Streams Ministries last Monday and Tuesday for Leaders Connect

and so leaders from all over the country that have

been connected to Streams Ministries, some of them for decades.

They all came together and there were two women widows

in the early seventies, THEA and Sarah Powerhouses. There were

the head prayer ministers for John Sandford the Elijah House,

and I got to meet them and spend some time

with them and take them back and forth from the hotel.

And this was something I didn't realize. But John Sandford

did not like the word inner healing he because he

said it was a part of the sanctification process. And

when we sat there today, we dissect everything kind of

like a Greek mindset. We put inter healing out here,

We put deliverance in the basement because nobody wants to

talk demons. And then half the church doesn't believe you

can have a demon of you're a believer, and that's

why they're oppressed. And uh, I'm there, you are, and

you have all these different tools. But at the end

of the day, the reality is this inter healing and

deliverance ministry is a part of the sanctific sanctification process

and you will never be fully sanctified and mature without

it because it's a part of it. Soso saved, heel delivered.

And if you have been trying to walk with Jesus

and think you're going to be conformed into his image

but not embrace part of the sanctification process, you are

deceiving yourself. And there's a massive divide in the church

when it comes to this issue. You have top leaders

if I said their names, that do not believe in

inner healing ministry, and it's it's heartbreaking because I can

tell you number one, I wouldn't be here today. There

would be no Cross Kingdom Church had I not been

introduced to interhealing and Deliverance ministry in two thousand and five,

because there's no way I would have been able to

get over all the stuff that happened, not on my own.

I would have been miserably victorious. Anybody felt like that before.

It's like you're staying away from that thing, but it's

just brutal, right, you're miserably victorious. Jesus didn't die for

you to be miserably victorious. He came to set you free.

He came to set the captives free. And so many

of us are living still stuck in a prison because

of our immaturity in the way. We think you've been

set free from sin, but yet you keep going back

to it as if you're still a slave to it.

And you've been set free from the slavery of sin,

believe it or not, as a believer in Jesus. Now

when you sin, you're willfully choosing to sin. You're not

a slave to it anymore. When you're lost, you're a slave.

You're dead in your trespasses and sins. And I don't

care how good you think you look. You're dead. You're welcome.

But there's a massive issue in the church today, and

that is this. There's a bunch of babies walking around

in old bodies and that can't be. That cannot stay.

Why'd you? Oh, my wife gave me one of those looks.

I started getting insecure ver a second. I was like,

did I just say something I wasn't supposed to? Early

on in our marriage, I said this first service Lisa

and I for you people that hadn't been married that long,

I'm gonna give you a million dollar tip, don't do

what I'm about to tell you. When we first got married,

it was kind of rough, right. I mean, I thought

we were great because compared to what I grew up in,

I thought it was brilliant. Well, it was beautiful, and

we weren't doing too well. And anytime I would open

my mouth and say something I shouldn't, which I know

y'all don't believe that would ever happen. But it used

to be a whole lot worse years ago, I'd say something.

All of a sudden, we'd be at the dinner table

with and I get that. You ever get a kick

from your spouse under the table? Guys, you lion spirit

come off this place. No one's ever got bumped into like, hey,

don't say that. I guess I'm the only one here that. Okay,

thank you, sir. I appreciate that hand in the back.

I see that hand anybody else, every hot, every head bow,

and every eye closed. So we can start telling the

truth in this place. And uh, but I would I

would like a stinker, and out of a bitter root,

I would call her out. I go, hey, why'd you

just do that in front of everybody intentionally? Let me

just say that does not help for intimacy in your marriage,

believe it or not. That doesn't actually help you grow

together as a couple. That only ensures more kicks later.

But immaturity, right, And I had a choice. Am I

gonna continue to live that way? Or am I gonna

grow up? And right now, the purifying fire of the

Lord is burning, and it's burning bright, and it's burning everywhere,

and he is after his bride, and it is time

to stop with the immaturity. We're in process, y'all. You're

gonna be You're gonna being sanctified for the rest of

your lives. So you're not gonna like It's not like

I wake up tomorrow and be like, hey, hun, what

do you need to know? I have the answers. First,

the first Thessalonians. She's like, yeah, no, First Thessalonians five

twenty three says, now, may the God of Peace himself

sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and

body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord

Jesus Christ. The Greek word for disciple it appears two

hundred and sixty one times in the New Covenant, and

it means to be a learner or an apprentice. So

that's to be a learner or an apprentice. So for

those of you that have been in the trades and

you were an apprentice, you know, working in the trade,

you spend a whole lot of time with the master

plumber or electrician, whoever, whatever that trade was. And believe

it or not, there was a time where we had

real craftsmen and they actually cared about their trades. They

did not just making money. Now if you're in construction

in here, I'm not saying you're not of Craftsmen, I

haven't seen your work yet, then I can judge. But

I used to build homes for a living, and I

can tell you that it didn't matter who it was.

We had to stay on our subs to ensure a

quality job. But as you grow up as an apprentice,

you're spending a ton of time. It's not just two

hours on a Sunday morning and maybe maybe a little

thirty minute fellowship over here. There was hours lifestyle daily.

And there is a significant disconnect in the American Church

when it comes to discipleship. In fact, I might say this,

we're called to duplicate, right who are you discipling in

your life? Right now? Who's your apprentice? Every single one

of you should have someone you're mentoring. You're discipling in

your life right now? Men, what would look like if

every single one of you we're discipling another guy? Do

you not think that this current younger generation needs some discipleship?

Even the old generation, we all need discipleship, right, two

hundred and sixty one times. It's in the New Covenant,

and it's derived from a root word that means to learn.

The Barner Group did a study. They conducted extensive research

over decades on spiritual maturity among Christians and in the church,

highlighting persistent concerns about limited progress, unclear definitions, and stagnation

in the discipleship. You know, it's interesting in Iran right now.

I don't remember if I said this in the beginning

of service or if I said it first service. At

this point I may have repeated myself five times. So,

but the underground Church is growing the fastest in Iran,

and the base of that growth is sixty percent women.

I'm telling you right now, I believe wholeheartedly that the

Lord has answered the intercession of the underground Church and Iran.

Now you can look with natural eye, and if you

fall on the left side of the hopefully all y'all

are going to vote correctly on Tuesday. You know, don't

vote stupid hashtag and uh. But you're welcome. Brought to

you by deep Thoughts by Justin Carbenter the Nearly Inspired version. Yes, anyways,

but the underground Church is thriving over there. And when

they say yes to Jesus, guess what to become a

disciple of Jesus. Over there. That means you can more

than likely you know somebody that's been martyred, or you

could be martyred. And it really you have to count

the cost. There's you see people celebrating on videos right

now all over Iran because of the freedom that they

believe is going to come. Y'all right now, we're sitting

in this room with with with no real threat of

you know, the Muslim Brotherhood or whoever you name it

coming in and opening fire. But all over the earth

there are many countries Mozenbeque, Africa, these other countries. Let

me tell you something. Heidi Baker, if she was here

right now, could share story after story after story. And

yet you find some of the most joyful followers of

Jesus there. And then you look at the statistics in

the American church with divorce and depression and anxiety and

all this stuff. It's heartbreaking. Many churchgoers and faith leaders

struggle to define spiritual maturity. Clearly, half of church goers

can't describe how their church defines a healthy, spiritual, mature

follower of Jesus. Even born again Christians two out of

five were unsure. Most Christians eighty one percent of self

identified Christians, including eighty percent of born again believers, equate

spiritual maturity primarily with find hard to follow the rules

described in the Bible, often viewing it as legalistic or

rule based terms rather than holistic transformation. I have a

question when you stumble when you sin? Right? We always

today's Christian culture, we want to call sin a mistake.

Oh I made a mistake, No, you sinned, big difference.

Mistakes aren't sin? Are you with me? And so when

you sin, how many times do you ask the Lord

to forgive you of that sin? If it's more than once?

Your lack of identity was just exposed. How long does

it take you to get back up when you stumble?

Because everyone stumbles, everyone falls short. Period. There's no one

in this room, no one that we have the capacity

in Christ to never sin again. I just never met anybody.

And if you say that you no longer sin, you're

a liar. And that's a sin. You're welcome. So the

lack of clear, robust definition contributes to little overall progress

in spiritual development, despite abundant resources churches, books, programs, sermons.

You can go listen to any teacher you want right now.

You could walk out of here and be like, I'm

tired of justin he didn't even know the Bible. I mean,

you would be wrong, but you could have that thought.

But you can go listen to whoever you want. Knowledge

doesn't mean you're going to mature, says knowledge puffs up.

I've met plenty of Bible professors in my independent fundamental

background that they could quote scripture all day long, but

if the Holy Spirit started moving and started loving on people,

they would condemn it. Personal definitions of maturity are often

one dimensional, focusing on elements like having a relationship with Jesus.

Most common response practicing disciplines, prayer, Bible study, living according

to the Bible, obedience, church involvement, concerns for others, but

rarely a comprehensive, multifaceted view. This lack of clear, robust

definition contributes to little overall progress and spiritual development despite

abundant resources. Low spiritual maturity as growing is actually a

growing pastoral pain point. There was pastor surveyed and about

low spiritual maturity among churchgoers, and it rose from eight

percent citing it as a major issue in nineteen ninety

two to twenty seven percent and twenty seventeen, with stagnating

spiritual growth remaining at as a top concern. Thirty four

percent of the pastors in twenty twenty called it a

major issue for the local church. Y'all, if you're being

counseled for the same issue ten years from now, that

should not be. So you have permission to get healthy faster.

If anybody sits there and tells you that you have

to take years to get healing and free, it's not true.

But what is true is that the Holy Spirit's a gentleman,

and he walks with us according to our pace, and

he'll never violate your trust. Give him a chance. It's

gonna get better discipleship in mentoring deficits. There was another

another one done estimate estimates only one in ten born

again adults as an active disciple of Jesus, with very

few discipling others. Churches often limit efforts to sermons. Personal

Bible studies are a small group. Without increased intentional discipleship

and assessment, spiritual maturity is unlikely to improve. Yeah, I

remember moving. We moved away in two thousand and nine

to richest church outside of Denver. We were with rich

eleven months. I guess. But and then we moved to

Houston for another year and a half and then we

came back here. And I remember coming back and I

over that two and a half year period, man, there

was so much healing and growth and change, and and

you kind of, I guess you just you expect or

feel like everybody else's you know, everybody's blazing a trail.

And I came back and I was like, oh my goodness,

because you know, you get pulled out of an environment

and then brought back in. It was like there were

so many people still just right in the same space,

right in the same spot. And it's like, that is

not the Lord's heart for us to stay stagnant. We're

supposed to be going from glory to glory, faith to faith,

strength to strength. While recent data shows encouraging rise and

commitments to Jesus, sixty six percent of the US adults

in twenty twenty five, up significantly since twenty twenty one's

lows driven by the younger generation, church attendance rebounds among

Gen Z millennials, and spiritual openness. Core indicators like faith's

importance in life have declined over twenty five years. Many

Christians view their spiritual life as entirely private fifty six percent,

reducing accountability and growth. So fifty six percent of people

that claim to walk with Jesus say that their faith

is private. Can you see the picture here? It's like

we're if we're analyzing the spiritual health and maturation process.

There's issues here, and you can't make someone mature. And

the other thing is people are getting very jaded with

all the exposures and seeing people. Many people are probably

shocked at some of the things that are taking place

right now. You get on social media and everybody's the

final judge and jury, and they will tell you exactly

everything about someone's life they've never even met, Just ask them.

I met this worship leader Josh Young Monday at streams.

I was like, yeah, we're friends on Facebook. I said,

it's finally good to actually get to meet you. And

there was somebody else that I was like, oh, yeah, I

think we're friends on Facebook. You know, you have your

virtual friends and then you have real friends, right, and

it's good to see the virtual friends become reality. I

am the true vine and my father's the vine dresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he

takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, he

prunes that it may bear fruit. Already you are clean,

becau because of the word that I've spoken to you.

Abide in me and I in you. As the branch

cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine,

neither can you unless you abide in me. I am

the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in Me

and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.

For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone

does not abide in me, he is thrown away like

a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown

into the fire and burned. If you abide in Me

and my word abides in you, ask whatever you wish,

and it will be done for you. By this, my

Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. So prove

to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me,

so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If

you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love. This

is jesus New Covenant. By the way, in case you're wondering,

Book of John John fifteen. If you keep my commandments,

you will abide to my love, just as I've kept

my father's commandments and abide in his love. So, in

other words, talk is cheap. If if you're not being

obedient to the Lord, you're actually not loving him, You're

not abiding in his love. If you're wondering what I

just did, I always think my angel's right there watching

over me. So I high five to them as let

them know, you know, hey, where we got this, and

thanks for the encouragement. If you keep my commandments, you

will abide in my love, just as I've kept my

father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I've

spoken to you that my joy may be in you,

and that your joy may be full. So what is

the key for His joy to be in you and

your joy to be full? It's litter. Litter, can't litter. No,

it's literally obedience to the Lord. If if you're not

full of joy, and it says the joy of the

Lord is my strength, right, then do a heart inventory.

Galatians five to one says this for freedom. Christ has

set us free. Stand firm therefore, and do not submit

again to a yoke of slavery. Who are you discipling

right now? Maybe that's the only thing you hear today.

Who's in your life that you're mentoring discipling. You can't

disciple everybody, y'all. H listen the term shepherd or pastor

to really get in there. You can only do that

with so many people. That's why the anointing gets in

the cluster. That's why there's an elder ship. Not elder,

are you with me? But we're all called to make disciples.

So who are you discipling? If you're not discipling anybody,

it's kind of difficult to see the kingdom advance. You

can talk about it, we can get excited about it.

Charismatics are really good about getting emotional. But I've said

this one hundred times. I don't care how many times

you fall on the ground, If you get back up

the same way, what was the purpose. I'd rather you

get prayer, feel absolutely nothing, turn around and be transformed

into the image of Jesus. Then to you know, shake,

rattle and row, or shake and bake, and then walk

out of here and have zero change in your life.

The whole purpose of coming is to be a learner,

to be an apprentice of the Lord. Galatians five sixteen

to twenty four says, But I say, walk in the spirit,

and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit,

and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh.

For these are opposed to each other to keep you

from doing the things you want to do. But if

you are led by the spirit, you are not under

the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident

sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, eminency, strife, jealousy, fits

of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things

like these. I warn you, as I warned you before,

that those who do such things will not inherit the

Kingdom of God. Listen, you cannot remain in sin and

go to heaven. Let alone get heaven inside of you.

I don't care how many times you've walked on an aisle,

how many stanzas of just as I am you've heard.

If you walk down and then you say a sinner's

prayer and then never have any change in your life,

you're probably just trusting a prayer and not the creator

of the world. And that's a danger, y'all. It says

in the last, it says in the end, Lord Lord,

do we not prophisign your name? Did we not do healings?

Did we not do cast out demons? Did we not

do many signs and wonders? And he literally says, depart

from you, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. We

have got to stop with the easy believism and pacifying

people that say they're following Jesus and yet remain in sin.

And I mean this out of love, not condemnation. There's

no condemnation in Christ, but the fruit of the spirit, which,

by the way, do you want to be able to

measure your maturity in Jesus? It's right here. I don't

care how much scripture you know. This, right here is

the plumb line of our maturation process. The fruit of

the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

self control. Against such things, there's no law, And those

who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with

its passions and desires. So maybe a good reset, if

you will, is Lord, how loving am I? Maybe ask

your spouse how loving are you? Made? Depend on the day. Right.

I looked over and Kim's got her head on uh

Ben's shoulder, and he's like, how loving, good start, good start?

How joyful are you? Do people see joy on your face?

I know sometimes I'm a hard read there. They're like,

is he seeing something? Is he in a bad mood? Not? Pete? Yes?

What's it take to rattle your peace? Tell you what?

We had some serious testing of the peace fruit last year?

Did we not patience? How kind are you, y'all? I

don't know about you, but I hope and pray at

the end of my life that these characteristics of the

fruit of the Spirit are the proof of an abiding

life in Jesus, are genuinely what describes my character. And

we're all growing in these nine evidences of an abiding life,

and we should all be growing consistently in these areas gentleness, faithfulness,

self control. Third John one two says, this, beloved, I

pray that you may prosper in all things and be

in health, just as your soul prospers. The beautiful thing

is if you're in a place this morning where you

are like ough and you feel the Holy Spirit highlighting

an area that you have not wanted to grow up.

Number one, You're not alone. We all have places where

not as excited to deal with as others. I remember

one time, for some reason, my wife has an anointing

that when she praised and asked the Lord to speak

to me, he does. I don't always like it. But

one time, a few years back, it was after the

church plant, I think, or somewhere in the last decade,

there's your timeline, and uh, I was. I know this

is hard. What I'm about to tell you is very

difficult for you to believe about me. But I was

being very selfish at this time of my life life

and Lisa was growing in patience for the fruit of

the spirit with my selfishness. But she was growing weary

in this arena, and so she prays, Lord, will you

please just give him a dream to tell him about

him how selfish he's being right now? Because I was

not being selfish. It was a beautiful stronghold, wrapped all

nice and neat. So I go to bed literally twenty

four hours later, I think I have a dream. And

you leaders understand this. You get way more correction dreams

than you do of all the you know, Oh, an

angel came in the room. I've had plenty of correction

dreams like don't do this, do this, don't go here,

go here, stop this, things of that nature. And so

I wake up from this dream. And it did not

take a spiritual mature giant to interpret this dream. I

was being selfish, and the Lord made it clear to

me that I was being selfish. So I go into

the kitchen that morning, I'm making my coffee. Lisa comes in.

I got tears running down my face and she walks

in and I'm like, honey, please forgive me. I said,

I've been being so selfish. Just this heart wrenching moment

with tears coming down my face, emotion flowing. And then

Lisa starts laughing in my face. Not what I expected

at all. And now I'm confused because it was like,

here's my heart on a platter, good morning, here's breakfast.

And she gathers her composure and goes, I'm I'm so sorry,

I'm not laughing at you. Justin she goes, I'm laughing

because I just asked the Lord yesterday, would you please

talk to this man and give him a dream to

let him know how selfish he's being. So Lisa has

an anointing to pray for the Lord to give me

dreams when I apparently, you know, having a little difficulty

for two. Yeah, and that's happened, you know, a couple

of times over the last twenty six years. You're welcome.

James five sixteen says this, therefore consess. Therefore, confess your

sins to one another, and pray for one another that

you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person

has great power as it is working, y'all part of

this discipleship thing, this apprentice thing. If you were identifying

with the reality that hey, my faith is personal, I

don't want to talk about it, well you're violating the truth, right,

because you're supposed to be ready in season out of

season to tell people why you have hope, right, And

it kind of if your faith is personal, it's kind

of hard to fulfill the great commission. Right. So if

you were falling under that, listen a just pivot understand that.

You know, it's it's like Clark Kent, Jesus is in

you and like Superman is that you gott let them out.

Becky Bowen used to always do that. Becky was because

I was talking to her about releasing her spirit and

all this, and she's like, anyway, she's a hoot. She's

probably watching online. John ten Ten says this the thief

comes only to steal, and kill and destroy. I came

that you might have life and have it abundantly. So

in the midst of all of this, trust the Lord

with your heart. You may have been shattered in a

thousand pieces, y'all. In twenty years, I've heard the most

horrific stories from people in my office that I'm literally

looking at them going, I don't even know how they're functioning, honestly.

And then every time I think I've heard the most

painful story ever, I hear a new story, and every

Prime Minister I know, I can tell you the same thing.

It's like it and trauma effect people everybody so differently.

I've met people that you know, somebody that was molested

one time and it shattered them. I mean literally one time,

it literally shattered them and destroyed their life. And then

you and then I've met people that went through the

most horrific abuse for years and their functioning and and

it's just he came to heal the broken heart. Part

of our being Disciples of Jesus that we have the

honor of walking and loving the broken back to life

as long as will remain safe and never allow victims

to be hurt in the in the restoration process, we

have to guard people. And right now that's been a

massive spotlight in the leadership and the Body of Christ

that people feel like leaders have failed to protect the

victims and cover and covered up other people and their

restoration process. May that never be here. Romans twelve. I'm

gonna land the plane, Ben safely. Don't need a parachute.

Bill land in the plane talking to my pilot buddies,

Romans twelve, one to two. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers,

by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as

a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is

your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,

but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that

by testing you may discern what is the will of God,

what is good and acceptable and perfect. Peter Scazero said this,

it is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.

So if you're taking notes, I'm going to give you

ten symptoms of emotionally immaturity. Emotional immaturity. Are you ready

using God to run from God? What does that look like? Well,

the Lord told me not to do this when really

in your heart you're trying to avoid what you're supposed

to do, ignoring anger, sadness, and fear. So in other words,

stuffing your emotions, suppression, deny and suppress and call it spirituality,

dying to the wrong things. You peacemakers, many times will

sacrifice yourself to keep peace, and that's actually not what

the Lord's called you to do. If you're a peacemaker,

you don't sacrifice yourself for peace. You make peace. And

that's a weapon dividing life into secular and sacred compartments.

We have been really good about that in the Western Church.

If I'm fasting, I'm being spiritual. But if I'm feasting,

that's not as spiritual. Have you ever had a medium

rear rabbi with finishing butter, Sometimes that can feel like

a spiritual moment. You know, the Lord loves a burnt offering,

But don't burn your state doing for God instead of

being with God. It's that principle, Mary Martha principle, right,

we need both don't. I mean, you know, you can't

sit on the cloud in intercession with the harp your

whole life and expect to see the kingdom advance. But

we have to, y'all. Anybody feel like it's ramped up

in just recent months as far as being able to

just chill out, rest and unwine and get alone. I mean,

things are accelerating like rapidly and in the pace of

I mean time feels like it's speeding up. It really does.

So guard your rest, guard your time with the Lord,

and I might encourage you start spending more time in

total silence with him. I promise it will be food

to your soul. A couple more points and I'm done

spiritualizing away conflict. How about this, Well, Paul said, forget

those things which are behind, and press on anybody ever

hear that when they tell you to get over your past.

That has been a famous scripture to quote in the

Denying suppress Realm. When he said I'm forgetting those things

which are behind, Go back in context and go look

at what he was talking about. He was actually talking

about everything. He was in the flesh a Hebrew of Hebrews,

zealous pharisee. He was all these things, and he said,

but forgetting those things, I press on to know him.

It had nothing to do with literally spiritualizing away your conflict.

You can deny and suppress all you want, but eventually

your coping mechanisms of pushing your pain down will fail, guaranteed.

And it's typically when our coping mechanisms fail then we're

ready to deal with our stuff. I'm fine. It's a

four letter word of church. Three points left covering over brokenness,

weakness and failures, living without limits, and the last one

judging other people's spiritual journey. I know none of us

has ever done that in this room. So those are

ten symptoms of emotional immaturity. The last two living without

limits and judging other people's spiritual journey. Okay, Micah, can

I get you on the keys? And can I get

the prayer team to come forward? Please? Let me say this.

We can live a transparent life without ever being vulnerable.

We can be transparent about our past. When we open

up about our current weaknesses and struggles, we're being vulnerable.

So there's a difference between transparency and vulnerability. I've known

a lot of people that are so transparent about their

past but they are not vulnerable about where they are

right now. And I want to tell you that characteristics

of maturity and good leadership is that there is a

level of vulnerability. I do my best to tell them

myself right away, and I will do it from the

pulpit because I do not want anything hidden in the

darkness that the enemy could exploit my life. I want

it all out in the open. I want to live

in the light. And this is who I am, and

I will be this way on stage, off stage, and

I will not change. So I got if you see

a flaw of me, you're going to see it on

the stage, not just off the stage. And I don't

apologize for growing right. God doesn't hate immaturity, He only

hates your refusal to mature. So Father, I thank you

for your love today. Lord. I thank you that your

heart is for us, not against us. Lord, I thank

you that it's your desire for us to go glory

to glory, faith to faith, strength to strength. Lord Lord,

I thank you that we're children of light. So would you,

by your presence this morning, by your spirit, Lord, begin

to minister to your kids. Lord, would you begin to

highlight areas of our lives, Lord, that need to come

under the cross. Lord, would you begin to restore hope

and the souls of those that have lost hope. Would

you begin to cultivate an ability to have trust again

where trust has been radically shattered. Would you bring peace

of mind over those battling right now, over those that

are in this room, and they've had so much chatter

in their minds because the enemy is pound them. Lord,

I just thank you for relief. Lord. We'd bind silence

and shut it down in Jesus' name, And I thank

you that they are not going insane, that have the

mind of Christ, and I break the fear of insanity

right now in Jesus' name. Lord. We asked that you

would pull down the assignment of suicide over this region. Lord,

that you would pull down poverty, that you would pull

down addiction. Lord, that we would stop covering our pain

and bring it to you. Lord, that you would shake

us awake and the areas of our lives that we've

been slumbering. Lord, that you would stir us afresh to

good works. That you would put people in our lives. Lord,

that you've called us to pour our lives into its disciple. Lord,

that these tats, these patterns, these patterns of brokenness, cycles

of defeat, strongholds, that they would come down, that they

would end and it would start. Now. Lord, time is short,

you said, redeem time. And every day, Lord, we see

the birth pains, the signs, the signs and wonders in

the skies and in the earth. Lord, as we are

progressing at an accelerated rate to the return of the Lord. Lord,

put a burning passion in us for the lost Father,

that we would stop for the one, that when we

spend time in prayer, wouldn't just be about our agenda,

so we can hide behind the prayer list and not

get vulnerable with you, that we would know when we're

not okay, it's okay to not be okay, because we're

in your hands. Lord, You're the one that stirs in

us to will and to want of your good pleasure.

So would you cause an explosion of spiritual hunger and

side of us? Would you bring physical healing to bodies

this morning? Which would you bring emotional healing and freedom

this morning? Lord? Don't let us just come in and

then go out the same way, but that we would

leave knowing we encountered the presence of the Lord. So

cause a fresh outpouring, cause fresh oil to come. Lord,

stir fresh fire in our hearts. Jesus will want to

look like you. So nevertheless, Lord, not our will, but yours.

And I asked Father that you would do this for

your name's sake in the mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.

If you all need prayer, please come on up. Otherwise

you're loved, go and send no more. Well. I trust

that you were blessed by the Lord today and we

look forward to seeing you online next Sunday. In the meantime,

if you would.

Like to learn more about us, about our School of

Ministry or other resources, or you would like to sew

into Cross Kingdom Ministries and help us further than Gospel

to the ends of the earth, simply go to Cross

Kingdom dot org. We'll see you all next week.