Let's Grow! Part 15 - 7 People, 7 Minutes

and uh in seven tonight so seven people seven minutes and so we are going to share with you what the lord has laid on our hearts and the good news is that you get to get seven different sermon sermons tonight um but it's all still focused on spiritual growth amen and so i'm excited just like you are probably to sit back and listen to what the lord has to say to us but i'm gonna ask you to engage how many of you um were participating as effectively and consistently as you could during our 31 days of prayer and how many of you have come out on the other side and seen god do some things they sung the song earlier god i've seen you move and i believe that you'll do it again and so we're just coming off of 31 days of prayer we're still in the process of our spiritual growth series and tonight is our 15th if i'm not mistaken installment and so you guys buckle up and get ready because i don't know what my colleagues are going to bring but i want holy spirit to have his way tonight amen and so tonight what i'm going to share with you uh talk i'm going to talk a little bit about the way the truth and the life i'm going to take a different approach so let's go to psalms chapter 1 and i'm going to read from verses 1 through 3 and it says and this is from the amplified and it says blessed happy fortunate prosperous and inviable is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly following their advice their plans or their purposes nor stands submissive and inactive in the path where sinners walk not nor does he sit down to relax and rest where the scornful and the mockers gather but his delight and desire are in the law of the lord and on his law he meditates day and night somebody say day and night and he shall be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water ready to bring forth its fruit in its season its leaf also shall not fade or wither and everything he does shall prosper and come to maturity somebody say the way the truth and the life so in romans chapter 12 verse 2 it tells us not to be conformed to the ways of this world so that the world does not squeeze us into its mold and that we don't allow the patterns of walking in ungodly counsel to give us advice to give us plans to tell us what our purpose is and the bible says in psalm 1 happy fortunate prosperous and invaluable that word inviable means that we're in a desired position that means that people will look at us and they will want what we have amen and then it says that we're not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly we are not to be looking to the ungodly for advice we don't want them to tell us what the plans of god is for our lives and we don't want them to tell us what the purpose of god is for our life somebody say the way so psalm 1 is telling us this is the way to walk don't stand in the way of sinners don't adopt their way of life amen and ben is also telling us don't don't sit in the seat of the scornful don't get comfortable around people that all they want to do is to belittle others disrespect others despise others exalt themselves above others but no we're not to do that we are to walk in the counsel of god we are to stand in the truth and on the truth of his words and we are to sit at his feet to receive a right now kind of word amen somebody save the way now let's talk about the truth it says his delight and his desire is in the law of the lord and john 17 jesus said lord make them holy by your truth teach them your word which is truth so we are to walk in and desire the truth of god's word because his word is truth and jesus said i am the way the truth and the life truth is void of the corrupt opinions and perceptions of others jesus never looked for anybody to validate him why because he was truth somebody say the truth so this individual that is planted by the rivers of water is grounded in the truth of god's words somebody say the life says verse 3 and he shall be like a tree not a tree but like a tree that is planted rooted grounded by the riverbanks by the water streams so our mental emotional and spiritual stability is found in the life that jesus provides for us i'm going to close with this i found it very interesting that he said that we would be like a tree but that we're not a tree and i wanted to understand what was the process why why were leaves not going to wither and why were we going to flourish if we followed god's way and if we stood on his truth and as i was looking up this process of belief there is a scientific word called photosynthesis and what that means is that the leaf gets all of its nourishment from the sun and it takes that nourishment and it feeds the rest of the tree come on and and and when it gets that energy from the sunlight somebody say s-o-n not s-u-n so when we get our nourishment from the sun we have energy right and it also says it takes that energy turns it from carbon dioxide into oxygen and oxygen is what gives us the ruach breath of god somebody said all you got to do is just breathe and then i thought well god what about the root system what if the if the leaves are providing nourishment for the tree what does the root system do the roots go deep and they anchor us so that we're not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine somebody say the lights and the roots also get nourishment from the soil and they feed the tree so you got the leaves feeding the tree you got the roots feeding the tree and this is what is so exciting to me about the word of god oh god i love your word it says that it has an internal irrigation system oh my my to what jesus said in john chapter 7 verse 37 he said he who believes in me as the scripture has said from his innermost being from his heart from his belly will flow rivers of living water you know why our leaf will never wither because we have rivers on the inside of us somebody say the way the truth and the life lord make me like a tree so that i will be blessed happy prosperous walking in your ways standing on your truth and living the abundant life somebody said lord make me like a tree hallelujah [Applause] praise the lord that's a word she then ignited the fire now i'm gonna come behind and try to stoke it a little bit just a little bit this message about growth has been phenomenal and i want you to concentrate and focus on this anything healthy should grow god does not make anything deformed or inadequate in his kingdom but one thing that pastor said when this whole series kicked off was that growth is intentional and i want to add to that because it is intentional but it is also our individual responsibility i cannot put my growth on pastor moore or pastor erica i can't put the level of growth that i want to achieve on my parents my grandparents my spouse and my friends it's my responsibility to grow so if you're not growing don't blame god because his word never fails his word works so today i want to look at luke chapter 8 verses 11 through 15 but i'm going to just touch on verse 11 and 15. i want you to go back and read it when you have the time it says this in luke now the parable is this the seed is the word of god verse 15 but that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart we're talking about brown having heard the word keep it and bring forth fruit with patience i'm going to try to compare the natural with the things in the spirit i'm going to use the word seed which is god's word interchangeably i'm going to use the word ground as compared to the heart interchangeably so stick with me because we're talking about growth amen i know i do when we're talking about the seed and we understand that it's the word it's imperative that we know what the seed is what is she well basically it's this seeds are usually fairly small don't ever underestimate size in the kingdom of god because whatever god makes there's always potential in it despite their small size though seeds contain food and all the instructions necessary to sprout and to grow to the life as a plant when seeds are planted and see i was getting excited with minister evelyn when she was speaking because i said you don't took my sermon you took my little seven minutes with the verses that you're using but what it showed me was that god is all in this as a matter of fact it kind of connects and ties together when we're talking about seed and seed going into the ground of our heart there are three things that it's going to need it's going to need light it's going to need food and it's going to need water so the first thing we're talking about is light now why is that important well in order for the light to have an effect on any sea or plant or ceiling that's growing it creates what she spoke on is photosynthesis the light that's in the sun or artificial lights creates energy the plant takes that and breaks it down and begins to use it as food that's the purpose of life in psalms 119 number 105 it says the word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path john chapter 1 verse 4 in him was life and the life was the light of men the word of god will illuminate our daily path it'll tell you where to go it'll tell you what to do it'll tell you how to speak it will take care of you because you're walking in the light it's on the inside in order to ensure that we grow properly that we're not malnourished it's indicative that you have food in luke chapter 4 verse 4 it says and jesus answered him saying it is written that men should not live by bread alone but by every word of god you're not gonna live by facebook you're not gonna live by instagram you're not gonna live by other people telling you certain things it's the word of god and why is that because the word of god is alive the word of god is powerful the word of god will give instructions it'll bring about correction the word of god works every single time that's the seed that we're talking about in order for us to have that word working and to to view it as food joshua 1 8 says this this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night and that thou mayest observe to do according to all that's written during but then thou shall make thy way your way prosperous then thou shalt have good success you shall have good success when he's talking about day and night he's not talking about in the morning we meditate in the evening we meditate our mind needs to be constantly on the things of god throughout the entire day during the entire 24-hour period we're talking about eating god's word well if the word is alive you better take your wheaties you better take your vitamins it's going to sustain you lastly you got to have water do you realize how ingenious god is well if you don't news flesh he's a genius the world itself three quarters of it is almost water your body is mostly water and without it you cannot sustain life so in order for the seed to get into our heart or into the ground it's imperative that we understand that we've got to water that seed and how do we water that seed what does it look like well i'm reminded of the lady that was at the well see she was trying to get out of having to carry that five-gallon pilot every day to wash the clothes to wash the dishes to cook breakfast to cook lunch to cook dinner she wanted some natural water but he wasn't alluding to that because he told her that the water that i'm going to give you will be water that leads to everlasting life this is water that you will never ever have to thirst again this is water that will sustain you so as we're meditating on the word of god as we're feeding on the word of god as we're watering the word of god in our heart it's going to bring forth a living opportunity for us to experience god's best you got to hide the word in your heart you got to understand that you are on assignment and when we incorporate god's word into our hearts and that seed becomes alive there is no telling what you can do let me tell you something else about the seed regardless of the kind of dirt that that seed is in it's program to know what to do in and of itself i don't care if that that dirt is rock solid in the middle of the desert if you get those three elements together all at one time you give it some light you give it some food you give it some water i'm gonna tell you what the season's gonna do what it's supposed to it's gonna grow it has no choice get the seed get the word of god into your heart pray on it meditate on it chew that food on a daily basis and see what god will do amen hallelujah we're talking about spiritual growth tonight amen amen and with spiritual growth comes transformation amen and transformation attracts the provision that you've been praying for the lord dropped that statement in my lap and i sat there with that statement transformation attracts the provision you've been praying for i allowed my contemplator to go on overload as i thought about this statement like lord what do you say transformation attracts the provision that i've been praying for and i realized that a part of spiritual growth is the ability to fight the temptation to embellish my current spiritual state [Music] see society has this extra special way of painting this picture or this illusion of what beauty of what riches of what success actually looks like right but they they paint this picture without going through the process or do the necessary steps to actually cultivate real fulfillment they say things like get the house get the fancy car get the expensive clothing and somehow all of that equates to favor blessing the abundant life right but see these are all ornaments they're ornaments that simply create an attractive appearance they're ornaments that cultivate good looks but are for no good use right and the thing about it is is that this mindset of ornaments this mindset of the abundant life being these extra special things these illusions of riches and things like that they've actually kind of made their way into the church so sometimes we see some of us getting like those bumper stickers and we put them on the backs of our cars and in our window and we use that in place of the kindness and the patience we should have while driving on the road [Music] sometimes we wear the christian t-shirts you know the god is dope the just god shirts and we use that in place of face-to-face discipleship other times we get those fancy notebooks you know the ones with the scriptures on the outside of them we them full fill them full of sermon notes and whatnot but yet we don't write those notes that word on our heart see it's just like what paul said to timothy in second timothy 3 5. he said they will go on pretending to be devoted to god but they will refuse to let that devotion change the way that they live see it's impossible to grow spiritually if we've committed ourselves to the process of becoming ornamental christians see christianity it's not an ornament that we put on or that we wear in certain seasons of life right it's not an ornament that we put on in certain circumstances you know i'm looking for my spouse i got to put on christianity you know i need a financial blessing i gotta put on christianity you know i need healing i gotta put on christianity it's not an ornament christianity is transformation that takes place on the inside of us that results in the character of being submitted the character of being surrendered of being responded and authentic on the outside see if we're too concerned with putting on the shirt and we're too concerned with filling up the notebook and we're too concerned with making sure we have the right decal in our window then we've become more ornamental than we've become transformed romans 13 and 14 says rather clothe yourselves with the lord jesus christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh it takes nothing to put on a shirt it takes nothing to put a sticker in your window but it costs everything to give yourself as a living sacrifice and putting on christ is absolutely sacrificial it requires a yielding of your of the right-of-way to god it takes a surrendered yes one that is willing to say yes even before it knows what the request is it takes commitment it takes humility it takes suffering and as a believer our emphasis of value should be placed upon the beauty of transformation that's the inward grace that we're looking for rather than on the attractions of the outward ornaments so let me ask you a few questions if you never said or could never say another word would people know by the way you live and by the way you love that you know jesus if you could never wear another goddess dope shirt just god shirt would your life be an effective kingdom marketing tool if you could never go to church again with the other places that you go say that you're going like luke 14 23 says go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come into come in that my house may be filled would people know who you serve would they know where your allegiance lies see jesus didn't die just for us to have ornamentality if that's even a word he died so that we could experience true change he died so that we could be transformed from the inside out amen so do i have anyone in the house tonight that's hungry and thirsty for transformation we're in a series called let's grow are you guys hungry to grow are you hungry for that inward change are you hungry to become more like christ are you pastorally pursuing the things of god do you want more of him hallelujah because transformation attracts the provision you've been praying for amen [Applause] come on wow that was fire weren't all those words fire i'm not wearing my glasses but i think that says 14 minutes i'm just kidding um i do i'm gonna be honest with you guys i downed a banana chocolate protein shake on the way here and sometimes the holy spirit makes me twitch a little bit if i minister but it may just be some lactose intolerance flatulence that you may be seeing okay my timer's gone let's go so i um you know was reminded that sometimes we don't necessarily think about the words that we're singing and worship and we just go all in and we're like god break my heart for what breaks yours and i want to be refined by fire purified and we're like this and then we're like wait wait wait a second what am i saying do i really want to be refined by fire and purify it's just you know we want to maybe put our hands down when we sing a chorus that we don't really want to god to test us in right and we raise our hands with something that we're like yes go for it jesus wait i'm not ready yet it reminded me of a moment when my husband and i were just really deep in prayer and we were holding hands and he was like yes lord we surrender to you use us jesus we're here and then he's like test us lord and i immediately let go of his hand i was like no test him lord i've already gone through too much don't test me again i've already been through too much please don't do it but you know we can't pick and choose what we want to go through right sometimes you know there's this tiny little wire it looks like a spider web inside a light bulb imagine it with me it's called the philomont and when that filament goes through electricity and it gets heated therefore as a result the wire heats up and it begins to glow converting electrical energy to light energy this is because of the joule effect which means that resistance heats up when electrical current runs through it resistance heats up when electrical current runs through it you will heat up and light up through the resistance and testing you experience we have more influence through our vulnerability god doesn't want us to leave something he hasn't prematurely nobody likes uncooked meat i like mine well done personally he wants us fully charged with the holy ghost if we would not leave our houses without charging our phones all night why would we leave our house without being plugged into the holy spirit fully charged right and why would we think that we can go cross miles with a quarter tank of gas he wants us no longer going on a quarter tank of gas spiritually he wants us on full say full so don't run from tests hardships brothers and sisters as difficult as they are you will ultimately find joy in them if you embrace them your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you the true patience as you endure and true patience brought on by endurance will equip you to the complete and long journey and cross the finish line mature complete and wanting nothing and he even says if we lack wisdom to ask and he won't scold us for it because that's how good god is i remember riding my bike and sometimes riding my bike is my jesus time because i shut my mouth and do more listening and i remember it being just really hot and i was like oh god and physically it was hot but also spiritually i was going through like some fiery fight and i was like god this hurts this is painful can you please get me out of it and he said no i'm not gonna get you out of it but i promise that i will provide shade when you need moments of retreat and you need moments of rest and i am not kidding you as i was riding my bike i was in mile number eight i asked him permission if i could go another mile because why wouldn't we ask permission when we're working out if we can push past our grace limits and he said yes but stay in the shade or you won't make it abide in the shade he provides see we can't give up in moments of fire or pressure they serve a purpose the barometer pressure yesterday the rain and humidity revealed that my hair is really not straight i try to be cute and straighten my hair it's curly sometimes frizzy and sometimes crazy well pressure purifies and reveals what's really underneath i was going to the gym locker room one day and this woman was coming out of the steam room and she was like oh be careful when you go in there her face was melted off she had one eyelash stuck to her cheek the other eyelash stuck to her ear and i was trying to help her glue them back on her eyes and i was trying to help her as best as i can she's like be careful it's hot in there it's steamy everything comes off and you know what isn't that pressure dust so number one pressure purifies the parasites that try to destroy you and brings you to the surface it may be painful and it may look messy but the word says i am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of the glory that is about to be unveiled within us number two pressure kills pride so the disciple laid hands on saul and prayed for him and immediately the scales fell off his eyes and he could see and he was baptized with the holy spirit saul let go of his roman name and was then known as a new name paul when pride is killed in your life you will begin to walk in the grace of god and no longer will you strive to perform then you will come out with a new name say a new name with me number three pressure reveals counterfeit the counterfeits in your life are exposed through trials because that's not that because what's not of god won't endure with you i'm gonna say that again the pressure um the counterfeits in your life are exposed through trials because what's not of god will not endure with you number four pressure perfects us for god's purpose and leads you to the true promises of god enduring the pressure of your today will help prepare you for your tomorrow there was a moment when i had my sixth abdominal surgery and i remember being so achy and full of pain and i could barely get out of bed but i was like you know what my friend's coming over to drop me off some soup i should at least shower so i don't scare the heck out of her i got in the shower i got you know got dressed i had barely enough strength to answer the door and i answered the door and she said wow you're glowing and no it was not a pregnancy glow i rebuked that and it was a holy ghost glow and she said i can tell you've been spending time with the lord i allowed the pain in my body to draw me closer to god his word and prayer and when the enemy kept trying to attack my health i threw a worship party on my birthday because i wasn't gonna let anything stop me from praising my god which hey a month from today is my birthday we can't let the enemy distract us for what's happening around us that we lose focus from what god is trying to do through us be enthusiastic to serve the lord keeping your passion toward him boiling hot radiate with the glow of the holy spirit and let him fill you with excitement as you serve him let this hope burst forth within you releasing continual joy don't give up in the time of trouble but commune with god at all times you can still glow while you grow god doesn't want you to just transform he wants you to experience transmutation transmutation is the action of changing the state of being changed into another form to experience full conversion the metamorphosis goes in four stages number one the embryo number two the larva number three the pupa also known as the cocoon stage that can last weeks months and sometimes up to two years and people want to give up in this stage because they think it's dark it's lonely nothing happens but that's when the most growth is happening and the final stage is the imago the latin word for image your image is about to change you are a new transmutation image and christ people will say wow who is that i don't recognize them they don't even cuss as much as they used to look at them you are gaining kinship and a new level of authority to speak over situations that didn't kill you or destroy you it's time to glow up baby come on that's good that's good that's good how many guys in this house love the supernatural how many of you believe in the supernatural i believe in the supernatural i teach people how to help get under the presence of god so that they can be used by god but you i we do not create the supernatural we don't create it it doesn't come from us instead the holy spirit applies the super to your natural jesus gives a great example of this i want to take you through a scripture john 2 verse 6-10 i want to set the tone jesus is creating his first miracle he's at a wedding in cana and with his mama okay and a couple of other people and he's sitting there and they've run out of wine and in the jewish tradition they would celebrate for seven days in a marriage and if something ran out of wine or something was a hiccup before it they would see it almost as a bad omen for their marriage and and his mom knew that his mom bumped him come on hey boy come on do something about it you're all of divinity wrapped up in humanity come on do something from heaven and he's like it's not my time yet it's not my time and you know at the end of the day you never tell mom no and so what he did is in john chapter 2 verse 6 he went and he said now there was a set of six water pots and a stone according to the manner of purification so that's where they washed themselves uh containing about 20 or 30 gallons jesus said to them fill the water pots with water and they filled them up to the brim and he said to them draw some out now take it to the master of the feast and they took it when the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine he did not know where it came from but the servants knew where the water came from and the master of the feast called the bridegroom and he said every man in the beginning sets out the good wine and then the guests have all well drunk then the inferior one is brought out you have kept the good wine until now can you believe that the supernatural in that moment was not that the people took the water jugs and turned them into wine all he did was say go get the jugs and fill them with water jesus didn't ask them to turn the jugs into wine he asked them to fill the water everyone say i do the natural and he has the super when god instructs you to do something your natural spiritual response is yes lord when you say yes lord you are adding the most supernatural natural thing that you can do by just walking in obedience and you notice that at the end of it the the master of the feast that did this for many different weddings said oh my gosh normally the good wine is at the beginning and then by the time you guys are all drunk and and messed up i give you the inferior wine but you save the best for last when you do the natural the supernatural is always better than what you could have created on your own because when we do the natural he adds the super amen i want to give you another example of this you know there was a woman and this this i'm not gonna read the scripture for time's sake but in second kings chapter four there was a a woman that becomes a widow and she served the lord and her husband died she had two sons and she became fallen into debt and that debt became burdensome and back in the day when you became debt the collector didn't come to repossess your house in your car he came to repossess your kids and so he was about to come take her kids and what happened is that she called and she was a woman that feared the lord and so she reached out to the prophet elijah and she said elisha help me i fear the lord and he said she said he said what can i do for you and then he asked this question this is an important question he didn't say what can you manufacture he said what do you have and she said well i got a jar of oil and he says great i want you to go and borrow as many empty jars from all your neighbors that you can find she came back gathered a bunch she brought it back to the prophet elijah and he said all right this is all you got he's like all right go into the room with your with your sons and close the door and i want you to start pouring from your vessel the natural into the other vessels the natural and allow me and god the god who reigns the god who we fear to add the supernatural so one jar filled seven jars she didn't do the supernatural all she did was the natural in faith so everybody in here say i do the natural he has the super are doing the supernatural when you use what you have in faith and you allow god to do what he said he would do you know that as a christian and a believer the more supernatural you come it actually starts to build you start to see more supernatural when you've done another natural things in your life you know that momentum cannot happen without movement we just want us to go from here to there without any movement we want to pray that something happened without putting any skin in the game but god did not create you to be empty-handed he put something in your hand and if you want to build momentum you got to start by moving in the natural so what has god done to you what has god given you that you not have not put to work because say this with me i do the natural he has the super yeah why do you think it was important that he closed the door because it's in the secret place with god that we build our faith that we take and we see what we have as valuable to god and that god can multiply what we have done the supernatural never gives you only what you need it supplies the exceedingly and abundantly above what you can think or ask it always surprise the better i'm gonna give you three examples really fists in matthew 14 the five loaves and the two fish five thousand men not including the women and children were hungry and he said what do you have oh this guy has five loaves and two fish and he touched it he broke it he blessed it when we bring in what we have we bring him our natural he supplies the supernatural here walking on water we look at it as oh that's a faith walk of peter no it's not peter wanted to do what he saw his his master do and so peter took his natural leg stepped out of the boat and allowed god to divide the natural the natural of of laws and physics jericho's walls were up ahead and joshua and joshua chapter 6 stepped forward and the lord came to joshua and did not say hey i want you to fight the most epic battle you did no he instructed him i want you to take your army your priesthood trump is i want you to walk around for six days and on the seventh day i want you to do seven times blow the trumpet do the natural and allow me to do the supernatural so the end of the day the equation of the supernatural is this my natural my faith multiplied by the super and the anointing of god equals the supernatural everybody say i do the natural he has the super now i've been wrestling with this word all day and when i got here the lord gave me first corinthians 16 25. and it says but at midnight paul and silas were praying and singing hymns to god and the prisoners were listening to them and he gave me a couple of points he said number one son spiritual growth has a sound so in other words paul and silas find themselves in a prison situation but they don't allow their circumstance or their environment to dictate what comes out of their mouth and when we are spiritually growing we have to learn how not to get silent in seasons where god is saying you need to praise and you need to pray that was the first thing he said the second thing was spiritual growth has support now listen if i'm in prison and i'm in a situation i don't need people around me who don't know how to get in the presence of god see you find yourselves in situations at times with people in prison situations and then they don't know how to pray and intercede for you but do i have anybody here that is tired of having relationships that don't add value to your prison seasons see some prison seasons you don't need people of your past you need somebody that knows how to pray you need somebody who knows how to get in the presence you need to have someone who prioritizes the presence of god he says spiritual growth has a sound he says spiritual growth has support but he also said spiritual growth has spectators because it says that while they were in the prison and they were singing and they were praising it says that the other ones in prison heard their singing in other words your spiritual growth is not just about you because there are other people that are in the proximity of your spiritual growth that are looking to see what's your response to prison seasons and see sometimes we can get so selfish about our circumstance that we think our trial is only about us but do i have anybody who knows that there sometimes are some spectators there's some aunties and some uncles there's some friends that are just waiting to see what's their response to this are they going to praise in this are they going to shout in this or are they going to give in to the prison situation so it showed me that they had a it has a sound spiritual growth has support spiritual growth has spectators but then he also showed me that spiritual growth has stretched i was looking at that thing and that thing was looking at me i said stretch what you mean god he said isn't it interesting that paul and silas are praying and not only does their chains fall off [Applause] but it says that all of a sudden the prisoners that could hear the prisoners that were in proximity that when they heard the praise and they heard the prayer it says their chains fell off and their doors opened up and do you have anybody in this building that you can say listen my walk with god is not just about me i don't want to just be free and my family stays in prison i want to get free and everybody coming out when i come out [Applause] i was looking at that thing that thing was looking at me i said spiritual growth has a sound spiritual goal has support spiritual ghost has perspective has spectators and spiritual growth has stretched i said lord what's the point though he said son is because spiritual growth is about maturing your perspective see the reason why they're in prison is because they followed the word of god and and when we are immature in the faith we believe that if i do what god tells me to do it should be the easiest route but sometimes when you're going into a place that god told you to go and then it doesn't go the way that you're expecting what you need to do is you need to bless your perspective because what you allow to shape your perspective will it will make you experience the situation in a way that either is beneficial or is a way that gets you to go back into the places that you've been in the past because watch this limitations are learned listen i got four kids and one thing i understood about my four kids is that when they came out there was no limitations they would jump off stuff they would just i'm like what are you doing because they had no limits it wasn't until someone told them don't do that that's not safe but who who told you that's not safe who told you you couldn't get that job who told you you weren't worth that promotion who told you that and sometimes our limitations have been learned because we've been discipled by dysfunction [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that's why you got to go back and you've got to start to check who's been leading me in the past seasons what were the limitations my parents put on their life because just because they didn't do it just because they didn't get it just because they didn't go there does not mean that god will not come to my generation and rock my world with what he has for me don't allow limitations don't talk you out of the things god told you is yours [Applause] and the good news about a learned limitation is is that if it's a learned limitation that means i can unlearn that thing somebody needs to stand up and shut up i'm a learning today all right [Music] [Applause] looks like you excited about unlearning your limitation huh [Applause] well i'm gonna start tonight in first corinthians chapter six verse twelve it's really set up for what i wanna talk to you about i'm going to read the same verse from two different translations first corinthians 6 12 from the amplified bible it says everything is permissible allowable and lawful for me but not all things are helpful not all things are helpful good for me to do exceeding and unprofitable and consider with other things everything is lawful for me but i will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power the message translation says just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate if i went around doing whatever i thought i could get by with i'd be a slave to my whims since i was praying about kind of what god wanted me to minister and what my part was on tonight i kept hearing this one word in my spirit and it was the word encumbrance now i know what the word encumbrance means but it's not a word i would typically use in my everyday vocabulary if i was in a conversation with someone i wouldn't use the word encumbrance i would use the word obstacle or the word obstruction or maybe even the word impediment so i started looking up some definitions and scriptures to try to get some clarity about what god says and usually when god speaks to me about something i'll sit and now listen to see if anything organically comes to me after that then i'm not adding to the word of the lord too soon but when i sit and i wait and i don't get further instruction then i know that my job is to go and search this out some more in order to add some color to the picture god is endeavoring to draw in my heart so the word encumbrance means any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome it means burden weight difficulty hindrance load handicap restraint inconvenience and impediment now when i look at this definition alone it sound nothing to do with in my life and look at the definition of the word impediment i want nothing to do with burden weight difficulty hindrance load handicap restraint inconvenience and impediment i'm gonna pass on that for 200 alex but when i think about this definition in light of what god says in his word and how he brings his will to pass in our lives i would be mistaken if i attempted to avoid any and every kind of encumbrance we've talked about during this spiritual growth uh should lead to spiritual maturity and on this lifelong journey that you and i are on to becoming more and more like christ all of us more must mature to a place where we properly discern the necessary from the unnecessary not just the good from the bad not just the evil from the righteous but the necessary from the unnecessary and this is what paul was saying in first corinthians chapter 6 verse 12 he said listen all things are lawful for me but not all things are expedient are profitable are beneficial to me when compared with other things and a part of maturing in the things of god is being able to properly identify between what is necessary for this season of my life that i'm in right now and what is no longer necessary in order for me to move forward now this is a full sermon i would speak at length about what's necessary and what it's unnecessary uh where where encumbrance is our concerns uh but i've only got seven minutes so anybody got time for that and so i want to just focus on some encumbrances that are necessary why some encumbrances are necessary in our walk with christ so a key to maturing is changing the way that you see the challenges that are in front of you i mean this is why we have verses like second corinthians 4 17 with for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more an exceeding and eternal weight of glory a persecution is pressure brought on by people affliction is pressure brought on by circumstances so as we mature in the things of god we don't see every uh amount of pressure that comes against us circle as it relates to our circumstances as just a a problem as just a devilish attack or hell trying to you know uh uh unleash all types of things against us it is an affliction that can work for us a far more and exceeding and eternal weight of glory in james chapter one it says listen my brethren counted all joy when you fall into diverse temptations knowing that the trying of your faith work of patience but let patience have its perfect work because so that patience so that you can be perfect and entire wanting and lacking nothing so the only way i get to a place where i am perfect and entire wanting and lacking nothing is that i have to embrace sometimes the pressure that comes from being patient from steadfastly enduring until i see what it is that i'm believing to happen in my life how about second corinthians 12 where paul said listen i i i glory in my infirmities and my reproaches and my criticisms for christ's sake for when i am weak that is really when i am strong so when i'm at my weakest moments that is when i am actually at my best and so a key to maturing spiritually is changing the way you see the challenges in front of you see champions welcome competition a champion doesn't get into the finals doesn't get to the championship and say why are they so hard why is this team so tough it's not supposed to be this hard in the champ a champion welcomes competition a champion wants a game seven a champion wants to go all the way down to the last few seconds in the game and have to lock down the enemy in order to win it all and see every obstacle and every challenge you face is not punishment for bad behavior [Music] some things are hard some things are going to take longer than you expected some things will get in your way and some things will impede your progress because you need it in order to grow what was standing between jesus and the desire to offer salvation to all of humanity folks it was a cross not a cross that he would build a cross that he would be nailed to and look what he said in john chapter 12 verses 27 and 28 he said even though i am torn within and my soul is in turmoil i will not ask the father to rescue me from this hour of trial for i have come to fulfill my purpose to offer myself to god so father bring glory to your name then suddenly a booming voice was heard from the sky i have glorified my name and i will glorify it through you again see the cross wasn't personal it was purposeful [Music] don't take personal everything that comes against you because some stuff isn't personal it's purposeful jesus didn't do anything to deserve the cross but it was a necessary encumbrance in order to fulfill his purpose and listen to what he said what am i going to pray save me from this hour what am i going to say god save me from my purpose god protect me from my destiny [Music] and folks listen to me that's not motivation speaking that is maturity speaking and i'm just gonna be honest some of you are addicted to easy [Applause] and like minister greg was saying you associate easy with the will of god if it's easy it's god if it's hard it's the devil [Applause] you're allergic to things that challenge you you avoid things that pull you out of your comfort zone and require a little bit more from you than what you typically like to give but what i'm saying to you today is why would you why would you pray big prayers if you're going to live a small life [Applause] if you want what you've been praying for then you need to be willing to deal with what comes your way to help you walk it out [Applause] and like jesus i encourage you to choose results over relief because sometimes it is just necessary to go through it in instead of trying to go around it in order for you to advance i said again every obstacle and every challenge you face is not punishment for bad behavior but if you only see these challenges as trials and not as training sessions then you'll never fully discover what you're capable of amen now this these last several weeks you have heard from so many different speakers and we're not finished yet you've heard from so many different speakers about keys in order for you and i to grow what we've got to decide is that we are not going to walk away from this series when it's all said and done with 19 new pages of notes and not application of some of the things that we have heard amen we ought to give the more earnest he to the things that we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip i promise you that god had said something to you today through one of these speakers or over these last several weeks that may not just be for where you are right now but it is something that you're going to need for where he's taken you in the future sometimes when we stand in front of the goliaths that are going to meet us somewhere else down the path they don't need the third year christian they need the christian that's been in the things of god for 10 years that's why god sometimes will pause and wait for the time when you are ready to face the goliaths in your life and when you get tired of dealing with the lion and the bear over and over and over and over and over and over again then you're gonna have to make a decision to use some of what you have received over these last few weeks so that god can advance you to the next challenge that he has for you in your walk with him would you bow your heads with me today father we thank you so much for the seeds that have been sown that have been planted in the hearts and the lives of those that are here in the sanctuary and those that are watching online i trust that something has been said that has been exactly what somebody needs that is connected with us tonight and god i pray that today we will settle in our hearts that we will do those one or few things that really seem to bear witness with us tonight that we will embrace the challenge that you have given to us we will accept our marching orders and we will walk out what it is that you are speaking about us speaking to us to do it is time for us to grow up it is time for us to go to the next level it's time for us to take the next step in our walk with christ and god tonight we are settling in our hearts that we are not just obedient but we are willing to do whatever it is that you ask of us god well every head is bowed every eye is closed there may be someone in here tonight or someone watching praise god that maybe you have not made the first and most important decision which is to give your heart and your life to jesus christ and if you have not made that decision we believe you are not here by coincidence you're not here by accident you're you are here by divine appointment and god wants you to receive him as lord and savior of your life maybe you're in here and you say pastor moore or you're watching and you say i used to know the lord at one time but man i was challenged tonight i no longer want to be an ornament christian i no longer want to wear the apparel and not have the transformation on the inside of my heart i don't i no longer just want to be a seed that's tossed to and fro by every challenge that comes up in my life i want to be the tree that's planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in my season i want the sound coming out of me to change i want it to reflect the transformation that's happening in my heart and no longer just the sound of where i have come from well if that's you and you need to recommit rededicate your life tonight then i want to say a prayer for you so if you need to receive christ or you want to rededicate your life then listen i'm going to lead you in a prayer and i'm going to ask that you pray it from your heart really mean it i trust that god's gonna meet you right where you are and you'll be saved you'll be back and right fellowship with god in jesus name so let's pray this together with conviction tonight say father in the name of jesus i believe that your son jesus christ is the son of god that he died for me on the cross at calvary and carried my sins for me jesus come into my heart come into my life save me today forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness i receive your forgiveness i receive your love i receive your salvation i am now a child of god heaven is my home you are my father and i will never be the same in jesus name god i pray for those who have prayed this prayer and i pray for those who are recommitting rededicating their lives to you tonight god i pray that they will talk to you about the thing that's come between you and them i pray that lord after today they will no longer put you second but will keep you number one first priority in their heart and in their lives forevermore i pray that everyone that made this decision tonight will never backslide another time that all they will know is christ and him crucified and will allow him to live his life through them from this moment forward in jesus name and everybody in agreement today said amen well listen if you pray with us tonight i want to say congratulations of whatever decision that you might have made praise god and if you pray with us we ask that you do us do us a favor there's a you'll see a qr code that comes up on the screen or there's one in one of the seat pockets in front of you take a picture of that qr code the is you're going to get some information we ask that you feel that information out so someone from our team can follow up with you if you're here in the sanctuary you're old school and you're like and i am really into doing qr codes and and pr codes and all that other stuff i just i want to i'd rather fill out a physical card we'll fill out a physical card someone from our team will follow up with you to help you make take the next step that you need to take in your walk with christ amen well let me ask you a question did you get something out of one of the seven speakers on tonight praise god [Applause] i was uh i was telling uh i was telling my wife this past week i said listen if people can't grow after this series then you have just made a choice in your heart that you want to stay right where you are and not move any further it's going to be one of the longest series that we have ever done by the time we're all finished with it you should have got an email over this past week we're asking you guys to send in your questions because we're going to do some q a as we get ready to close this series out over the next few weeks and so if you have questions that are burning on the inside of your heart send them in and we're going to look forward to answering some of those questions over the next few weeks i want to remind you on saturday we're going to actually have a celebration of life for my mom right here uh on saturday at 10 30 so you're you're all welcome to attend you need prayer for anything we'll have a minister down front will be available to pray with and for you and if you're a first time guest we want to thank you so much for coming please make sure you stop by our guest experience tent on your way out tonight uh we are so glad to have you and hope you got something out of the service so to everyone that's tuned in online and everybody in the sanctuary we love you with the love of jesus and we will see you next time have a fantastic week you are dismissed you

Channel: Faith Christian Center

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Id: 2-AyHI2YBOA

Length: 64min 23sec (3863 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 01 2021