The Fullness Of Christ | Pastor Ken Claytor

today today today we are starting a new um series called the goal everybody save the goal and um how many of you all have goals in life let me see by show hands how many of you got have goals in life how many of your goals have been jacked up because of the pandemic let me see by a show of virtual hands all right we started off 2020 like man this is a new decade come on somebody 2020 we're going to be like the jetsons out here i mean it's 2020 2020 this is going to be our year of believing big y'all remember that we got a big god that wants to do some big things if we have what big faith and then we got punched in the mouth it's like mike tyson said everybody got a plan until you get hit in the face and so we got hit in the face but here's the thing we believe we might be knocked down but we're not knocked out and whatever we go through we're going to grow through with the church saying man i believe that we should have some goals i know that there's somebody who is here today somebody who is watching this that maybe you were a goal setter 10 years ago or five years ago and you felt like those goals didn't come to pass you kind of put them on a piece of paper and it was just something that life began to happen and you was like forget all the goals i know he talks about setting goals but why should i go set if they're not going to come to pass i'm just going to do the best that i can but the bible says the opposite it says that man plans but it's god that directs our path proverbs 16 19. that means you need a strategy no matter what has happened in your life what has happened in your past you need a plan to get out of debt you need a retirement plan you need to live on budget you need a plan of who you're going to be at 60 and 70 and 80 years old and what you feel like should come of your family and how to have fat you need a plan the bible says in rebecca to write the vision and to make it plain upon table so that he who read it that can run with it rebecca 2 2 that means that god is expecting you to have a vision a goal and some plans all right some strategy like a one year goal of five year goals 20 years goals and i want to encourage you man go home today don't delay and procrastinate start to set these goals one year ago five put some 20-year goals down but then really focus every single day on the one-year goals and what you do is you visit those one-year goals weekly visit them daily adjust some things if you're not able to accomplish some things just move it to the next year and the whole thing is not to be perfect but it is to strategize he who fails to plan plans to fail and so i think it's important that we have some goals family goals financial goals fitness goals but the biggest and the greatest goals should be god goes and i kind of want to coin that if you don't mind i think that above all our other goals we should have some god goals like what kind of character do you want to develop what kind of fruit of the spirit are you working on right now what gifts of the holy ghost are you coveting after what kind of love are you trying to develop in your heart are you wanting to be the kind of person that can love your enemies and pray for those that despitefully use you i thank god for all of the financial goals and the fitness goals and the family goals but i believe the god goals should be at the top of our list and i want to look at ephesians chapter 4 verse 13 and i really want you to start bringing a bible with you to church and it doesn't have to be a paper bible i mean if you want to bring a device but i think that everybody should get a notepad i think there's something about you know you put notes in the phone and god knows you got so many apps and notifications you don't even go back to those notes and i believe that god is leading me into a season where we want to do a little bit more expository teaching i love topical teaching topical is like i love to look at grace and love and forgiveness and the gifts of the holy spirit but there's something about let's just look at ephesians 4. there's something about let's just look at proverbs and see what god wants to speak to us from that and the and so you know jesus had three elements in his ministry he had preaching teaching and healing of the sick there's a fourth of casting out devils and all kinds of things but let's just leave it at the three and we need the preaching and the teaching and we need them together sometimes we love preaching because preaching is inspirational and we love to have a conference and we need preaching where we just stir your faith and it's just like yeah we're going to go and we're going to you know kick down the mountain and take the head of the giant and goliath you know where's your head you know we just want to go hard and and we need some preaching but we also need on this side we need great teaching because if you got a pep rally without practice you ain't going to win the championship and some of you all are into the pep rally yes inspire me inspire me and i think i'm an inspiring person but even more than that i want to be a great teacher because with all of your getting you need to get some understanding for a rod is for the back of the person that is void understanding for the person who has no knowledge they will be destroyed by their lack of knowledge and so even though we need inspiration we also need information we need preaching and we need teaching and god knows we need to heal the sick and so my hope for you is that you'll become a good student don't just come to church to say yes and amen and go home and you don't know what was said you should actually come to church not as a teacher but as a student and students bring their notebooks with them they listen to the recordings because they know that the text is coming and they want to pass the test ephesians chapter 4 begins our study for today verse 1. paul is speaking to the church at ephesus in verse 1 he says therefore the i the prisoner of the lord i think there's revelation in every part of scripture how many of you all consider yourselves to be prisoners of the lord you know that's not a glorious term it's not like hey get saved today so you can be a prisoner for jesus but what it means is that you're not going to do what you want to do anymore you're going to do what god has called you to do with the church say amen and then he says i beseech you that means i beg of you to walk worthy so if you can walk worthy you can also walk unworthy and so i think it's important that we don't just get saved but we say god how can i walk with you in a worthy way worthy of my calling which i've been called with all lowliness and gentleness that means that we have humility in our heart with long suffering that means that we're going to go through things but we're patient for the promises of god to show up bearing with one another that means that i have to bear through some things i got i got to bear with each other meaning that i'm not just going to leave you because the things that i don't agree with you about i'm not just going to leave our relationship and break divine connections just when things get tough it's amazing how people can be by your side on the mountaintop but when you go through the valley you're like where do people let but there's something about bearing with each other in love endeavoring that means intentional effort to keep the unity of the spirit god hates division these six things the lord hates the seventh is an abomination he that sows this discord among the brethren there's something there's a commanded blessing when we dwell together in unity and we have to endeavor to keep the bond of unity and um the spirit of unity and the bond of peace and then it says there is one body one spirit just as you were called in one hope of your calling come on read it with me one lord one faith one baptism one god father of all who is what above all through all and what in us all but verse seven talks about the gifts it says but to each of you somebody say that includes me come on i can't hear you somebody say that includes me to each of you there has been given grace according to the measure of christ gifts now this word grace is a greek word charis which means a spiritual gift all right it's not just talking about unmerited favor that you get when you accept jesus you get unmerited favor you're saved because of the grace of god what it means is that everybody who is watching this right now has a spiritual gift that god gives his children the purpose of growth track is so you can get connected discover your god gift and use it to make a difference this is what we believe is that you will not have fulfillment in life without using your grace gift in a way that is beyond yourself some of you all are gifted leaders you have the gift of prophecy you have you're gifted with young people but if you just use your gift for you you will never have true contentment god has created you according to first peter to use your gifts to serve other people then all of a sudden contentment and fulfillment will come in your life and so we all have gifts we want to help you discover your gifts that's why we we are a gift oriented ministry verse 8 it says therefore he says when he ascended on high he did what he led captivity captive and that verses in reference to old testament saints abraham et cetera they were in abraham's bosom and they were awaiting the coming of christ he let captivity captive and he gave gifts to man all right now that he ascended what does it also mean that he first descended to the lower parts of the earth what most believe is that jesus went to hell to get us these gifts he went to hell so that he we wouldn't have to go there so before he ascended he first descended to the lower parts of the earth and this is what he gave us in verse 11 he he himself gave apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers this is what we commonly refer to as the five-fold ministry gifts please put that in your notes it is the fivefold ministry gifts all right and why did he give us these now as a pastor my job is not just to pump you up my job is not just to make you laugh my job is not just to have the bomb choir in the church my job is not just to have new programs that hopefully your family will like really when i stand before jesus he will say how did you equip my people and so if you don't know that you are watching this to be equipped and that you're going through growth tracking on the serve team because that's part of my job i have to stand before jesus as a ministry gift and say how did i move people and equip them for the work of the ministry and so my job description and hopefully you think i'm doing an okay job is this is for equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry that means that god expects you to work and work is a four-letter word but it ain't a dirty word i know some of y'all think it's a dirty word this ain't a dirty word at all all right the laborer is worthy of his reward the servant is always the greatest some of you all work for yourself 40 hours a week 60 hours a week 70 hours a week but hold on you better hold up and have a little bit of time where you can work for jesus because you've been created to be workers together with christ jesus there is a grace for this work there is an anointing for this work there is everything that you need to accomplish this work so i'm called by god to equip the saints for the work of the ministry you're called to do the work of the ministry and you say why is that so we can edify the body that means so we can build up the body of christ so we can win souls and make disciples jesus's last command is our first concern and we have to take that personal y'all that i am called by god and after the end of my life i will stand at the bema seat the judgment seat of christ and he will say how did you do with that which i've commissioned you to do what did you do with your grace gifts what did you do with the work that i've called you to and i don't know about you but i want to hear him say what well done thou good and faithful servant verse 13 now here's the goal everybody say this is the goal now over the next few weeks and months verse 13 is the goal so we got the pastors we got the gifts for the edifying body to christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of god to a perfect man oh my god that's a goal that means a mature man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ everybody say to go all right and so there's all kinds of goals that we can have but over the next several weeks we want this to be our number one goal all right the full measure of the stature of christ so today's message is entitled the fullness of christ the fullness of christ please put that in the chat put that in your notes everybody say the fullness of christ ephesians chapter 4 verse 13 i want that to be a priority for us for our church for our ifam to understand ephesians 4 13 to hunger for ephesians 4 13 to desire ephesians 4 13 to go after ephesians 4 13. just like some of y'all single you're going after somebody on bootycall.com i mean um what what is e-harmony whatever you however you go after what you want those of you all going after six figures you're going after your degree i want you to go after ephesians 4 13. this is a god goal everybody say a god goal but it's complex language like the full measure of the stature of christ i mean what is that really well ephesians chapter 4 verse 13 in the nlt it says this will continue until we all come into such unity in our faith and the knowledge of god's son that we will be mature in the lord measuring up to the full and the complete standard of christ somebody shout standards you know what we do a lot of times is that we have our standards but then christ has his standards and many times we try to bring christ standards down to our standards because that's what everybody else is doing but god has never wanted us to be like everybody else and bring his standards down to our standards he wants to bring our standards up to his standards and we need standards in our lives we need certain things that i don't do that no i don't say that no i don't watch that no i don't i don't i don't drink there's certain things that we're not going to do because we got standards somebody say standards and so christ has a standard for how we manage our money how we steward what he puts in our hands everybody say standards there are some standards about how we guard our heart for out of the heart um you know guard your heart above all else for out of it flows the issues of life we cannot allow revenge or hurt or unforgiveness or bitterness or wrath or all those things to dwell in our heart because they will mess up our life and so there are some standards and then the bible even has standards for your body come on single people y'all know you need some standards come on there's some standards you know what the biblical standard is for a single person the bible says the flee fornication to offer your body as a living sacrifice is unto the lord so here's the standard no ringing no thingy come on somebody no nobody no eddie no ready nobody no contract no contact everybody say the standard and god knows so what we do sometimes is we say you know what but you know i i know that's god's standard but god will forgive me and you know i feel like this right now and everybody else is doing this and doing that and well he said he really loves me and she says she really loves me and we bring christ's standard down to our standards and we want to know why our relationships are toxic and why we're unfulfilled and why we're broken-hearted because regardless of what everybody else think god is still wiser than we are his ways are still better than our ways everybody say standard let's break it down in another translation we're going to dive in today the english revised version ephesians 4 13 says till we all attain into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god and to a full grown little man i mean a full grown man and so the goal is that we come to where we're fully grown you know i don't know about you i was that kid growing up like i didn't want to be a kid i couldn't tell people i didn't like people telling me what to do i literally that's why i became an entrepreneur and i went to business school because i didn't want to work for nobody and now i've balanced it out and i understand that we need to submit one to another and it's so good to be under other people that's protection that's covering but back in the day when i was immature no i was all about doing what i want to do i am independent man entrepreneur man don't tell me what to do right but if you want to be full grown you got to come to the place where um there's just certain things that you don't do any longer you know i was that kid though that man my i remember when i was like 13 years old and i developed a deeper voice people would call my house people say um hi is is barbara home i said oh no she's not home right now i mean true story no no lie oh yeah okay well who is this well this is ken oh child you just growing up so much oh my goodness you sound like a grown man well thank you very much my mom's at the store right now and uh man i take a message for you ma'am oh yeah just telling lois called and to call me back oh my goodness kenny you sound so grown well i sure will i'll pass the message on to her you know i just did everything i ca i just wanted to be grown you know and so there are some of us that we want to be grown but we want to be grown naturally not spiritually and i think there's something important about us not just aging naturally just because you're 60 years old don't mean you're mature just because you're seven years old just because you've been in a church pew for the last three decades does not mean that you're like christ does not mean that you resemble his nature and his character it does not mean that we are spiritually mature jesus is setting the bar here and we got to be a full-grown little man somebody say amen i like what i got there's one other translation i'm going deep in translations the cev which is the contemporary english version it says this will continue until we're all united by our faith somebody say amen and by our understanding of the son of god then we'll be mature just as christ is and watch this and we will be completely like him everybody say the goal i don't know what your goals are for 2020 2021 and for the rest of your life but my goal is to be like jesus and i believe that there is no goal like that goal remember that commercial back in the day with michael jordan they look like mike if i could be like mike i wonder if he wanna be like mike what if we said you know thank god for a great basketball player but he didn't get on the cross and he didn't save my soul he didn't he'll forgive my sins what if instead of mike we said like christ if i could be like christ sometimes i believe that he is me that's how i dream to be so when i say like christ what do you say if i could be like christ i want to be we're going to work with y'all hopefully you guys are much better than the studio audience today but i hope that that begins to ring in your spirit like christ if i could be like christ i want to be you want to be like cries i don't want to be like kanye i don't want to be like trump or obama i don't want to be like another man i want to be like jesus the son of god i want to walk in his power and in his attributes i want to heal like he healed i want to have love like he had love i want to have forgiveness and perspective i want to cause the kingdom of heaven to show up he is my example he is the setter of the bar he is the first of the brother and he is the one that i long to be like and in a culture where everybody's following somebody else that does not have the answer i want to follow the one who is the answer he is the son of the living god he is emmanuel he is our savior he is our reasoned king like christ if i could be like christ i wanna be gonna be like and so he set the bar here guys and so you know back in the day i used to in high school i was a high jumper i know i'm short and everything but um stick with the story i'm five foot nine and man if the bar was lower than five foot nine you know high jump you got to go over it like this put your whole body over the bar five foot six over it five foot eight over it five foot nine when the bar matched my height i would go over it sometimes but that was a mental block at five foot ten it was just like when i saw the bar was just a tad bit higher than i was it was like no matter what i tried to do i just couldn't jump over five foot ten there was something like the bars here how am i gonna get my whole body and i know there's somebody who's here today and watching this that you're like man i would love to be like jesus but the bar is here and i'm just who am i i mean i've sinned i've made so many mistakes and and i just don't feel like i can get there i don't feel like i can love that way i don't feel like i can forgive that way i don't feel like i can be that generous you read the bible and jesus is over here and you're over here and you're like well that's jesus he healed the sick and cleansed the leper but i could never do that you could never do that in the natural like i couldn't get over the bar by myself but thankfully you don't have to get over this bar by yourself the grace of the lord and the wind of the holy ghost wants to give you a catapult to let you go over the bar to be everything that god has called you to be the question is not will you do it out of your strength but will you surrender to his power into his grace and to his mercy and i hear the apostle paul in philippians 4 13 that says i can don't believe that you can't but i can do all things through christ who strengthens me you know the fullness of christ is kind of like this you know people they do a thing when they get saved and you know they do this right here and they kind of stop with that you know so they stop with their salvation and i'm so thankful for salvation thank god for eternal life thank god for the redemption of of who i am thank god for paying for my sin thank god for salvation sozo and everything that comes along with it but unfortunately we stop with salvation but we're still carnal we still got fleshy ideology fleshy perspectives just flash everybody say flash it's just flash think about some of the things that you've been watching on your phone and how some of you all have been responding it's just flesh but god doesn't want us just to be saved he wants us to grow into the fullness meaning that i'm going to walk like him i'm going to talk like him i'm going to heal like him i'm going to think like him i'm going to be like him i'm gonna worship like he worship pray like he's he doesn't want you to stop he wants you to be full baby this is what it means to live an abundant life it's not a life that's half spiritual and half carnal it's the full measure i want it all does anybody is anybody here watching and like i'm greedy like god i want it all i want everything that you have for me every gift of the holy ghost i want to walk in it every fruit of the holy spirit i want it to develop in my life i want the full measure like christ if i could be like christ all right and so here's the goal is to be like jesus why is this important because you've been created for greatness let me say it again you've been created for greatness there has been a pulling back so that god can launch us forward don't be moved by what you see because everything that you see is temporary and subject to change when you accept jesus greatness stepped into your destiny and your tomorrow is getting better than today does anybody believe that but even though you've been created for greatness you might not ever walk in it if you remain in mature in a child in the faith galatians 4 1 talks about it it's kind of like i have a son i love my son he's 9 years old i want him to have the best of life i want to give give him everything i possibly can and even though i love my son and i want him to have the best i wouldn't give him a car right now you say why is that because he's nine years old and he would end up taking somebody else's life and possibly his life as well it's not because i don't love him it's not because i don't want him to have the best it's because he can't handle it can i speak to somebody today that you want to be married but can you handle a marriage see so many times we don't develop our patience in the grace that we have and being able to communicate and we live a life where we're like god i want you to do this and god is like if i did that that would just mess you up can you be faithful over the little can you just be prepared for what i want to do next the question is some of you all want children and parents no children children would just drive you crazy you would think that you were losing your salvation some of the things that you think and say right some of you all are not ready for what we want to do is we want to develop our character we want to develop our integrity our patience our gentle spirit we want to develop those things because some things we're not ready for them yet and it's not that god doesn't want you to be in business it's not that god doesn't want you to have the six figures but some of you all we would not see you in church any longer because i got to work and i got to work and i got to work you ain't even ready for a promotion yet because it would mess you up and hurt you more than help you i don't know about you but i want to be ready for the for the blessing of god if god has called me and assigned me to walk in greatness i want to be able to handle the weight would somebody say man all right first corinthians 13 and 11 the apostle paul gives us this revelation he says when i was a child i talked like a child come on i thought like a child come on somebody i reason like a child what else but when i became i love the word become because it denotes or connotes a process you're not going to grow up overnight this is going to be a process that you're going to have to commit to for the next 10 years because when i became a man this is what i did i put the ways of childhood behind me who am i preaching to today that you're born again but you've brought all of your old bs all of your old belief system into this new relationship with jesus and want to know why you're not walking in power it's because you have not left the childhood behind you there comes a place where you got to choose to grow up i got to say this is the goal that stuff i was doing before i ain't doing that no more i'm going this way okay i'm leaving childhood behind me so let me give you some examples of childhood this is spiritual immaturity the law of destination starts with location are you ready to say i'm ready okay consistent tardiness all right you you're known as a late person we can actually count on you being late all right you just always show up late for things and what do you do you waste other people's time because of your tardiness you waste the company's resources because of your tardiness but you want to walk in the blessing of god it's just an example of childhood y'all can look this way look straight at the tv screen right now praise the lord superior attitudes all right you know and many times we don't verbalize these this is an inner work here all right you kind of look down on others well yeah that that's just because they're not educated that it will that's just because the side of the neighborhood that they that they live in yeah that's just what those kinds of people do superior attitudes what's that that's childhood and there comes a place where you got to leave child dish things behind you what about getting revenge all right seeking to hurt somebody who's hurt you someone did you wrong and now you want to do them wrong but the bible says to turn the other cheek the bible says to overcome evil with good and i know it hurts i know it's like i don't want to do that for them but watch this when you do it it's like dumping coals of fire on their head and you get god's attention and god gets involved what about posting everything you feel god knows we need to pray before you post mature people don't post everything we're going through with the church say man my god do you have to post everything that runs through your mind do you have to comment on everything that you don't agree with as a born-again believer the bible says to become all things to all people so that we can win some i got young men they're like i need a job i need a job ain't nobody hiring you they went to your page and your page just as crazy as it want to be i wouldn't think about their hiring you because you've got all of this childhood that you are broadcasting to the world every feeling every perception that i have my opinion and just because it's your opinion don't make it right we live in a generation of people that don't just feel that they have a right to to share their opinion they feel obligated to share it but what they don't know is that their opinion isn't even founded in truth it's just their opinion we got to leave that stuff behind us and i'll give you one more flaunting our body you come on come on especially my young ladies my daughter's in the faith i love you but men like men of god are attracted to purity and i know that there is a temptation to show what you got but if you if you attract a man that way you'll have to keep them that way and my mother's in the faith know that what you got at 28 what you got at 60 and if you attract if you bait your hook because of your body and you're flaunting your body and a man follows your body he won't want to be with you when your body changes and you don't want a man that is just after your body you want somebody that's after your brains you want somebody that's after your calling and after your heart and so there's something about us coming to the place where we say you know what i am not trying to get likes and follows and build my platform based upon my physical physique i'm going to address and dress in a certain way that will glorify jesus and i'm gonna leave some things behind me so in closing i'll give you these this is what i want you to know about coming becoming more like jesus number one i believe god's calling us to become more spiritual somebody's saying man some of us we just too fleshy everybody say flash i want you to say it with attitude flash you know because when you see yourself getting the flesh you just didn't say flash okay i'm done i gotta rebuke that okay so you're just too natural now i know that there's some people like i want to be cool and i want to be relevant and some of us we think we're being relevant but we're being worldly and we need to you know my problem right now is not people being too spiritual and i know those people out there like get a job please but my problem right now is people are too natural too fleshy all right number two the law of destination starts with the location so this is a message and i hope you appreciate great teaching because we have to locate ourselves before we'll ever get to where god wants us to be now some of us we think we groan and we're not we think we're more spiritual than what we really are my hope is over this next few weeks we can find out where we are so we can get to the goal number three we got to go we got to grow through what we go through all right now we're all going through something right now and the last thing you want to do is get out there by yourself to where you fall into doubt fear worry unbelief skepticism i saw a woman post the other day and somebody was saying something about the lord and she says well jesus is a myth i wish you would get over it and i wanted to reach out and touch somebody but that ain't going to work on instagram you know what the best witness is to the world is a transformed life in you it's not just salvation because you can be saved and still cuss folk out you can be saved and still broke you can be saved and sick and saved and depressed but if you're saved and transformed by the renewing of your mind then you can prove to the world that i used to be like this but now look what jesus has done in me then the talk is over when we walk in power all right i got to move on number four your emotional growth and your spiritual growth go hand in hand and if you want to reach the goal you can't just grow spiritually you need to grow emotionally it's okay for you to turn off the tv i know you want to be informed but if the information is making you discouraged and feel bad turn it off like try it for a few days and see how better you feel and when you come back on you'll still see the same things are happening but our emotional and our spiritual growth they grow linearly together and number five let's recommit to the spiritual foundations prayer meditation study of the word and hearing of the word amen come on let me pray for you every head bowed every eye closed father i pray in jesus name that the word of god has been sown into good ground and will bring for fruit not just 30 not 60 but a hundred fold i thank you that you have set the bar and that we're not scared of the bar we're not people who feel like we can't live right or we can't live holy we're not people that are so influenced by the world that we can't walk in the word i pray for a special anointing now to fall in our living rooms and our cars and in our sanctuary a boldness so that we can be who you want to want us to be and who you've called us to be i thank you god that you will give us grace to move at a certain pace so that we can finish our race with the goal in mind to be more like jesus and i want to pray for those of you all who are watching this and hear today that you might not know if you're saved you wouldn't claim to be a christian or born again but you want to make a step towards god today i don't believe that you're watching this by accident i believe that god knew exactly what he was doing when you tuned in today or you joined us for service today so would you pray this prayer with me just confessing your sins admitting that you've made some mistakes and saying jesus if you're real come into my heart let's see what he's going to do would you pray with me say lord jesus come into my heart today forgive me of my sins on today i surrender my will to your will my life for the life you have for me say jesus from this day forward be my lord be my savior fill me with your spirit let me live for you all the days of my life in jesus name amen come on church and online i pray that that message blessed you today i know for me god's word changed me it changed me it helped me overcome years of depression sexual abuse even poverty and i just know that god's word is changing something for the better inside of you yeah if this message today has blessed you in any way you know the greatest compliment that you could ever give us would be to share this with someone else you know when i go out to a great restaurant i don't want to keep it to myself i want the world to know you've got to go here to get that fried chicken and them sweet potatoes man and so if this has been good groceries for you if it's been good food if it's been life transformation for you do us a favor share it with a friend comment below make sure that you subscribe to our channel today and we hope we'll see you again real soon god bless you

Channel: Alive Church

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Id: eo3rR_svEBM

Length: 34min 4sec (2044 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 03 2020