Staff Development Message From Pastor Chris

Good morning, men and women. Such an awesome blessing to just be able to come to you again from Life Fellowship Church here in McKinney, Texas, on the Pando app, on your tablet, in the place that you're at. I love that. It's such a blessing. My name is Logan Williams. My TDC number is 1490218. I got four numbers after that. I've been around and around and around the system. I didn't think I'd ever come out of it. I thought, this is just my life. This is just my lot in life, because I just can't seem to ... I could do right for a little while, or I could not get caught for a little while, and then eventually it just happened again and again and again. It's frustrating, and it's disappointing, and it's just ... Being in prison is not fun. That's why I share that with you, because I get it, but Jesus entered into my heart. He changed my life. He transformed me. He stepped down from heaven into my mess, and so be encouraged. He did it for me. He can do it for you. Who's next? Who is next? He wants to change your life. He wants a relationship with you so bad, and gosh, I just love it. I love that we can put these messages and put these things on your tablet right there. I want to just say I appreciate all you that are watching. There's so many of y'all, tens of thousands, 40, 50, 60, sometimes 80, 90,000 people a week watch our content, and we're honored. We love you.

You are part of our church family. Don't let the enemy lie to you. You are part of this family. We pray for you. We think about you, and if you get out and you're anywhere near the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex on a Sunday morning, we have four services. Just come up here. Look for me. You can't miss me, and I'd love to connect with you and introduce you to everyone and get you a coffee and just do life, man. Even if you live far and you can't make this your home church, just come visit us, man, because it blesses us so much to see you. I was going into the county jail, Collin County Jail, on Friday. I was in the morning studying, kind of looking, God, give me a word. We were speaking to the females. My wife walked by, said, hey, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm looking for a word for these females in Collin County, and as she was walking out the door, just said, tell them God will repay for what the locust ate, and then she shut the door and left, and so I started thinking about that. I looked up that scripture, and it's very interesting. My wife's pretty awesome and has discernment, but I gave it to them. I want to give it to you, and it's Joel. It's a book of Joel. Not too many people are quoting the book of Joel very often, but it's chapter two, verse 25. It says, I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten, and what struck me there was it said the years, like he's going to repay for the years that the locusts eat, like he's going to redeem the time, and as I thought about that, and I thought about my four trips to prison, my nine and a half years incarcerated, I did have those moments where I thought to myself, man, I sure am wasting a lot of time, you know, because in

between that, now I'm using drugs and doing crime, and I can just tell you that that's my experience. God repaid the years, and so I'm just now looking up here. Just hit me to look up that word years and see what it says, because I like looking up the words, okay, for the years, okay, Shana is the Hebrew word, means a year, a division of time, a measure of time, an indication of age, or a lifetime, and so when he says he's going to repay that time, it's funny how he mentions that the locusts are going to eat the time, but that's exactly what happens when we're incarcerated, right? We feel like the locusts are just eating up all our time, and we can't get it back, and how am I going to get a job? I don't have a resume because I've been locked up all this time. I'm going to have this gap on there. No one's going to hire me. All these things, guys, I'm telling you, that's something you don't have to worry about if you get all in with Jesus. That's something you don't have to worry about. He will repay. You will have plenty to eat until you are full, and you will praise him. The name of the Lord your God who has worked wonders for you never again. Will my people be shamed it says verse 27 Then you will know that I am in Israel that I am your God and there is no other Never again. Will my people be shamed? He said it twice in like three scriptures. There are three verses Not gonna be put to shame man, but but then I know some of some of you are like, yeah Logan That sounds good, but you don't you don't know what I've done You don't understand what I'm bringing in here. Like some of you just got to County Jail You've been arrested for a crazy crime. They got you stuck in seg and you're like man. I Got a long road ahead of me some of you Some of you have done you you've been on a long road We've done 15 18 20 25 years on a 30 or a 40 year sentence And you've been denied parole so many times that you're you're tempted to just say, you know a man to heck with this

all this And so you want to give up and so you don't want to approach God maybe because of what you've done You don't want to approach God maybe because for the last I don't know a couple of years. Maybe you haven't been reading Maybe you haven't been praying. Maybe you haven't been going to church. Maybe you've just been so frustrated for whatever Because there's so many things to be frustrated about in a prison or a county jail or in the situation that you're at Maybe you're like I I can't approach God because of fill-in-the-blank. I've done too much. I've gone too far Even after I made the declaration that yes, I want to walk with Jesus I've still backslidden and done some terrible things while I've been incarcerated. I've still not done this guys. I want I want to read you So earlier I read you verse 25, that's that he will repay but you know I was just reading around that and and in the beginning of Chapter 2 of Joel in verse 12. It's it's addressing what I'm talking about. Maybe you feel like You can't approach God. Maybe you feel like God's not gonna do anything for me anyway because of blank because I've been doing this because of all this stuff that I have because Not only that but the things that I haven't done. I haven't been doing this. I haven't been walking with him I haven't been a good Christian I haven't been and so I just want to encourage you verse 12 is for is for people like you people that feel guilty people That feel hopeless people that are disappointed People that can't maybe even muster up another prayer of faith Because they prayed so many of them and they haven't seen anything happen verse 12. It says even now Declares the Lord return to me with all your heart even now It doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter how you feel It doesn't matter if you've been walking with him or if you have you've been ignoring him back to him Middle finger to him. He's saying even now return to me Return to me. How do we return to him with our whole heart with fasting and weeping and mourning? He wants us to wring our hearts out to him. We go and tell him how you feel go and tell him man I haven't been praying go and tell him man. I haven't been reading the Bible go and tell him Yeah

I made this decision for you and then I went off on this other road and I did a bunch of drugs or I did A bunch of sexual sin or I did a bunch of whatever Go and tell him wring your heart out fasting and weeping and mourning Return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and Compassionate slow to anger abounding in love and he relents from sending calamity Who knows he may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing So God is saying to all of you to return to him. He is saying No matter what you've done. No matter how bad you feel or if you don't even have any hope left, man He wants you to return to him wring your heart out. Have a moment with God Have a moment where you just cry out to him He'll he'll enter into your life and he'll change everything He can do that. He wants to do that. So let me pray for you guys father in the name of Jesus I thank you for the men and the women That you did you send? To our channel that you send to watch our messages God. We love you. We thank you man We you knew every single person that it's gonna click on this today Even six months or a year or 18 months from now somebody's gonna click on this at just the right time and that's not coincidence God, that's Your divine perfect timing and we love you for that God And so I just ask that you would bless all these men and women that you would Bless their families while they're gone that you would give them some hope some encouragement Let them know how much you love them. Let them know that nothing ties you your hands, let them know that there is nothing that they've done that you can't come in and meet them right where they're at and set them free, God, showing up in their life with power. But they have to get all in. So God, I pray that you would show them what it is that they need to lay down, what it is that they need to offer up to you

on that altar, God. I pray that they would have a moment with you somehow where they could wring their hearts out. And so God, we thank you. We just invite you in to do what only you can do. We give you all the praise and glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, guys. Whose house? God's house. Let's give him some praise. Enjoy the message. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Father we thank you for this morning. We thank you for this time that we get together as a staff and worship you and pray and just hear from you. God we invite your presence in this room today. Holy Spirit we ask you to have your way. Speak to our hearts. Give us ears to hear what you're saying today, this morning, in this moment. Father we love you. We give thanks to you. We adore you. We worship you Jesus. We worship you King Jesus. This is the day that you've made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. We enter your gates with thanksgiving and enter your courts with praise. Oh Jesus we've come to bless you this morning. We've come with gratitude in our hearts for who you are. I choose this day to be grateful. I give you praise with an open heart. I'm waking up to heaven. I'm waking up to you. I choose this day to be grateful. I give you praise with an open heart. I'm waking up to heaven. I'm waking up to you. For always being good. Thank you for your mercies that are new. We thank you in spirit and in truth. We thank you. I'm telling you thank you. Your faithfulness is like the sunrise. In your endless love it reaches past the skies. I'm waking up to heaven. I'm waking up to you. Your faithfulness is like the sunrise. In your endless love it reaches past the skies. I'm waking up to heaven. I'm waking up to you. Oh thank you Lord. I'm waking up to you. For always being good. For always being good. We thank you for your mercies that are new. We thank you in spirit and in truth. We thank you. I'm telling you thank you. For always being good. For always being good.

We thank you for your mercies that are new. We thank you in spirit and in truth. Spirit and you truly, we thank you, I'm telling you thank you For you and you alone, you're waking up my soul And it's my joy to thank you, we thank you, and you alone You're waking up my soul, and it's my joy to thank you We thank you, and you alone, you're waking up my soul And it's my joy to thank you, we thank you, and you alone You're waking up my soul, and it's my joy to thank you, we thank you, and you alone We come with gratitude in our hearts this morning, Jesus Even when we don't deserve it, you've been so good, you've been so faithful, Lord You and you alone, you're waking up my soul So it's my joy to thank you, we thank you, and you alone You're waking up my soul, and it's my joy to thank you For you and you alone, you're waking up my soul And it's my joy to thank you Only you, you're the one that's waking up my soul It's my joy to respond It's my joy to respond to your faithfulness It's my joy to respond to your goodness, oh Lord I can count on you When I'm not faithful, you're faithful When I'm not consistent, you're consistent When I'm not good, you're good, oh Lord You're always good, you're always faithful I can count on you One last time For you and you alone, you're waking up my soul It's my joy to thank you, we thank you, and you alone You're waking up my soul, it's my privilege to get to thank you

For you and you alone, you're waking up my soul It's my joy to respond It's my joy to respond It's my joy to respond You were the Word of the beginning One with God the Lord Most High In glory and creation Now revealed in you, our Christ What a beautiful name it is What a beautiful name it is The name of Jesus Christ, my Lord What a beautiful name it is Nothing compares to this What a beautiful name it is The name of Jesus You didn't want a love without us So Jesus you brought heaven down My sin was great, your love was greater What could separate us now? What a beautiful name it is What a beautiful name it is The name of Jesus Christ, my Lord What a beautiful name it is Nothing compares to this What a beautiful name it is The name of Jesus Oh Jesus We call the name Jesus There's no sweeter name There's no other name but Jesus Oh Jesus There's no other name but Jesus Oh Jesus There's no other name but Jesus Oh Jesus When death could not halt The veil tore before The silence surpassed Our sin and grave Now the heavens are roaring The praise of your glory For you are raised to life again You have no rival You have no equal Now and forever God you reign Yours is the kingdom Yours is the glory Yours is the name above all What a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ Almighty.

What a powerful name it is, that nothing can stand against. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ Almighty. What a powerful name it is, nothing can stand against. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Master, Savior, Jesus. Everything, everything to Thee, Jesus. Everything to Thee, Jesus. You're everything to me. You're everything to me, Jesus. You're everything to me. You're everything to me, Jesus. Jesus, I love you, I love you, I love you more than anything, more than anything. Jesus, I love you, I love you, I love you. More than anything, more than anything. More than anything, more than anything. More than anything, more than anything. Just some of the needs that we are aware of here at the church. I want to make sure that we pray over these. Prayer is powerful because prayer can do anything God can do. So there's actually a bunch more on this side if we run out on that side. There's a lot of opportunities for prayer over healing. Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray for those that are listed here. I see cancer, cancer, shoulders, eyes, lupus. Lord, I just declare healing over the bodies that are represented here in our church, in our staff, that we need the physical healing touch of Jesus. So God, we command healing in these bodies. Call out Larry Lamb's life, call out Scott Cotone. I pray, God, that that tumor in his brain, God, dies in Jesus' mighty name. We lift up Avery, her daughter, Lord. We pray for healing and peace in this family, Lord. Father, you know those that are in our church that are wanting to conceive, but they just can't. I'm just going to tell you guys, I prayed with two people this past weekend, two families that came up and said, we're praying and believing God for the miracle of life. And so, Lord, we just declare life where there has been barrenness.

We declare fruitfulness. God, in Jesus' mighty name, I bring these families before you and I ask you, Lord, give them the gift of children. Give them the gift of life, I pray. We pray, Lord, that you would fill these families with peace and comfort in Jesus' mighty name. Lord, those that are walking through mental and spiritual challenges, there's an attack of the enemy. We just, Lord, as this staff, we just surround them in prayer right now and we just declare, Lord, that your angels will stand guard over them. We thank you, Lord, right now for emotional, mental, and spiritual breakthrough in the name of Jesus. Lord, I pray that we would get our eyes off of that which glistens in this world. Lord, instead, we put our eyes on you. I pray that, oh God, in the name of Jesus, Father, we lift up those that are needing employment, finances. I know there's many in our church that are without jobs right now. They're looking. I prayed with a lady on Sunday, Lord, that she's a million dollars in debt, a million dollars. And the financial pressure and the strain of what that does in relationships and health, I pray in Jesus' mighty name, you bring freedom in the area of finances, bring provision, bring new doors of opportunity, new ways of thinking, Lord, do what only you can do. We pray over our church. We pray over these needs. And we give you thanks, Lord, for hearing our prayers today in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Thank you, guys, for leading us in worship today. And, Andrea, I like the birds. I like the birds. I know Nathan does, too.

Well, we can, let's keep these. Yeah, I guess maybe we do need some lights. I mean, I guess, I don't know. Boy, I'm really excited for what the Lord's going to do this morning. I woke up about 530 this morning and begin to write down some thoughts with you. So this is kind of hot off the press. You guys know that nothing is ever good the first time. And so I want to share with you some principles that I think are, I want you to relate this to your own life. And I want you to be thinking through ministry as well. So as God is speaking to you through this, I want you to just really ask the Lord, Lord, what are you trying to say to me through this message here for life and for ministry? It's going to use it in a very significant, uh, significant way. I just want to make sure that we got everybody in here. I don't know if we have everyone. Um, I don't know if everyone, I don't know if everyone's here. I know we've got the band that's coming on out. That'll make it feel a little bit more, uh, like we have representation here. So I want to talk to us about really what, what I want to call the signs of life. And scientifically we know that in order for something to be alive, it has to have seven different qualities, seven different characteristics, seven things need to be happening. All seven of them have to be a bit, uh, happening in order for something to be classified as, as alive. And so when you look at your own life, when you look at your own ministry, when you look at your own influence, uh, if these seven things are not there, there is a, according to science, you're not alive. That thing is not alive. That thing is not growing. It's not, it's not producing. And so these are seven things.

And I pray that that we are going to learn a lot through this. And I pray that God would use this to kind of stir our hearts. And so the very first thing in anything that is alive is number one, it moves. In other words, stagnation in our lives is a warning sign. All things that are living, they are moving whether internally or externally. Uh, God's word says that we walk by faith and not by sight. And I love the fact that when Jesus was speaking, he said, come follow me. In other words, I'm not interested in you just staying where you're at. I'm interested in you moving. There's gotta be movement. Jesus never said stay. He said, move. Galatians five and 25 says, since we live by the spirit, let's keep in step with the spirit. And so there's gotta be this action. There's gotta be this movement that is happening in our ministries, in our lives, in our walk with God. Uh, there, there needs to be movement. I've said it like this for years. You're either growing daily or you're dying gradually. You don't just wake up one day and you're away from God. It's a gradual process of dying or it's a gradual process of you getting closer to God, but there's movement. There needs to be movement in every person's life. If there's going to be a sign of, of life. And so that has to be something very real. And so I would just ask the question, are you, are, are you moving? Are you, are you, are you seeing things happen in your ministry that you oversee the thing that you are, uh, that, that you're leading in your walk with God? Is it, is there stagnation?

One of the books that I've been reading in my master's class and Lord Jesus helped me this next semester is just, I got more books than I can possibly. I literally have a book. Tatum knows that it's in my study at home. It's this tall. Pastor Matt's like I eat that for lunch every week and I'm thinking, Lord, have mercy. But one of the guys that I've been reading, his name is RT, uh, Kendall, RT Kelly. And he says this, and I think this is a really, I want you to think about this statement. He said, be careful that you don't become yesterday's man. In other words, uh, the greatest enemy to the move of God today is what God did through people yesterday. Because when God has done something through you in the years past and the months past and the, the, the seasons past, it's very easy for you to be, um, yesterday's man, instead of moving in the, uh, the, the, the newness, the flowness of, of the, of the, of the, just the flowness of, of the Holy Spirit. The greatest threat to the move of God today is people that God moved through in the past. And we've seen that in churches. So many churches, there's like a move of God. God starts doing something and there's people that were a part of something in the past. We're like, well, that doesn't fit within my quadrant, my, my way, my perception of thinking. And we got this, we got to break out of this paradoxical box that we found ourselves in. And so I would ask you to ask yourself this question today, where has comfort replaced courage? Where's the replaced courage. So you used to be someone that would move and step out and see action. instead there's all this comfort there. It's the regret of action and inaction.

The average person lives 4,000 weeks a year. I mean 4,000 weeks in your lifetime. That's all you got. For me there's a whole lot more life that I've lived than what I have left to live. I mean I'm 50. You know Tatum's 29 for forever but I'm 50. The average life is 4,000 weeks and nobody's ever gonna get to the end of their life and think man I regret going all-in with God. Nobody does. In fact this coming Monday I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna host a funeral here for one of the ladies that's in our church. Her name was Beth Ann. Beth Ann was a part of when we first started on the other side of Allen. I mean she was an incredible leader. She led 20 the division for GE. 20 billion dollars of their whole real estate division. In fact her husband he was a big Trump fan and so he was like hey because she was gonna meet with him she's like he said could you please could you please get him to sign this book and she said there's no way I'm gonna get I'm foreclosing on his properties today I'm not gonna get him to I mean so she was a mover and shaker and and I Tatum went and I went up to to the hospital to be with them and she has can't she had cancer all throughout her intestines like like hundreds and hundreds of lesions and she sat on that bed you know just wasted away her eyes kind of sunk in and the thing that she talked about when she was in that room and she had a hard time speaking it was just like Chris speak legacy at funeral I mean she could barely get these were I mean she was exhausted just to say that and the people that were in the room were her her three kids and her husband and she didn't talk about all of her accomplishments and the billions of dollars of real estate that she bought and sold all she did is she just all she was thinking about was she's like she looked at her kids and she said kids my legacy Doran that's her husband's name my soulmate but she didn't say my she just said soulmate love of my life and then she looked at me she said Chris please preach Jesus and I remember at the end of that time there we cried together we prayed over her I remember I walked up walked up to her bed because I was holding her hand you know when you're in a moment like that you just and I

gave her a big old kiss on the cheek and I said Bethann you're about to see Jesus and I said I'll see you on the other side and she said when I get to heaven I mean she you know through her broken language there she said when I get to heaven I'll tell Jesus that I had the best pastor ever I'm like no you really but no one gets to the end of their life and says you know I regret going all in with God but there's many that are gonna say you know what I waited too long I played it too safe comfort keeps you safe but it'll steal your life so here's my question are you playing to win are you playing to lose and the thing is that as an organization grows and gets bigger and bigger it's easy to stay in this in the sense of comfort I'm gonna tell you like this weekend so let me just tell you this weekend we hit over 2,100 people in services those are unique individuals that were here I can tell you this that within about the next two to three years I would not with with the things that we are planning and where we're going I will not be surprised if we are a church that is running close to 35 38 hundred people on any given weekend like there's a lot of things that are coming our way there's some big things that God's given and that's just on a normal weekend that doesn't include like some of the bigger accelerated weekends and the larger that an organization grows the larger that things happen it's so much easier to become comfortable you just stay in what you're doing are we are people that are ready to move are you playing to win or are you playing to lose No one gets to their life at the end of the life and thinks you know what I regret going all in with God so I told Tatum this morning I said baby you want to know something crazy it was back in December of 2010 I still remember it there was a guy that was at our church that was in the gym with me I didn't particularly like him because I knew a lot about him he was physically abusive to his wife he was verbally abusive to his wife he was just an angry guy but he came to me December of 2010 and said pastor Chris there's this new thing out there called Bitcoin would you like to invest in this I said what do you mean Bitcoin he's like this is digital currency it's gonna be the biggest thing

it's gonna be it's gonna be incredible man if you want to men if you want you can like I'm investing thousands of dollars into it if you'd like you know you can I can get you in for like 500 bucks and I looked at him and I said you are out of your mind I turned him down I did the math this morning if I would have invested in Bitcoin you ready for this in $500 in 2010 while at the gym I would have today a hundred million dollars and Tatum told me as we were driving in the car this morning she said that's because God didn't want you to have a hundred million dollars are you playing to win are you playing not to lose don't miss what God is doing because you're clinging on to what God has done in the past so for me personally if I'm about 60 or 70 percent positive on something I'll move on it so are you playing to win or playing not to lose every living organism number one there's movement that that doesn't mean that you're alive because the the rocks can they can the earth can move it just because something moves doesn't mean that it is alive but it's one of the seven things number two so I'm gonna ask you to think about your life think about your ministry number two anything that's alive breathes it's respiration so like just take a second here just breathe in breathe out living things breathe in fact according to science when we breathe in oxygen fills our lungs and passes into the bloodstream through these tiny air sacs called the Al Al Evoli thank you the auction is oxygen is carried to our cells where it helps produce energy that keeps the body alive and functioning when we breathe out carbon dioxide and waste gas is removed so that the body can say stay healthy and for some of us we don't need a new strategy you don't need a new idea you actually don't even need a new assignment just need to catch your breath and catch your breath and if you've ever argued with God over this idea of rest and breathing in what I've learned about arguments with God is that if you win the argument you lose but if you lose the argument with God you'll always win it says in John 20 in verse 22 he breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit I mean you have to you have to breathe that in on the seventh day God finished his work and rested interesting enough in the Hebrew language when God says that God rested which that's that right there again it's another that's a paradoxical idea that God rested

the God that does not need to rest he actually rested why I think he was trying to teach us the principle he didn't need it he was teaching us that you and I modeling for us that we need to rest we need we need to breathe in in fact in in that in that he in that Hebrew language there it actually it actually means that God when it says that he rested it means that he actually breathed in in other words he caught his breath Because he'd been breathing out for six days and on the seventh day He breathed in So here's my question for all of us And I'm speaking all this stuff to myself before I ever preach it to you I'm teaching teaching me when's the last time That you breathed in the presence of God Like really when's the last time you really stopped and just breathed in God's presence I Remember I remember there's been one time. This is kind of a side thing. I don't even have it in my notes I remember one time. I Actually God allowed me to catch the fragrance of heaven have any of you guys ever smelled the fragrance of heaven before? I've had it one time that's happened in my life. I sensed this I smelt the fragrance of me. It was the most one breathing in God's presence. In fact, this is why God gives us the Sabbath Do you know that the Sabbath is called the bridge command? So the first three commandments are all about about doing things for God The commandment number five through ten are all about doing things for others So like, you know thou shall have no other gods before me and all these other things are all about Don't take the name of the Lord your God in vain And again, I've taught you guys this before but that has nothing to do with it I mean it does don't don't use God's Word in vain But then the last five it deals with you know, don't kill don't murder. Don't lie Don't do all these other things. The fourth commandment is the bridge commandment and The fourth commandment is there that when you do it you are simultaneously

Honoring and loving God and honoring and loving people because you slow down and you rest And that's the only one That I think a lot of us especially us overachievers We have a hard time slowing down and breathing in life So, let me just ask you a question, okay think about your ministry think about you What causes you to be refreshed and it's different for everybody What is it for you I'll say it like this. Do you guys know that like Tatum and I on my Sabbath our Sabbath? We probably have more arguments on our Sabbath than we do on any of the other days of the week We probably do Because it's the one day that we really stop we breathe in and we kind of like catch our breath and we're like and And there's like this healing process that begins to happen. I Do we do we really do that, you know Think about ways to teach your kids how to Sabbath the Jewish people they would give their kids a spoon of honey on The Sabbath to teach them. Hey, this is a sweet Day in the presence of God that no nobody Some of them today they even say well, there's no housework that needs to be done. You don't have to make you a bed What what are ways that you can breathe in? In fact, I'm gonna give you guys These are the five areas every week that you need to be refreshed five areas That that you need to really think about and be intentional about five things number one spiritually emotionally Physically and sexually How are you being refreshed and if you try to cram too much stuff in your life will not The breath of God the the The fire of God the passion of God is gonna get snuffed out It's kind of like trying to build a a bonfire

If you put way too much Materially and you cram it all in that thing will never catch fire. You'll never see a bonfire take place but if you arrange it in such a way that there is room breathe ability that wind will come into that thing and Some of us the reason why there's no creativity in our lives is because we have too much stuff crammed into us We haven't stopped. We haven't been refreshed. We're not breathing in Listen you'll never stumble on to the unexpected if you keep sticking to the familiar So if you keep doing same thing so a change of pace plus a change of place equals a change of perspective I'm gonna say that again a change of pace Plus a change of place will always equal a change of perspective Perspective because thing that's living that's moving is number one it's moving number two it is breathing number three life always number three this is what scientists say it responds so living things don't ignore what touches them so pain gets a reaction you walk up to a dead person I could hit that platform there ain't nothing going on now if I came up to Pastor Matt and did that same thing to him we would get a reaction here today so pain gets a reaction hunger gets a reaction Lord Jesus 21 days of prayer and fasting danger gets movement in other words the body stays alive because it's aware of what's happening all around when your body when your life when your ministry is not responding to the things that are happening to pain to hunger to danger I would say that is an indicator that there are things that are starting to decay the body stays alive because it stays aware there's 45 million nerves 45 million miles of nerves in the human body think about that 45 miles of nerves they're made up of 86 billion nerve cells or neurons and their fibers and when those signals stop or become dull the body loses awareness and injury follows quickly sometimes God's silence in our lives isn't always absent sometimes it's a loss of sensitivity and I would just encourage all of us that we as an organization like in the midst of a

culture that everything is so automatic there's so much automation to everything and so many reflexive systems we have to fight not to become a machine we're called the body of Christ not the machine of Christ the more high-tech we become the more high-touch I love the pastor Leandro he like he pushes for this the more high-tech we are the more high-touch we have to become like there was a time that we we were building robots and now we have it where robots are now building humans I mean they're creating all kinds of different different part I really believe that in our lifetime we're gonna see it where natural birth is gonna become something I think is gonna become something of the past I think the biggest three scientific advancements that are that we're going to see happen in our lifetime are gonna be stem cell research I think that's gonna be a huge thing I think that genetic modification is gonna be another massive area like you can decide what kind of kid you want you can decide their height their their gender their their hair color you can decide all that stem cells it's amazing you put those things in there and they'll make you brand new again and then number three everything that's happening with quantum mechanics and an AI I think those three things are gonna absolutely revolutionize change everything and things are becoming more and more robotic what I would say this this upcoming generation and those of you that are gonna be in the next step class with pastor Matt you guys are gonna hear this with with Carrie he talks a lot about this that the generation that we're seeing right now and pastor Caitlin can talk a lot about this but the generation they're not interested in scripted perfect like the world is so AI with images with scripts with email responses everything is so AI perfect that the thing that is now sexy is not that it is more so than ever before unscripted really raw really even shoddy not shoddy but just gritty content just don't give me a service that's perfect give me something that's spontaneous give me something that I can't reproduce this anywhere else that's why I love what we've been starting to do on Sundays in the mornings where it's just I mean it's it's the song that maybe somebody is already

always knowing but it's gonna be sung in such a way that you'll never hear it sung like that again and it's gonna be and and life needs to be in such a way that it responds Christ said this or it says in Hebrews today if you will hear his voice and do not harden your heart like we've got to hear people ask the question well how was it that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh that doesn't seem fair that God hardened his heart and it's the illustration I always give that the presence of God is still the presence of God and it just depends what your your heart is made of like you put a piece of clay out there it's gonna harden that clay but if your heart is like wax it will melt it it's just determining what your heart is made of the presence of God can either harden your heart or it can they can soften your heart Jesus said my sheep hear my voice and know and I know them and they follow me so I'm gonna give you guys a little illustration here and I want you to do to think about and I got to go faster than this because I've got are you guys catching anything out of this today is this is this helping you okay so there's a in 1955 Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingram developed a psychological framework to understand how people's how they perceive themselves and how they're perceived by others it's called the jihad jihadi window the jihadi window and there's four different quadrants to every person's life so hey everybody I want you to think about this for your life I want you to think about this for your ministry but it's more so for your life personally so four quadrants so just take like a picture of a window one two three four and the first one is called the open self and this is what everybody sees it's the part of our our lives that we we project to everybody it's what you see on social media it's which you interact with and people's lives and what have it's the open self that's the part that we have a lot of control over the second quadrant is what's called the hidden self this is what only you know this is what only you know and this is the area that God's Word makes it very clear he's like hey share your your faults share your weaknesses in James he said with one another that you may be healed accountability is not weakness accountability is strength and there's

a there's a hidden side to every person and there's this side of that that we need to make sure that it is not there will be accountability here on earth or there's going to be accountability in heaven but accountability is coming you know I made this statement during our Lion King at the movies series and I made this statement yes she's hearing nuts not Siri series but people don't fall from weakness issues they fall from boundary issues and there is a hidden side of the four quadrants of who every person is and so I would I would just encourage all of us like if there's if there's a side that is needing accountability I'm going to tell you that this is a safe place this is a place where you can find hope and healing and and health because we want to see you finish the race that God has for you strong because there's that there's that hidden side number three so the third quadrant is what's called the blind self so there's the open self the hidden self the blind self so this is the part of you that you don't see but everybody else sees it and unfortunately so many of us we live our lives in such a way that we think that we're the smartest person in the room we think we know and there's parts of like there's there's ways that I do life in ministry that I have such blind spots and dumb spots and deaf spots that's why you need some truth tellers in your life so here's my question for you are you teachable I'll say this who has permission to tell you the truth because every person here we all have our open self we all have our hidden self we all have a blind self But then here's the fourth quadrant, and it's what's called the unknown self. And this is the part of you that nobody else around you knows, not even yourself. There are things about your life, your gifts that you haven't even scratched the surface on, and they're embedded deep down on the inside of you. So I would just encourage you, go on an exploration. Think about the Jehordi window for your life personally

and for your ministry. I love what Dorothy Sayers says, no crooked table legs or ill-fitted drawers came out of the carpenter's shop in Nazareth. I like that. Here's number four. Number four, life will always grow. So it moves, it breathes, it responds, it grows. Living things grow. When they stop growing, that's when death is near. I want you to think about this. When Jesus came to the fig tree that was not producing figs, what did he do? Come on, everybody, what did he do? He cursed it. In other words, God curses things that don't grow. Anything that doesn't grow, God curses. It says in 2 Peter, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. In the early church, you see it, Acts 2, verse 47, it says, and the Lord added daily those that should be saved. Acts 6, verse one, it said, then the Lord multiplied. Then Acts 6, verse seven, the Lord multiplied greatly. They went from addition to multiplication to multiplication greatly. And we look at the early church and we're like, man, we wanna see that same thing. Anything that doesn't grow, God curses. So here's my question for you.

Are you growing? Is your ministry that you oversee, is it growing? Or are you just reproducing? So back to that first statement I made from R.T. Kelly, or Kendall, are you becoming yesterday's man or yesterday's woman? Are you disrupting things? Are you thinking different? Is it growing? Are you reassessing? Because if you try to put the new growth of what God gives us into old models, old structures, it's going to fail. Are you growing? So let me ask you this. Are you getting better at what you already do? How about this one? Is your soul keeping pace with your influence? In my backyard, Tatum and I went to Home Depot two years ago and we got these, what kind of plant? They're cactuses, some kind of cactus. Agave, agave-packed cactus, thank you. So we got two. And we bought this, it's a pretty, if you guys have been to our house, we got this big planter in the back and we put one of those agave plants in that one and we only have one of those because it wasn't cheap. So we went and we still have another one that's in a small little pot.

Bought the same two, same time. The one that's in the little pot is small. The one that is in the big pot that we bought, the thing is just thriving. I mean, it is, I mean, it's like, we're looking at it going, man, this thing's gonna, I'll grow this pot. It's getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I'm telling you this, that anything that doesn't grow, God curses because growing things, I mean, living things grow. I'm telling you, hey, everybody, I'm just telling you, this auditorium is our pot right now. I mean, you guys saw in our services this weekend, there's no room here. Our optimum service times, there is no room whatsoever. And I'm promise you this, we're gonna have to remedy that. There's gonna be a remedy to this. We cannot continue to be constrained by the walls of the sides of this current auditorium. We need more room because God is bringing people. It needs to be bigger. And I'm gonna promise you this, it's coming. It's coming. So personally, let me ask you a question. Are you growing? Okay, so this is where you go. So y'all listen to me here. Don't be watching Instagram and all that other stuff.

Okay, just listen. Are you growing? Like seriously, are you growing physically? Or have you become somebody that's very comfortable in where you're at? So are you working out? Are you eating right? How about educationally? Like what are you reading? What are the podcasts that you're listening to? You know, is there a degree that has been sitting on the shelf for a while that you need to kind of dust that thing up and off and go back at it? Like I'm not like, oh my goodness, I'm so excited to go back in for more school this fall and go for a doctorate. But I go, man, I need to keep growing. I've learned a lot in these last two and a half years in my master's program. So are you growing physically? What are you doing? There's a statement I made just a second ago. Think about this. Change of pace plus change of place equals a change of perspective. You'll never stumble onto the unexpected if you stay locked in on the familiar. So physically, educationally, how about relationally? Are you expanding? Are you growing in that? Or do you still have your same little circle of friends that you always hang out with all the time? Tatum and I, we've been doing something. We've been inviting people over to our house and expanding our influence with them. Like people that we don't even know. We're like, hey, why don't you come on over the house? Tatum cooks up this great little dinner and blah, blah, blah, blah. And we're expanding relationship with them. I remember Pastor Rick DuBose telling me about how years ago in ministry, he said, you know, one of the best things my dad ever did. So his dad was Derwood DuBose, and he was the district super North Texas. He said, I remember dad always on Sunday nights, he would buy these beautiful big cinnamon buns. And dad would have some people over from the church and they'd sit down with some coffee and some cinnamon buns. And they would just talk. And he's like, man, I remember the smell of those cinnamon rolls and the community that happened around there. Like, what are you doing to engage and expand your relationships? So I would ask you this. What are you doing to create more traditions in your family? How about this? How about financially growing? Are you doing investments or are you just consuming everything that you make? Or are you paying down debt? Are you acting your wage? Because if we'll do the little things like they're big things, God will do the big things like they're little

things. And we would love to come along and help you in the area of your finances and investments and be with it. Listen, you never grow on accident. You will always grow on purpose. Your ministry will never grow on accident. It will always grow because you are intentionally investing your passion, your energy, your grit, your prayers, your sweat, your everything. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is one little word. It's extra. And it's going to take extra time, extra prayer, extra study, extra effort. Anything that you see that somebody has done something that you're going, wow, that's so cool. You don't know what's happened behind the scene. There's been a lot of sweat, a lot of work, a lot of what happens. And are you growing? The old axiom in martial arts is a black belt is a white belt that never quit. Show me your vision and I will show you your future. Interesting enough, there's a there's a rabbi tradition that after God told Noah to build the ark, the first thing he went and did was planted trees because he knew that in order to accomplish the will of God for his life, he was going to need a boatload of lumber. John Maxwell says, change is inevitable. Growth is optional. People who are growing are willing to be uncomfortable. All right, I got three more. I'm going to, am I, am I, what are you guys going to, you're not going to say, no, no, stop, we're done. Number five, I'll go through these quicker because I wanted to spend a moment here at the very end. And, and Andre, you might help me. If you play, I might go even a little faster. And everyone's like, please. I'm telling you, there's, I got a lot of stuff that I wanted to put in. Like I was up this morning early, I was just in there just dreaming, right? And I felt God's presence. And I just want to unpack this in you because we've got to be a people that are, are alive, not just in our church, but internally. Number five, five, a life reproduces. Scientific truth, living organisms. Produced by creating new life through the cellular process called mitosis. It's the transferring of genetic material from one generation to the next This process allows life to continue beyond a single individual and ensures the survival of the species when reproduction Stops life may continue for a time, but it will no longer sustain itself in other words life Produces life

And we have an issue happening in America right now According to Gallup poll they've discovered that membership in churches Has dropped from it used to be 70% of Americans attended church in the 1990s early and it's down for the first time ever it's dipped below 50% it's now at 47 and that number now is like there's like this bell curve and it is It it's on this downward trend. And when you see something on that trend going down It's you don't just go down and then up That trend is is produced. In fact right now the fastest growing community in all of America Is the non-religious or what's called the nuns right now 29% of Americans are nuns They that means they're not thinking about your Easter services. They're not thinking about Our life groups. They're not thinking about any of that all of our advertisements that's hitting out there They're like we have no They want nothing to do with God. They want nothing to do with organized religion. They they don't even believe in God Many of them are atheists. They're agnostic. They're just we're just none. We're not Muslim. We're not Hindu. We're not nothing none fastest growing community Barna reports that only 36% of Millennials right now are involved The average Christian in America right now attends church 14 times a year That's once a month Christmas and Easter and you think about this so just think strategically down the road if that's what's happening in families right now and Students and their kids are being raised where they're watching The most influential people in their life mom and dad only attend church once a month Christmas and Easter What do you think that's going to produce in the next generation So We've got to be about

Reproducing that's why Jesus said therefore go and That word go in the Greek means this you ready for it. It means as you do life So don't just God never called us to preach Necessarily from the platforms and all he said go make disciples Go make disciples Don't do ministry alone making disciples of all nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you to do. So here's my question for you I want you to think about this who is becoming closer to God and a better leader because of your leadership Are you creating opportunities for others to grow or are you just protecting your role? Are you multiplying yourself If you took a vacation for three months would your area of ministry fall apart or would it continue to grow See success Isn't what happens when I'm here No success happens when I'm here but legacy happens when I leave I Can create success when I'm here But if I want to create legacy, it's what happens after I'm gone So right now I'm just gonna be honest with you guys. I am planning out the next 15 years of ministry with my board What's the next 15 years gonna look like Because at 65 I will have passed the baton at Life Fellowship to the next generation of leaders I got 15 years I'm planning it out We got a lot of vision a Lot of vision. I mean, how will be at one church in ten locations? How are we going to be campuses that are all debt-free? How are we going to be a church that's sending millions of dollars to missions? So I like I have to think better I have to think smarter I have to think more strategic I need to have a deeper bench in our in our staff

Because the difference between it's the difference between a reservoir and a river Reservoirs hold water. They can be deep. They can be impressive, but eventually they just sit there and they're stagnant but a river It brings life It reproduces So let's make it practical for a second. Do you have an organizational chart for your area of ministry? I Remember when I first started in youth mine I had this organizational chart and I had member Tatum We had two leaders and then they both quit the first three weeks that I was there So there was just Tatum and I that was at Sac seed But we created this this organizational chart I had all these different areas and I this and this and this and this and I strategize the whole thing out and And then that became the impetus for me to say I need to find a leader that will fit that and Somebody that'll be there and for some of them I held on to those different areas for years Until the right person came along that I could plug into that area and and do you have an organizational dream? Do you have a chart? Do you have a thing that knows where it's growing? Do you have job descriptions because delegation without definition brings disaster? Do you truly empower your leaders? Are you holding them accountable when they show up late when they show up sloppy? Are you multiplying yourself or are you just doing a task that's protecting my area of ministry because I want nobody else to ever have This I'm as a great leader We got to be those that reproduce ourselves so that someday when God does transition you and calls you somewhere else You're not just leaving a moment of success You've created legacy Don't be the lid on what God wants to produce My goodness, I feel like I'm giving you guys a lot of good stuff Maybe too much. Let me let me just Number six life if you want to be a person that's alive you have to release waste Living organisms expel what is toxic Constipation

Poisons the system The wisdom of life is the elimination of the non-essentials So maturity isn't carrying more and I got so much on my plate maturity is Knowing what to let go of Scripture says lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us So hey gang throw off sin Do do you have time wait So Case in point I Like to at times Tatum knows this I like to play video games I know I'm 50 and I I enjoy doing that me and Elon Musk but It was during the Christmas break and I had not played a video game probably in six months because I've been doing so many other things And I told him I I really enjoyed just doing nothing Just playing a video game and this little ad comes popping up for it's called Xbox gold pass I don't know if you guys ever heard of this thing so you can like it gives you access to like 50 video games or 100 or whatever you it's like nine dollars and ninety nine cents a month. I came up on my honey I think I'd really like to get that Because I got access to all these other games because I play one game that I've had for the long It's called age of empires. I create a nation and I go destroy everybody else. Okay, and it's from like 1990 Okay, so but it's they recreated on Xbox anyways And I looked at her and I says, you know what I Would really like to do that, but I think it would waste my time I got some other things that I need to be more focused on than playing a video game Then I'm not saying if you play video games, it's a waste of time for you but for me

It was so I I said, I'm not I'm not gonna I'm not gonna order that thing How about task weights? You know, you can put things on reoccurring orders What needs to die what needs to die in your life? What ministries and programs and activities that you're doing are just it's it's waste that needs to be eliminated Some of us you think but I'm just so busy because you're doing a lot of things that maybe somebody else should do How about people weights How about forgiveness weights Don't hold on to that poison because it's going to poison your heart and how you see how you view how you trust others It's like I have so much stuff here. I got an illustration here I want to give you about somebody and I don't have time to get into it But I would just ask you today. What are the weights that you have that just need to go? And the number seven life is nourished You can't have a strong body without strong nutrients and the right food You gotta you gotta have the right stuff You are it's that old statement. My mom told me all the time. You are what you eat So what what you feed determines what what you are and the Bible says as newborn babes crave Spiritual milk that you can grow so I would ask you. What are you doing to feed your soul? Are you living on spiritual snacks? Or you living on like real nourishment You know, it's been two years now that I've been eating a whole lot different They've done all this blood work on me before they were going man Your blood doesn't look so good right now. Actually the doctor called me back in I work out all the time. Yeah, but your blood doesn't look good And then I started doing all this eating right different and the doctors said My goodness, your blood work is exceptional Awesome and I feel better. I have more energy I just you guys know that all the stuff that happens when you eat when you eat, right? But if if I'm like ever at school, you know, I go away for a week and I got one of these coming up in February You know, I do my best to eat, right?

But at times, you know, you get a little fast food here. You do a little something there. You just feel lethargic. It's just blah And that's not just physically but that's also spiritually And all living things they need to be nourished so nourish yourself And so I want to close with this and then we're done You know my gramps he died in 2011 on st. Patrick's Day And he died of a heart attack So I want to close with this and then we're done You know my gramps he died in 2011 on st. Patrick's Day It was exactly almost two months after the service that I had where I had seven people in total attendance And my gramps would always tell me on the phone he would tell me chris i'm so proud of you I pray for you all the time Because Because just because he's gone His prayers are still impacting my life. I'm still a beneficiary of those prayers And i'm going to tell you that as you commit this to prayer God is going to take that he's going to use it to bless your life your ministry all living things Do these seven do these seven things? Make sure that that's a part of who we all are Amen, everybody Amen, so here's what I want to do. I'm going to give you an opportunity to just breathe Breathe it in And so i'm just going to have uh, andrea just play for a few more minutes and um And I know I went really long today, this is why I probably don't do chapel that often because I always think man What do I have to say? I mean i'm going to run out of words to say and then I get up and i'm going to have mercy. It's been an hour uh, but just take a moment here right where you're at and if there's one of these areas that The lord would speak to you about then it's been worth it

So Come on draw a little circle around yourself and let this move from just being a message that you hear To something that you live out You