A Slave To The Master | Grow Up (Part Two)

[0:00] Last week I talked to you from the subject, does your character match your calling? Does your character match your calling?

[0:11] We have a lot of people in the body of Christ who have a profound and powerful calling, but not so profound of a character.

[0:24] And the weight of their calling is too heavy for the strength of their character. So you see a lot of people fall a lot of times because maybe their character couldn't support the weight of their calling.

[0:46] And today I want to talk to you, part two of this series, Grow Up, but I want to talk to you more specifically from the subject of being a slave to the master. Being a slave to the master.

[0:59] The Bible says that you can either be a slave to sin or you can be a slave to God. And one sets you free and the other keeps you bound.

[1:12] So that's what I want to talk about this morning. I'm going to take a few moments, if you'll allow me to, just to recap what we talked about last week, and then I'll transition into this message.

[1:22] But I told you last week that it is possible to be master by inheritance and slave by maturity level.

[1:34] God can have a very powerful and profound and big inheritance for you, but your maturity level keeps you from getting there. Keeps you from walking into the inheritance that God has for you.

[1:49] And there are some certain things in the kingdom of God. There are certain positions in the kingdom of God that you will never walk into until you reach a certain level of maturity.

[2:01] Until you get to a certain place in your walk with God. Until God can trust you with it. Because if your maturity level is not at the place where God can trust you with it, He's not going to give it to you for you to fail with it.

[2:17] So He will wait until you get to a certain place in your walk with God before He gives it or releases it to you.

[2:29] We even have a lot of Christians, and I'll read our scripture here in a moment, but we even have a lot of believers who are spiritually mature, but emotionally immature.

[2:43] They know the Bible, and they speak in tongues, and they go to church, but they've not yet learned that Facebook is not the place for emotional outbursts.

[2:58] So we're spiritually mature, but emotionally immature. And they'll say things like, well, you know, that's my platform.

[3:08] That's my page. I can do what I want with it. It may be your platform, but it's His reputation that you're affecting. It's His name that you're ruining.

[3:20] Because when you name the name of Christ, and when you call yourself a believer, His name is written on you. And whatever you do affects His reputation. So I want to tell you this morning that you're not in a place to lead if your emotions lead you.

[3:36] There you go. It's okay to have emotions, but it's not okay to let your emotions have you. Does anybody believe that this morning? I want to read our key scripture that we read last week and that we're coming from last week and this week.

[3:53] Galatians chapter 4, if you have your Bible. Galatians chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. It says this. It says, Now I say that the heir, somebody who is set up to receive an inheritance, now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the Father.

[4:29] Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you for your presence. God, I thank you for your glory. God, I thank you that you have made yourself known to us this morning.

[4:45] I thank you, God, that if we stop the service right now, we could say that we've been in your presence. Thank you, Lord, that you change us from the inside out.

[4:57] God, now God, I pray that our hearts would be open to receive your word. It's in Jesus' name that we pray and everyone said, Amen. Look at your neighbor and say, Here we go.

[5:08] Here we go. Here we go. Grow up. Grow up. Let me read this verse to you one more time so that you can have it fresh on your mind.

[5:20] It says, Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child or as long as he is childish, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the Father.

[5:41] I told you last week that there are a few things that will hinder you from walking into the inheritance that God has for you. And one of the main things that will hinder you, number one, is your mouth.

[5:55] God can desire for you to have life and that more abundantly, but it doesn't matter if He desires that for you if you speak death. It doesn't matter if God desires for you to have joy if you're always speaking depression.

[6:13] It doesn't matter if God desires for you to have peace if you speak anxiety. And it doesn't even matter if God desires for you to have healing if you speak sickness.

[6:28] Your words have to line up with His Word if you're going to walk into the inheritance that God has for you. I told you that, number two, the second thing that can hinder you from walking into the inheritance God has for you is your understanding.

[6:44] your understanding. Your understanding. And God grows our understanding in seasons. He teaches us in seasons.

[6:56] See, seasons are like classrooms. You don't graduate to the next one until you learn the lesson of the current one. So God will teach you and grow your understanding in seasons.

[7:11] And even if God doesn't send it, He'll use it. So you have to learn the lesson that God is teaching you in this season if you're going to graduate to the next season.

[7:24] And many of us stay stuck in our walk with Christ because we won't learn the lesson. And we'll blame it on the enemy and say that it's spiritual warfare which is a real thing.

[7:37] But often times it's simply that we won't learn the lesson God is teaching us and it's a character issue more than it is spiritual warfare. And the issue that we don't understand is that character always perpetuates cycles.

[7:53] So we have to learn what God is teaching us if we're going to graduate to the next season in our life. The third thing that I told you was that your thinking, your mindset can hinder you from walking into all that God has for you.

[8:12] I use this analogy and I don't necessarily mean money here but it doesn't matter if your inheritance is to be rich if you think poor. So your mindset has to be what God intends for it to be if you're going to walk into what God has for you.

[8:32] So this morning if I can I want to give you six different characteristics of what it looks like to be a slave to God to be a servant to God to be a slave to the master and not to sin.

[8:50] So six characteristics of being a slave to the master. Number one you are not your own. I want you to write these down this morning.

[9:03] You are not your own. Romans chapter 1 verse 1 Paul is introducing himself in this letter that he's writing and in the first verse of the book of Romans he says this he says Paul a bond servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of God.

[9:29] he says I am Paul a bond servant. That word in the original language means this one who is the entire property of another.

[9:43] If you are a true servant of Christ you realize that you are not your own and you completely belong to him and when you realize that you'll stop doing your own thing and you'll do his thing.

[9:57] you are not your own. Number two the second characteristic of being a slave to the master is this your posture is more important than your position.

[10:13] Your posture is more important than your position. I want to read that same verse again. Romans 1 verse 1 says Paul a bond servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle.

[10:30] So he gives us his posture before he gives us his position. He says I'm a bond servant and then I'm an apostle. So I am a servant of God before I have a position from God.

[10:46] and in the body of Christ there is a pandemic of desiring a title more than we desire a towel. And if you can't be faithful with a towel you don't deserve a title.

[11:02] And if you can't be led you don't deserve to lead. See I'm not concerned with who you're over. I'm concerned with who you're under.

[11:13] You can't in the kingdom of God you can't be in authority until you're willing to be under authority. I'm a bond servant I'm a slave to the master before I ever have a title.

[11:31] Number three you don't work only while being watched. You don't work only while being watched.

[11:46] Ephesians chapter 6 verses 5 through 8 Ephesians 6 verses 5 through 8 says this it says bond servants be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in sincerity of heart as to Christ not with eye service as men pleasers but as bond servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men knowing that whatever good anyone does he will receive the same from the Lord whether he is a slave or free.

[12:34] We do not work only while people are watching us. We do not serve Jesus only while we are in church and people eyes are on us.

[12:45] I am not so concerned whether or not you can worship God on Sunday morning in church. Anybody can worship God in an atmosphere like we were in this morning but my question to you is can you serve God can you worship God tomorrow morning on your way to work when it is nobody but you and Jesus.

[13:05] Do you know how to get into the presence of God without a worship leader leading you into the presence of God and without a preacher preaching to you?

[13:16] Do you know how to get yourself in the presence of God? Do you know how to serve Jesus when nobody is watching you? We don't work only while being watched.

[13:30] I want to ask you this question. Can you operate in the same level of excellence when no eyes are on you? Can you operate in the same level of excellence when no eyes are on you?

[13:49] Why is that? Because your character that's what we're talking about your character is comprised not by the decisions you make in public but by the decisions you make in private when nobody's watching when no eyes are on you?

[14:07] And I want to give you this morning I want you to take it with you the test of integrity the test of integrity is this the test of integrity is whether or not you do the right thing when you know without a shadow of a doubt that you could do the wrong thing and get away with it let me say that again the test of integrity is this whether or not you do the right thing when you know without a shadow of a doubt that you could do the wrong thing and get away with it not to serve God to be seen by people I serve God so he can be seen is anybody believe that this morning is that your heart's desire to point people to him I don't work only while being watched number four the fourth characteristic of being a slave to the master is this you are to move at the desire of another you are to move at the desire of another i don't see as christians we're not supposed to move at the desire of our flesh we're supposed to move at the desire of the spirit of god that lives in us so i don't move at my desires i move at his desires the book of galatians chapter 5 says this it says and those who are christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires i don't move see see it's a daily process to crucify my flesh but i am not supposed to move uh when i have this desire in my flesh to do the wrong thing i'm supposed to crucify that and walk in the spirit so that i don't fulfill the lust of the flesh you are to move at the desire of another number five i'm going to give you these next two and then we'll pray but number five the fifth characteristic of being a slave to the master is this the house you work in doesn't belong to you you belong to the house you work in the house you work in see this is the house of god the house you work in doesn't belong to you you belong to the house you work in has anybody ever said this my house my rules anybody ever heard that my house my rules when i walk into somebody else's house i operate in accordance with their rules don't come into my house with your dirty shoes and walk on my clean carpet leave your shoes at the door because it's my house my rules my house my rules when i walk into your house i'm going to operate in alignment with the rules that you've set in place for your house so when i walk into the house of god i'm not walking in casually i'm not walking in comfortably i'm walking in with an expectation that the king of glory is going to fill the house and change my life in a way that cannot be explained but only experience but it will only happen if i walk in in alignment with the rules that the king of glory that the master of this house has set in place but if i walk in and i live according to my own rules and my own standards i want you to understand that i'm out of order god says let everything be done decently

[18:13] and what in order the house you work in doesn't belong to you and if you want the master the ruler of the house to welcome you into his house you might want to operate in alignment with his ways with his rules if you want the master of the house to take care of you operate in alignment with what he has set in place in his word if you want the master of the house to invite you into his presence again you might want to operate in alignment when you are in his house see only children can get by without obeying the rules that the master has set in place only children can get by with that but once you grow up i said once you grow up there are some rules that you've got to abide by i can give you grace if you just got saved that you're not operating in the full alignment of god's word but if you've been saved 20 years and you live the same way that you lived when you got saved if you come on if you've been walking with god for 20 years of your life and you still cuss and you're still bitter and you still backbite and you still walk in unforgiveness then i don't have so much patience and grace for you because if you really have the holy spirit living on the inside of you every once in a while you ought to get convicted every once in a while he ought to correct to correct you it is god's discipline that reminds us that we are actually children of god it is his discipline that reminds me that i'm loved by him the house you work in doesn't belong to you first corinthians 13 verse 11 says when i was a child i spoke as a child i understood as a child i thought as a child but when i became a man i put away childish things i want to read a couple more scriptures that then give you the last point the praise team can go ahead and make their way back but galatians chapter 4 i've read this a few times to you but galatians chapter 4 verses 1 and 2 i want to reiterate this one more time now i say that the heir as long as he is a child he's got a great inheritance an inheritance that is so great your your natural mind can't even comprehend it but your maturity level can keep you from it i say that the heir as long as he is a child does not differ at all from a slave though he is master of all but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father let me read this verse psalm 27 verse 4 psalm 27 verse 4 it says this we're talking about how the house that you work in doesn't belong to you one thing i have desired of the lord and that will i seek that i may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the lord and to inquire in his temple i don't understand why we would rather stay at home and watch online i i believe it has a purpose if you're not physically

[22:13] able if you're out of town if you can't get here i get it but but even if the bible didn't command us to gather and it does but even if it didn't then why wouldn't we what what is it hurting i desire to dwell in the house of god all the days of my life i used to to not want to but now i can't wait to get to the house of god i used to dread going but now it's the highlight of my week i can't wait to be in the presence of god with the people of god and experience the power of god but so many are missing out because they don't want to get to the house of the lord they don't have the the heart posture of this verse that says one thing not not this over here not not this over there but this one thing if i if i've got one desire it's this i did this one thing i've desired of the lord and that will i seek that i may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the lord and to inquire in his temple every head bowed every eye closed i'm going to give you this point number six with nobody looking around the most freeing thing that you will ever experience is when you become a slave to the master you can be a slave to sin and that will keep you bound all the days of your life but the moment that you surrender your life to jesus christ the moment that you become a slave to the master you will experience more freedom than you can even comprehend with your natural mind the bible says that where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty but you have to invite the holy spirit in the most freeing thing that you will ever experience is when you become a slave to the master with nobody looking around if you're in here and you've never given your life to jesus you've heard this message today you've been in the presence of god today and the lord has dealt with your heart and told you that you're far from him and if you're in here and you want to be close maybe you've never even met jesus personally you've sat in church and you've even heard the good news of the gospel preached but you've never surrendered to it i want to give you an opportunity right now in this moment to do just that the bible says that all you have to do to be saved is to confess with your mouth that jesus is lord and to believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead if you'll do those two things the bible says you shall be saved father in jesus name i thank you for every person in here who doesn't know you i thank you god that there's not a better place that they could be than here in this place in the presence of god dwelling with the people of god and and god i thank you that it is the goodness of god that leads us to repentance repentance is not a dirty word it is the goodness of an almighty god to invite us into his house to invite us into his family to invite us into his presence and if you're in here and you don't know jesus i want you to repeat this prayer after me say dear jesus i invite you into my heart i make you my lord and i make you my savior thank you my savior forgive me of my sins wash me clean wash me clean i repent and i turn from my wicked ways holy spirit holy spirit

[26:24] come into my heart help me to follow you for the rest of my life and the best of my life in jesus name and everyone said amen come on will you stand to your feet you