Well, we want to welcome you to the Four Points broadcast with Dr. Cindy Trim. Are you excited to be in the house tonight? We are so glad you've tuned in.
Whether you're on cindytrimministries.org and you've hit that watch live button, or maybe you're on Facebook live right now, we want to welcome you to the most transformational night of your life. Yes. I'm telling you, Dr. Trim, she's on part two of a new series that we're in. entitled The Eight Stages of Spiritual Maturation.
And we want you to stay on this video, but immediately after, if you miss the first part, you can go right back on demand at cindytrimministries.org and catch up. And guess what? We want you to gather some friends together. Don't do life alone. Life is about being in community and getting to know one another and supporting one another in fulfilling of purpose and reaching our goals.
And so every time you turn on this broadcast, we don't want you to be alone watching it. And hey, it doesn't mean a person has to be sitting in the room with you watching it, but why don't you get somebody on the phone right now and say, hey, I want you to tune on to the live stream with me. Let's watch it together.
And afterwards, maybe we can talk about it and talk about what God's doing in our life and grow together a little bit. We want you to start building a community around what you're experiencing every time you turn on the Four Points broadcast. It's going to be an incredible evening.
I want to start with prayer. Father, we thank you. for your presence and your anointing that is already here right now, God. We thank you for the transformation that is going to be transmitted through the internet airways, God, all over the world, Father, that you are healing marriages, that you are touching homes, Father. We decree and declare the heavens are opened up over our lives and you are pouring out creativity, dreams, and visions, God.
Mature us in the faith, Lord. Teach us, God. how to walk in your ways. Lead us among the paths of righteousness for your namesake, God. We give you this evening.
We thank you for connecting us to such a powerful ministry. We love you. In Jesus'name, and everybody said, amen.
Now I want you to welcome with me here in the room and at home, Dr. Cindy Trim. We are so very excited to be here tonight, and we're entering our second part. on spiritual maturation as we lay the foundation for a really dynamic and life-changing message. We want to go directly to our text from out of the book of Luke chapter 2, verse 40 to 41. Luke chapter 2, verse 40 to 41. The scripture says, and the child grew.
That's that Greek word, axano, it grew. It's like an acceleration or an accelerator. The child grew, something that is, um, exhilarated, and that's the word that I'm looking for.
The child grew and wept strong in spirit and, and was filled with wisdom and grace. I think I'm going to start right back over from Luke chapter 2, verse 40 to 41, and give you an opportunity to find that in your text. Amen.
And the child grew, exono, and wept strong in spirit and... filled it was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover there's a scripture that says grow in grace but growing grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and so the Bible said that the grace of God was upon him and so we are in a dispensation of grace and so we are not We're not just surrounded by grace, and the grace is not only on us, we're actually living in the dispensation of grace. Dispensation.
And that word speaks for itself. Something is being dispensed. So this is a dispensation or an age within time where God is going to be dispensing something. He's not only dispensing grace, he's dispensing our inheritance. And the Bible said that Jesus had grown and he grew.
And this is what we are talking about for the next few weeks. We want you to grow, grow in every area of your life. One of the most powerful words in the English language is that word grow.
It is often spoken of as a living thing that undergoes the natural development or a transformation, which is natural. by increasing in size and changing physically. And so that it progresses towards the ultimate point of maturity.
And so it's growing in size as well as physically so that it reaches maturity. And, you know, you cannot reach maturity and stay the same. It means that something has to be changing in your life.
And the proof that you are growing and maturing is that something is going to change. And so every single day, something about you should be changing. Not changing for the worst, but changing for the best.
And you should be maturing in all different areas of your life. You should be growing and changing and maturing spiritually and emotionally and physiologically. And you should be maturing economically and socially. All areas of your life should be reaching a point of maturation. That word grow is so...
powerful. It's not just about you developing and increasing in size as well as changing physically so that you reach a point of maturity. And that word has to do with another word which means to germinate and develop.
And so you know if God has placed a seed of revelation or information or instruction that has been planted in your spirit and planted in your mind and planted in your heart you That particular seed has to grow. It has to be germinated, and then it has to develop, right? And unless it's reaching a point of maturity, you are not growing.
There's another definition or another understanding of that particular word. When you use that word grow, it has the connotation of something that is being produced because it's cultivated. And so, you know...
it's like a crop. As long as you have seeds in your pocket, then it's not going to be cultivated. So if you have ideas that God has given you and he dropped these ideas in your mind, you have to cultivate it.
You want your vision to grow and your ministry to grow. You want your finances to grow and God is going to give you everything in seed form and it has to be cultivated and cultivation takes time and it takes energy and the question is how much time and how much energy are you putting in the cultivation of those ideas that God has given you they're they're gonna stay in seed form unless you put the time and energy and roll up your sleeves and begin to cultivate it that word All also has another kind of definition, and that is to allow or cause, like the part of your body, to cause it to develop. You know, when we talk about people growing their hair, it's a part of their body that has been allowed to grow. You can keep cutting it off, shaving it off, but if you want long hair, You have to allow it to grow. And this is what happened to Samson when they cut his hair off.
There was a season that God allowed it to grow so that he can regain his strength. And so there were things that have been... Satanically or demonically clipped away and they shouldn't have been taken from us and they shouldn't have been clipped away.
But God is going to allow those areas to grow again. Just give God some time. Allow or cause.
You got to allow God to do his work. You do your work, but allow God to do his part as well. And, you know, if you are allowing things or circumstances or people to place a lid on your development, you cannot grow.
There are some people that will not allow you to grow. They want you to be the same person that they met 10 years ago or 15 years ago. And then they're going to manipulate you. You changed. You're not the person.
Well, of course. I'm changed because I'm growing. Are you with me?
I may have been immature and ignorant last year, but I've grown this year. And I'm not going to allow you to do what you did to me last year. Last year I was immature, but I'm all grown up now. The word grow is powerful.
It's spoken of something that is... abstract that comes into existence and develop. It's almost like, you know, God giving you this idea that never existed before. And then all of a sudden it grows and expands, you know, and then, you know, it develops. It wasn't in existence, but all of a sudden it's developing.
And that's what happens with people's ministries sometimes. You know, you get, you have an idea and then all of a sudden, boom. You establish the name, and then you find a place for you to have the ministry, and then you're able to grow. As long as it remains on a piece of paper, oh, God wants me to have a ministry, and you don't do anything about it, then it will not come into existence. It will remain in an abstract fashion.
So that word grow means to take something that is just abstract and just bring it into manifestation. Have you ever had an idea and people thought you were crazy? It was so abstract that it was crazy.
And then you said to them, it's best that I show you. And all of a sudden they get it. And there were some times in our lives that God will speak a word that is so diametrically opposed to what people have expected to come out of your family or out of your life. Where you have this encounter with God. And all of a sudden your life does it 180 degrees you're going in the opposite direction and people look and say I never and I would have never thought that their life could have turned out like that.
You know you messed up at 18 and 19 and 20 and you got involved in things that you shouldn't have got involved in and then God's grace came upon you and he raised you up and you look at your life and you say I can't believe I'm preaching you know. I can't believe I'm singing. And then here's the catch.
I can't even believe I'm a Christian. And then people look at you and say, I can't believe you're a Christian either. You know. And so this is that word grow.
It was an abstract thought. People always thought you were going to be that way. But the grace of God came upon you.
And then God. God calls you to grow in that area. The word grow has so many different connotations. It has the word of becoming large and great over a period of time. It has the connotation of increase.
And so when you talk about having $5, but you grew it into a million dollars, that is that word grow. Can I just prophesy over your finances? I decree and declare.
That no matter how much you have in your bank account, I decree growth. I decree that it's going to grow to a million dollars. I decree your portfolios are going to grow. Your investments are going to grow.
Your mutual funds are going to grow. Your stocks are going to grow. I decree and declare your investments are growing.
Your savings account is growing. Your checking account is growing. I decree growth.
Over a period of time, it's going to increase. One of the things that God said in Genesis 1, 22, and it's really exciting. And God blessed them saying, be fruitful, multiply, fill the waters of the sea, and let the... defiles multiply in the earth.
That word grow has the connotation of multiplying. Deuteronomy 8 and 1 says this, all the commandments which I commend thee this day shall you observe to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swear. That word multiply is exciting. It's the word grow, but it's growing exponentially.
So you can increase. You could increase like this, 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1. You're increasing, plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1. That's additional growth, but God wants to multiply you. That means that He's shortening the time. Are you with me? So if I wanted to get to 100, I could do plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, and I'm just in tan.
Plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one. You're still growing. Plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one.
The snail is even going faster. Plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one. Or you can multiply ten times ten.
Look how quick it is. I decree and declare exponential growth. Deuteronomy 1 and 11 says the Lord God of your fathers make you watch this a thousand times more.
As you are, it means that you can either do one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one a thousand times more. You could do that a thousand times and a thousand times and a thousand times and it will take you all your life. Or you can get involved in the process of maturity.
And God just says a thousand times a thousand. He's going to multiply you. thousand times more even as you are.
I decree that you're moving out of an addition stage and you're going into a stage of multiplication. That's where you go from either gradual increase or exponential increase. Either way you grow. I decree and declare a season of quantum leaping and you're going to quantum leap in every area of your life. Malachi prophesied growth and this is what Malachi chapter 4 verse 2 to 3 if you can turn there with me please.
Malachi chapter 4 verse 2 to 3. The Bible says, but unto you that fear my name. How many of you fear the name of the Lord? Unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness rise with healing in his wings and you shall go forth and grow up as calves of a stall. I love that so much.
You shall go forth. If you love God and he says, not only are you going to see the son of God rising or the son of righteousness rising with healing in his wings. He said, in addition to that, you shall go forth. The word shall, it's an irrefutable promise. Even if the devil tries to stop you, God will run him over.
And there is going to be nothing that's going to stop your growth in this season. Jacob prayed an interesting prayer over Joseph's two sons. He prayed that they would grow into a multitude as he lay hands on them.
The Bible said, verse number 16, The angel which redeemed me from all evil. I decree and declare in this season, you are going to be redeemed from all evil. And you are not going to do it in your own strength.
God is going to send angelic assistance. Amen. The angel which redeemed me from all evil. Bless the lads and let my name be named on them, the name of my father Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
Let my name and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, let my name, that's that word, Shem. It not only means name as in last name, it means reputation. It means brand. It means influence. I decree and declare because of your maturation, God is going to give you a name that is associated with wealth and luxury and extravagance.
I decree and declare that you are going to be as influential as Abraham. You are going to be as influential as Isaac. I decree that God will not only give you influence, he's going to give you affluence. I decree that God will cause you to grow into a multitude. big and you're going to spread wide.
I decree that not only over your life and ministry, but over your business. That means that you start out with a mom and pop setup, but you grow into a Wall Street friendly, globally scalable business. I decree you're not scaling down, but you're scaling up.
I decree that you have a global ministry. I decree that you have a globally recognized business. Gone is going to cause you to grow.
Growth is spoken of in the case of Samuel the prophet. 1 Samuel 2, verse 26. The Bible said that the child Samuel grew on and was in favor both with the Lord and also with man. I decree your maturity is also going to bring favor.
I decree you're going to be favored wherever you grow. As you grow in the things of the Lord, as you mature spiritually, I decree your grace is going to be matured. Your anointing is going to be matured.
Your favor is going to be matured. I decree and declare you will grow in favor not only with the Lord. It's one thing to be favored by the Lord and hated by man.
But I decree and declare you will not only be favored by the Lord, you're going to be favored by man. And I say this all the time. You're going to be the favorite sister.
favorite auntie. You're going to be the favorite uncle. You're going to be the favorite employer.
Your business is going to be the favorite in the industry. You're going to have favor with man. That word grow is spoken of to the body of Christ.
Ephesians says this, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 15 to 16, it says, But speak the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and combacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body. unto the edifying of itself in love. So this is telling us that we can grow up in all things in Christ. It's spoken of concerning new believers. One of the things that Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 2, he says, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.
When we talk about growth, we are referring to a lot of different concepts. Growth. Grow is a verb. It's an action word. You know, the boys had grown.
In other words, they got bigger, they got taller, they got larger, they got stronger. They increased in size. The antonym of that is shrinking.
I decree and declare, you will not suffer from shrinkage. I decree, you're growing larger, you're increasing in number and size. It also talks about when we talk about...
Your sales and the sales and profits continue to grow. It means to increase or swell or multiply or snowball or to be built up. It means to be skyrocketed. I'm decreeing everything about you is skyrocketing. Amen.
Nothing about you is going to be earthbound. And then it has the concept of flowers that are growing. And one of the things, growth cannot be stopped, right?
And so the... flowers grew amongst the rock. The grass grew amongst the rock.
In other words, it doesn't matter how hard things are now, you're still going to grow. Even if you have hit rock bottom, you are still going to grow. Are you getting the image? Are you getting a picture of it? Amen?
And grow, when we talk about vegetables and farmers cultivating vegetables, it means to propagate, right? It means to... to nurture. I decree and declare that this is going to be a nurturing season for you. I'm going to say it again.
We nurture everybody else who's around to nurture us. I decree and declare you are going to be nurtured. People are going to come around you and they're going to be able to speak.
to what you're carrying, and then they're going to have the anointing to help you to nurture it, help you to cultivate it in the name of Jesus. And then, you know, that word has to do with expending and extending and developing and progressing and flourishing and thriving. I decree in this season, your family business is going to grow.
I decree your ministry is going to grow. influence is going to grow. In other words, it's going to thrive.
It's going to prosper. It's going to be gone. I decree and declare everything around you is growing.
Your children are growing. Your sons are going to grow up. Amen.
Your, your, your, everybody around you is going to grow. And then it finally has this connotation, which is so amazing. It has to do with something that emerges.
We live in a time of emerging economies where societies are evolving and people have not seen the best of you. I decree and declare that when they turn, they're going to look at someone that has evolved, someone that has matured, someone that has grown. We are multifaceted.
We have 57 to 58 different facets of our being. We're not just spiritual beings and physical beings. beings, we're emotional and biochemical beings, we're innovative beings, we're intellectual beings, we're social beings.
We have 48 different facets and I decree and declare that they're going to see the full evolution of all 57, 58 facets. You're going to be shining brighter than the most brilliant diamond. A brilliant diamond has 57 facets. But for my study, man has 58 facets.
You are going to shine brighter than a brilliant diamond. And people are going to see all of a sudden. They're going to say, I didn't know you were so gifted or talented.
You're going to be able to say, I didn't know either until I started hanging out with my governor and tutor. Amen. I was tutored this way. I was mentored this way. I became a disciple and my tutor, my mentor.
pulled it out of me. I decree and declare people around you are going to see how brilliant you are and they're going to pull it out of you in Jesus name. And so as human beings, when we talk about that word grow, please write this down.
We live in realms. You know, we talk about realms. These are literal spiritual territories of influence. Let me explain to you what a realm looks like. You can have a realm of poverty.
And you can have a realm of wealth. Just because a person doesn't have money doesn't mean that they're wealthy. And just because a person doesn't have money doesn't mean that they're in poverty.
And just because a person has money doesn't mean that they live in the realm of wealth. And let me say it again. Just because a person does not have money doesn't mean that they're living in poverty.
It's the realm that you live in. Are you with me? One of my friends owns half the world, and I say that with some exaggeration. They own restaurants and hotels and import-exports and grocery stores. They own so much.
But whenever we hang out together, he never has any money. I mean, never. He's always like, can I borrow some money?
Now, he is filthy rich. When he walks in, you can smell it. But he never has any money.
Why? He said, I don't need money. I'm wealthy.
I said, you need money to pay for this bill. If you're eating with me, you need money. But just because a person doesn't have money, doesn't mean that they're not wealthy. And just because a person has money, doesn't mean that they live in wealth.
There are people that have money that live in poverty. They have just enough to keep a roof over their head and nothing much more. They have to pray that God will send them gas and pray that God will give them some more money to keep the lights on. Are you following me? But my friend doesn't have to go to the bank.
You have to go to the bank, fill out an application, and they still say no to the application to lend you money. Are you with me? But he just picks up the telephone and says, send me money.
Doesn't sign any paper. Oh, I need this because I'm going to buy so-and-so. He never goes in and they say the money is going to be in your bank account.
Why? Because he lives in the realm of wealth. When we talk about people that have influence, they don't just have influence.
They live in the realm of influence. When we talk about people that are being wealthy, they not only have a lot of money or access to a lot of capital. Let's use that word.
They not only have access to a lot of capital. They live in that realm. And so you have to live in a realm.
People that live in the realm of wealth could lose all their money today, and at the end of the year, they'll have more money that they started out with. Why? Because things are attracted to you based on the realm that you live in. We live in realms. And as you mature, you'll be able to say, well, I live in this realm.
I live in that realm. When you live in a realm. The anointing around you attracts the resources commensurate to that realm.
So that means that if you're going to give, give and it shall be given you. In other words, the Bible says that your gift is going to make room for you in the presence of great men. So that means the room that it makes, it doesn't make it so that you can benefit from their temporal possessions.
It means that it's going to make room so that you. benefit from the anointing that keeps them in that realm. In other words, if I was in a lower realm and I gave, that means that, can I get just five good looking people up here?
Amen. Five good looking. Just come up here for a minute.
Amen. All right. So can you stand in this realm? Just stand in this realm, right? Shoulder to shoulder, shoulder to shoulder.
Now watch, watch what I do. So if I give to this realm, it doesn't look like there's any room for me, right? But as soon as I give, it means that in order for me to give into the realm, I have to go up into that realm to give. And as soon as I go up into the realm to give, guess what?
A space is made for me in that realm. Are you getting this? So a lot of us are doing what?
Get back down there. A lot of us have been elevated into a place. Face this way.
A lot of us have been elevated into a place. And close it out. Okay, yeah. A lot of us have been elevated into a place, but we keep giving in the wrong direction.
Oh, wow. That's good. So we give our time, we give our energy. You know, the same people have been begging.
For the last 15 years, they still bag. Are you with me? Your Uncle Bubba, all of that. If you know that your Uncle Bubba is still in that same round, you hit me up with another dollar. So, so the scripture says what?
Give and it shall be what? Given you. Now, why would you want to remain on the side of the recipient and the beneficiary when God can elevate you?
to be the benefactor. In other words, instead of you waiting in this realm for someone to give to you, God can elevate you to this realm so that these people are waiting for you rather than you being the one that's waiting. Are you getting this? So every time, you know, with the exception of a person being a, um, A widower and an orphan are people that are sincerely living in abject poverty that need benefactors. They need it, right?
Except that being the case, there are some people who are lazy, who are not growing, and they have learned the art of begging. So when they say, would you pray for me that the Lord will give me a financial breakthrough? They're praying, they're praying. that God will speak to you about what you got in your pocket to give to them.
Are you with me? So they're letting you know just in case, just in case you can reach into your pocket and give to them. Are you following me on what I'm saying?
Right? Now, if I keep giving to those people that are in that realm, I'm not talking about legitimate orphans. I'm not talking about legitimate widows. I'm not talking about legitimate. indigent people and people that are legitimately in poverty.
I'm talking about people who have elected to be there because they refuse to mature and grow. Are you with me? And you have people around you just like that.
Find the five people closest to you and just examine where they are. And if they stay around you, you are going to be the sixth. So if I keep giving here in this direction, if I keep giving in this direction, guess what I have to do to do it? I have to leave this elevated place to come down here and guess what? A space is going to be made for me.
So you've got to decide whether you want to stay here or whether you want to stay here and the choice is yours. Give them a hand clap. We live in realms. You are in a realm, you are in a realm, and you've got to decide whether it's the realm that God has assigned for you to live in, or whether or not you have not participated in the maturation process.
You're stuck. Something is going wrong. Something is going wrong.
You are stuck there. The story of Abraham is important. God said to Abraham, Abraham, I'm changing your status.
I'm going to make you great, going to make your name great, your seeds are going to be great. And then this is what I want you to do. I want you to leave the realm that you're living in and go to the realm that I'm going to show you. So he's making the journey. He's increasing.
The man is waxing rich. The Bible says waxing rich. That means to progressively grow.
So he's progressively growing. progressively being blessed, progressively being elevated. Everything is happening to his life.
And he takes Lot along with him. And so now Lot is benefiting from the realm he's living in and the grace that is on his life. But he's not contributing to it. Do you not know what the translation of Lot is? Lot.
Lot means to cover. In other words, Lot's job or Lot's assignment in Abraham's life was to place a lid on how far he grew. Have people around you living under an open heaven or living with a lid on their life? Because if they're living with limits, and if they're living with lids, and if they're living with restrictions, and you hang in that area, that means that they are placing restrictions and limits on your life. It could be their mindset.
It could be their expectations. There are some people that don't expect anything from you. They don't expect you to grow.
You can see it. It could be a supervisor. It could be your boss.
They never speak to potential. They want you to stay in that position. They don't want you to know how smart you are, how intelligent you are.
They want to pimp your gifts. They want to use your gifts. But they see you're making it happen for everyone else.
Why can't you make it happen for yourself? Are you with me? It's because it's a lid. God took Abraham and said, look, I'm not talking to you. You get rid of the lid.
I want to give you an open heaven. And the scripture said, God said to Abraham, after Lot left him. It's time for you to go home and say goodbye to your lots. Are you with me?
People that limit you, you can feel it on the inside. You have grown, you have prospered, but they want to treat you as if you haven't. Sometimes it's the culture that you're in.
Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Weren't you born in Nazareth? And you got all these ideas, you're going to be the Messiah, you're going to be this.
Oh God, anointing you. No, thank you. Many of us have grown and God is promoting us in another dimension and we get there. Let me tell you something. Whenever God promotes you, you have to establish your legal right to be there.
If he puts you in a new round, you've got to establish Your legal right to be there. Lift up your head. Owe your gates. Be lifted up.
You have a lasting door. And the king of glory shall come in. Those gates and those doors are not there to keep you out. They're there to figure out how bad you want to be there.
Are you with me? And so most people see the door. The door is closed. And they walk away.
They see the wall. And they walk away. It's time to shout the walls down. They're there. there to separate those that are just taking a stroll from those that are serious about possessing their promise we live in realms these are realms of influence realms of wealth you live there number two we understand in dimensions so we talk about dimensions and so Paul said Ephesians 3 18 to 21 that you may be able to comprehend with all things what it though is the breadth, the length, the depth, and the height.
What is it talking about? Dimensions. We live in realms, we understand a dimension. So let's just take faith for instance. So if you want to understand faith, faith has many different dimensions.
You've got the fruit of faith, the law of faith, the gift of faith. Saving faith. Do you see what I'm talking about? You've got the realm of faith. Hebrews 11 talks about people that lived in the realm of faith.
They didn't just have gift of faith and the fruit of faith and operate by the law. They actually lived in a realm. So they were able to do what people couldn't do. Before Daniel shows up, there's a lot of people that were eaten by the lions.
But his faith prohibited the lions from eating him. In other words, he defiled them. Defied the odds because he understood not only that he was living in the realm of faith, but there were dimensions of faith.
So what you want to do, you want to take a concept, and you want to turn it until you understand all facets of it. And this is why we're excavating that word grow. We're excavating the word son.
Why? Because we say son. I'm a son.
I'm one of the sons. But yet we don't even understand what it means. And so Paul said, look, that you may understand the full dimensions of the love of Christ.
So we know the love of Christ is multidimensional. It's not just the love that he has for us. It's the love that demonstrated that he not only loved us, but he would give his life for us.
That's a different kind of love. Now, I love you, but I ain't giving my life. I love you, but I'm not taking a bullet.
I want to live. Jesus shows us a different dimension of love. Where it's self-sacrificing.
Where he said, I'll take the bullet for you. I'll be the full guy. Now, how many of you have best friends?
How many of you would take a bullet for your best friend? I want to live. Honey, I do it in my imagination, but I'm gone.
I'm running. I'm out of here. That bullet don't have my name on it. It has your name. Are you following what I'm saying?
So this is dimensions. You're living around, you're understanding the dimension, but watch this. You grow in stages.
You're living around, you're understanding dimensions, but you grow in stages. How do we grow? We develop intellectually or we grow intellectually through information, education, and experience. But we grow and mature spiritually.
by revelation and truth. So you can mature intellectually just from information, but you need more than information to grow. You need revelation and truth.
Thou shalt know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Let me give you just one more biblical example, and then I'm going to give you the eight stages of maturation. And then over the course of the next few...
discussions and lectures and sermons. What we're going to do is go through each one of those stages so that you can understand. Why am I doing this? I want you to be able to locate where you are.
Again, we talked about all of those areas spiritually, emotionally, mentally. So it's possible for you to be mature spiritually but financially still be in the womb. You haven't even been birthed out, you're still being developed to be birthed out.
It's possible for you to be financially independent, but an emotional wreck. Not able to interact with people, not able to deal with relationships. So we want to see God really maturing us in all areas.
When Jesus said, look, the evil one cometh, but he has no place in me. In other words, all of the areas of my life. are fully matured and the enemy can't use anything to penetrate.
When you're mature in one area, immature in another, adolescent in another, incubated in another, do you realize that the enemy has these stepping stones that he could step right into your life? So we want to make sure that it's all one level. Growth is a process that brings us to a place of maturity. so that we can access our inheritance. Write that down.
Growth is the process that brings us to a place of maturity so that we can access our inheritance. So we look at the story of the prodigal son when it comes to maturation and it depicts the process of maturity. So when we read the prodigal son, it's depicting for us what maturity looks like and the transition that has to happen.
Luke chapter 15 verses 11 to 24, if you will go there with me please. The Bible says, and he said, a certain man had two sons. Now remember, Jesus is a master communicator.
And he communicates these complex kingdom concepts. And he uses the parable so that we have an understanding, a complete picture and understanding of a specific concept. And why that is important is because if your context is wrong, then the understanding of the concept and the application of the truth thereof is going to be wrong. So we want to make sure that our context is right, and then the concept is right, and then the conclusion is right. So this parable that he's speaking about, two sons, is not a parable of two boys.
He's using the two boys parabolically as a metaphor of... Two different dispensations, write it down. The oldest son represents the dispensation of law, and the youngest son represents the dispensation of grace. And so he now extrapolates... The younger son to depict the process of maturation that each believer is going to go through.
So we all have prodigal in us. And I want to say a prodigal son is not a rebellious son. So I just want to lift the burden off when people say prodigal son.
We're definitely not talking about people being rebellious. We're talking about people being immature and ignorant. And so just because you're immature and ignorant doesn't mean that you're demon possessed.
It just means that you need more information and you need a tutor and a governor so that you can build capacity. You see, a lot of times we call adults rebellious. When in fact you're not rebellious, you're an adult.
You're a big man, you're a big woman. You pay bills. You're not rebellious.
You just need more information. If we give you more information... and we give you the context of the concept, and then we break it down, you'll apply it. You'll make the application.
What I don't wanna do is insult your intelligence. I want to build the capacity there, but I don't want to insult it. A lot of times we call people rebellious when we want to control them. We don't want to control you because you'll remain immature.
We want you to be mature enough so that you can chew on milk. so that you can apply it and go on and teach others. Are you with me? You've been saved long enough. The younger son of them, verse number 12, the younger son of them said to his father, father give me the portion of goods that fall unto me.
And he divided unto him his living, underline that word living or highlight that word living. And not many days after the young son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance. with riotous living. Underline wasted his substance. And when he had spent all, there was a famine in the land and he began to be in want.
And he went and joined himself to a citizen of the country. You gotta be careful who you're joined to. Because whoever you're joined to determines your destiny.
And he sent him, listen to this, he gave his personal power away until this citizen sent him into his fields to feed swine. Now you know Jews don't do pigs. Turn to your neighbor and say, I don't do pigs. When you give your personal power away, you will always compromise your convictions and your core values.
Because now you're giving your personal power away to people who determine your destiny. And they will always, always send you to a place that you should not be. You shouldn't be living in that realm. I don't do pigs.
He didn't even have enough sense to say, I'm Jew, I don't do pigs. I don't touch swine. Are you with me? And so he goes there because he loses control of his personal life. Where is his will?
He no longer has a will to do anything. He no longer is connected to his core values, his convictions. And the Bible said, verse number 16, the pig food started looking good. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat.
And no man gave unto him. In other words, he was waiting for someone to change his life and make his life better. Listen, you could wait all your life. You'll die in the pig pen waiting for someone to pull you out. Nobody's coming for you.
Are you with me? If something is going to happen, you've got the grace of God on your life. Grace is like someone freeing you. Whenever you've been freed or liberated, that liberty has to be exercised.
If it's not exercised, you're going to remain a slave. Are you with me? The grace of God has to be exercised.
You've got to do something with it. It's like being anointed and you do nothing with the anointing. You've got to do something with it.
Grace is just sitting on him, and he's doing nothing with it. Grace is attached to something. Grace is attached to an assignment.
It's attached to purpose. It's attached to vision. Grace is attached to something. You don't just have grace for nothing. You have grace for something.
What is that something? Is it grace to get up? Is it grace to be healed? Is it grace to be delivered? Is it grace to start your business?
You are graced for something! The Bible said, verse number 17, when he came to himself, where was he before he came to himself? He said, how many hired servants of my father's house have bread enough to eat and to spear, and I perish of hunger.
I will arise. I will arise. Nobody's going to pick you up. That is your will.
Let me tell you something. People cannot break your will. You have to choose to give it up. When you have nothing, to live for you will die for anything.
I will arise. That's the power of intention. When you intend to do something someone once said heaven and earth conspires to get the resources to you to make that thing happen. Do you intend to grow?
Do you intend to mature? When the student is ready the teacher appears. Shout, I'm ready.
I will arise and go to my father's house. Where are you going? He had a destination.
Destiny and destination is two different things. Just because you're going to a physical zip code doesn't mean that you're going to find your destiny there. You see, he ended up in the peak band, destination.
But was he destined to be there? No. But was that his destiny? Yes. Why?
Because destiny is attached to a decision. So if one decision gets you into a pig pen, you're one decision away from being in the palace. You have to decide, you have to decide where you want to be. He said, I want to be in my father's house. I don't want to hang out here.
I don't want to be in the world. I don't want to be in this system. I want to be in my father's house.
He said, when I go to my father's house, I'm going to say, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you. Whenever you act, whenever you act, whenever you make a decision, you're affecting two realms, the realm of heaven and the realm of earth. The spirit realm is affected as well as the natural. You may see the consequences of what you're doing in the natural. But you may never understand the consequences of what you've done in the spiritual.
Are you understanding? When Saul was given an instruction, Saul, wait until I come. This is Samuel. Wait until I come.
And then you offer the sacrifices. So Saul said, well, Samuel's taking too long. So he went ahead and he offered the sacrifices. So when Samuel gets there, he says, Saul, what have you done? He said, well, the people pressured me, and I felt as if I had to please the people.
People pleasing. When you're matured, you will stop pleasing people, and you'll start pleasing God. Even if people are upset with you, I'd rather have you upset with me than God upset with me.
You're affecting two realms, and you want to make sure that heaven is on your side. I've sinned against heaven and before thee. In other words, when you sin against heaven, it simply means that you fail to maximize your potential as heaven's representative. To sin, harmatia, that word is the Olympic word, is a word for when the Olympic sports of archery, they had the bullseye and they would shoot the arrow. And when they miss that center part, the judge would say, harmatia, in other words, you missed it.
You didn't hit the mark. I decree and declare, this is the last season you're going to miss it. You're going to, this is the last season.
You're always going to hit bullseye with God. You're not going to miss it any longer. I messed up. I missed it. I didn't get it.
I didn't have the capacity to understand what you were doing, God. I missed it. How many opportunities have you missed?
This is the last day you're going to miss any more opportunities that heaven gives you. Verse number 19, he said, I'm no more worthy to be called a son. Make me one of the hired servants. In other words, I ran off on my own. I didn't even recognize that you were preparing me for my inheritance.
He said, I'm no longer able to be a son. He said, let me start all over to be a servant. In other words, I recognize that I need what? A governor. and a tutor.
I'm not mature enough. Now let's see if we can excavate that just a little bit more. Romans 8 19 to 23 says something. For the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the what? Sons of God.
That word we us. The mature ones. Not just born again believers but those that have been matured.
For the creature was made subject to vanity. Um not willing by reason of him who had subjected the same of hope because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children this is technon of god for we know the whole earth groaneth and travaileth in prayer together until now and not only they but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the you adoption to the wit and the redemption of our body. In other words, that's all about maturation.
The whole earth is groaning, not for another Christian. We have a lot of Christians. The Bible said you are the salt of the earth. Watch this. So the issue is not that the world didn't have salt.
The issue is the salt has lost its flavor. We've lost our character. What makes salt salt is its saltiness. So God has salt all over the earth, got Christians all over the earth, but we've lost our saltiness. We've lost our character.
One of the things that is going to give us that maturity back is that we recognize that we are sons of God, grow in grace, and then the power of his might. The prodigal son wasted his living. He wasted. God had given him substance.
God had given him gifts and money and resources and time and anointing and creative ability and innovative ability and business acumen and skill and talents. These are all the properties of the soul. But he wasted, he wasted his time and energy because of immaturity. The problem with the prodigal son is he had three problems. Number one, he was immature.
He was ignorant. And he suffered from entitlement. He goes to his father. He's not mature enough.
He said, give me my inheritance. And guess what the scripture said? The father gave him of his living, of his living. What does that mean?
And so it has the connotation of his father being independently wealthy, just a very wealthy man. And so the father would not just have a business. He would have a dynasty. So he'll have a huge.
kingdom stretching from one part of the world to another. And he'll have ownership of all of this wealth. So when his son goes there, he has a paradigm that is restricted because of immaturity. So he says, dad, give me my inheritance. So the scripture said his father gives him of his living.
What does that mean? The word living there, giving up a living means that his father then determines what it would cause to run his dynasty for one month. Not a year, not two years, not for the rest of his life. His father calculates what will it cause to run my dynasty for one month. And what his father did was to divide the one month budget.
Between the two sons and the youngest son thought that that was all of his inheritance. You're going to get this. You're going to get it.
Why have you put a lid on what God is giving you? When scripture said, I'm getting ready to blow your mind. I have not seen, you have not heard.
Look, I have seen a Lamborghini before. Are you with me? I have.
been in nine-star hotels. I've been in multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, multi, that have so many rooms that not enough people can live in there. I have seen that. God says I have some mentions that have never been built. I have some cars that have never been engineered.
Don't restrict God by what you have right now. God is about to blow your mind. Can you imagine?
Can you imagine how much money? It took to run his dynasty for a month and the son thought that that was his entire inheritance. When you pray, pray our in-mothers house, in my father's house, many mansions. That's his house.
Go to prepare one of those mentions for you. In my father's dynasty, there are many, many other monopolies. I don't know if you're getting this.
Say amen, amen. You're asking God for a million dollars. And God is like, a million? A million is like a dollar. Why limit God to a million?
He's going to multiply you a thousand times more even as you are. Do you not know you're already a multi-billionaire? You gotta understand, my body is made up of organs.
My organs are made up of cells, right? Do you not know that I have over, close to 3 trillion cells in my body? And if he's gonna multiply me a thousand times more, even as I am, that is a thousand times three trillion. I'm not just a billionaire and a trillionaire, I'm an immobilier. I made up the word.
Are you getting this? He's going to mature you. And you want to ask God for, God, my bill is $5,000.
God is like, what? That's like asking me for five pennies. Stop limiting God. I decree God is increasing your capacity.
Take the limits off! Don't restrict God anymore. He goes and he wastes his skill and his ability and his intelligence because of immaturity.
I decree you will not waste any more time. You will not waste any more gifts. You will not...
waste any more resources. You will not waste any more relationships. I decree that you were growing up. He wasted his substance.
His substance was that which God had given him by way of gifts and talents and energy. And you know, he not only wasted his substance, he wasted himself. So many people are wasting away.
He lost connection to his true self. We don't just waste time, we waste ourselves. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world? Lose his soul?
What would a man give in exchange for his soul? It is from the depth of your soul that everything comes from. The enemy understands that. The enemy doesn't want your body, he wants your soul.
If he could take your soul, the soul is the driving force that causes a person to dream. It gives a person the power to imagine a desired outcome, to determine a goal. It provides motivation and willpower and desire and drive and passion and zeal for you to accomplish something. The enemy wants to control that so you have no more zeal, so you have no more willpower. You just give up.
When things are going wrong, that's the enemy. I tried it and I tried it. I'm not going to try it anymore.
The devil is a liar. I'm coming through. I decree you're getting your willpower back. You're getting your mojo back. You're getting your vim and your vigor and your passion back.
You are going to live life on purpose with passion. You're going to take your life out of neutral. The soul gives you the mental faculty to make decisions, to judge, to discern, to use discretion. to use your volition, to be judicial, to have convictions and belief and faith. Your soul endows you with the ability to think and dream and imagine.
It gives you your intellect and understanding and creative power and sensibility. I feel anointed. And wisdom and intuition. Your soul empowers you to perform a task, an ability. It gives you aptitude and competence and capacity and facts.
Faculty and skill and the wherewithal. The soul sets you apart from every other creation. The soul gives you a sense of individuality where you distinguish yourself from other people.
You know where you end and someone else begins where you are no longer saying, you make me sick. You don't say that. You can't make me sick. I choose to be sick. And so because I know where I stop and you start, I choose not to be sick.
You're the one that's sick. Are you with me? Just because it's raining on everybody else's parade doesn't mean that it's raining on yours.
Just because everybody don't like you don't mean you don't like you. Are you with me? Just because people question you doesn't mean that you question yourself.
They question your sanity, but you know that you lost your mind because you have the mind of Christ. Are you with me? When, when, when, when the Bible said when he came to himself, where was he up until that point?
It means that he allowed the world to pimp him. He allowed the enemy to pimp him. And everybody else was using the gifts. They saw it, but he never saw it.
He came to himself. Have you ever felt like you weren't quite yourself? Have you ever done something that you said, this is not me? Have you ever heard of a friend, a son, a family doing something?
You say, that doesn't sound like him. Have you ever done something that afterwards you said, what was I thinking? Have you ever dated someone and after you break up, you say, I must have been out of my mind.
Then all of a sudden the light bulb goes off. That's when you come to yourself. And sometimes all of us need to.
pig pen experience. That's that place where the light bulb comes on, where you begin to connect with who you really are, where God then restores your psychological congruency, where you get your values and your morals back, where you get your drives back and it's in alignment with God's original plan and purpose, where you get your personal individuality back. Where there's no more groupthink. You are able to say, ask for me in my house.
I don't know what you all are doing, but I'm going to serve the Lord. I'm living righteously. I don't care what they do.
This is my conviction. Where he restores your rationality back. Where you're not driven by emotions or feelings. And where your life is not dictated by five physical senses. What you see, what you hear, what you do, what you taste.
But you can reason your way out. You can complicate. contemplate your way to a conclusion where God restores you the uniqueness of your identity where you you you have social healthiness you're no longer projecting you're no longer part of a unhealthy culture contaminated by the environment where you move into an arena and you bring your own atmosphere where he restores your physical and psychological wholeness and your spiritual connection and your intellectual genius, where he moves you from deception to dominion. He moves you from death to life.
He moves you from being alienated from the life of God to being one with God. He moves you from struggling to thriving, from facts to faith, from education to revelation, from consumerism to creativity, from self-consciousness to God consciousness, from bondage to empowerment, from competition to cooperation, from doubt to faith. to knowing when you hit that rock bottom the light bulb comes on and you come to yourself and you say i will arise i'm not waiting for someone to pick me up i'm picking myself up paul said lay aside the sin that does so easily beset you some things you pray aside others you lay aside Paul said, 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, when I grew up, when I matured, I decided this doesn't work for me anymore, so I'm going to give it up.
Get ready. This is a season where you are going to exchange your childhood script for an adult strategy. You're growing up.
You're growing up. He said, I will arise and I'm going to my father's house. In your father's house, he has a place for you. He has a space for you. He has a grace for you.
He has a race for you. And he has a pace for you. And it all starts when you understand that you are his son. The scripture says, to everything there's a season and a time for purpose under the heaven.
The scripture encourages us, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We're talking about spiritual maturation. And so let's end by giving you the eight stages, and then we'll pick up next week on one by one, and we'll excavate each one. There are eight stages of growth in spiritual maturation before you are able to access your spiritual inheritance and go on to legally reproduce it.
as a mother and a father in the gospel. Each stage has a particular level of authority, write that down. Each level has characteristic and each stage has a rite of passage. So if you're in stage number one, in order to go to the next stage you're gonna have a rite of passage and then in that particular stage of growth you're also gonna have a particular level of authority. So stage number one is gestur.
We know the word gestation. That's when a woman is pregnant and something is being incubated in a womb. The attack on this stage of incubation is going to be by a spirit of abortion. So before you're birthed out or before what you're carrying is being birthed out, be it a book or ministry or business. The spirit of abortion will come and the spirit of abortion will cause that thing to be aborted.
Stage number two is ticto, t-i-k-t-o, ticto. And this is the shortest, shortest stage of maturation because ticto has to do with birthing out. So you're going to push it, you're going to have pain. And then what happens is... in this stage, that stage is important for bonding.
So as soon as the baby is birthed out, then there has to be bonding. And if there's no bonding, then the baby doesn't thrive. It dies. The attack on this stage is the spirit of abandonment and the spirit of an orphan. Ezekiel 16, 1 to 7 says, again, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man, cause you Jerusalem to know her abominations and say, thus save the Lord unto Jerusalem.
Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite and thy mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity in the day that thou was born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in the water to supple thee. Thou was not salted at all nor swaddled at all.
None I pitied thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou was cast out in the open field to loathing of the people in the day that thou was born. When I passed by thee and saw the polluted in thy own blood, I said unto thee, when thou was in thy blood, live.
Yea, I said unto thee, when thou was in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field. Thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments.
Thy breasts are fashioned, and thy hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked in beer. Now this is very important because this is that stage, teak toe. In other words, your mother and father did the bare necessity to get you here.
And then once you were birthed out, once you were born, they didn't even clean you up and cut. the umbilical cord. They left the umbilical cord hanging. They didn't cover you up. There was no covering.
What they did was abandon you and cause you to become an orphan. Ticto, what God is going to do for many believers who have been abandoned, you were birthed out, but they casted you out. God is going to heal you of the spirit of an orphan. And there were so many orphans.
There were spiritual orphans and natural orphans. And we'll talk a little bit more about that when we get to that stage of Tito. The third stage now is Padeon. Padeon. Padeon.
This is zero to two. This is a toddler. So now you're still a son, but you're Padeon.
So the first stage is Gaster. That's when you're in gestation, you're incubated in the womb. The second stage is teak toe.
That's the shortest one. This is for bonding. The third stage now is padion.
This is zero to two. This is after the teak toe stage. Then you go in and you grow as a toddler, padion. Luke 2, 40 to 52 says, and the child grew.
That word child is padion. He was between zero and two. And they notice from... in that period of his life.
He began to grow. The scripture says the child grew and wept strong in the spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.
And when he was 12, so we know Padeon is zero to two. Now he's maturing. The scripture said he's maturing.
And when he gets to 12, there's another stage before you get to the age of. 12 and this is stage number four, nepios. And this is between three and six. But when you are in the paedian stage, the attack on this stage is spiritual malnutrition, where you're going to church, but you're not fed or you get saved and you don't attach yourself to a body of believers. You don't have a church home.
So you go when you want and you're not connected. When a person is born again, the first two years is important for you to become a disciple before you become a paideon. And then the next stage, stage number four, is napios, and this is between three and six. The Bible said that the ear, as long as he's a child, from out of the scripture that we read out of the book of Galatians, the ear as long as he's a child.
napios remember we talked about the fourth stage of spiritual maturation and i will come back to that as long as he's a napios he's only three to six you're not mature enough different nothing from a servant so when when the prodigal son said i'm going to go back i'm not worthy to be a son make me a servant he said i've got to start all over and go back to the fourth stage i'm going to take on The mantle of a paideon. I recognize that I still need governors and tutors. Watch this.
That the era as long as he's a child, different nothing from a servant, a doulos, though he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors. So when you get to the fourth stage, you got to have tutors and you got to have governors. The tutor, of course, who builds intellectual capacity. The governor builds character.
So one is about building intellectual. The other is about building social, cultural, and spiritual character. Not just spiritual character, but cultural and social.
So that when you go out in the public and God sends you there, you are moral and you are ethical. You are setting yourself apart from everyone else. And the scripture said, even so, we, when we were children, this is nepios, were in bondage under the elements of the world. So now when you have believers and Christians and they're worldly, they're worldly, you know, they're drinking, they're smoking and they're doing everything else that the world is doing.
We can't say that they're not Christians. All we can say is they're not mature Christians. Now I use another terminology, born again believers. Are you a born again Christian?
Because everybody's a Christian. I just want you, I just want to know, are you born again? Are you with me? And so the Bible says people that are immature are going to be sensual and worldly. And what they need to do, this is when submission is important.
Submission is important where you trust your tutor and you trust your governor. The attack on this stage is arrested development. So where a person should be maturing, they end up locked.
in that fourth stage, the napia stage, and there they stay. So even though they're in church for 20, 30 years, they're still carnal. You know, they don't have their own personal devotions. They don't study the word. They don't pray.
You know, they go to church. And, you know, when you're young like that, when you're at that napia stage, you want to be entertained. Three to six-year-olds, how many of you have ever had a three to six-year-old? They're full of energy and what do you have to do? You're three to six, you gotta potty train them.
And what else you need to do? You gotta entertain them, right? Three to six year olds?
You gotta entertain them. You gotta have this, you gotta have that, you gotta have toys, you know? They don't wanna go to bed, they don't wanna eat, they wanna eat junk food.
I don't want this, I don't want vegetables. I don't like that, you know? But this is good for you. I don't like that, no. They're the terrible threes.
Are you with me? They're just discovering who they are. They're rebellious.
They're crying all the time. Doesn't that sound like some of your Christian friends? They may be in the nepia stage.
I know none of you is in the nepia stage, but that's nepias. The attack is arrested development. They never mature in the things of the Lord.
You can say that they're not saved. They're just not mature. The next stage is pais.
Spell it the best way you can. P-A-I-S-E. Pais.
And that's 7 to 11. And it's in this stage Luke Luke 2, 40 to 52, the Bible said, and when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child, Pais, Jesus, tarried behind in Jerusalem. Pais, Pais. That's between 7 and 11. It's amazing, isn't it?
The attack on this stage is spiritual wandering. You know, they're saved, but they eat from this person, that They're quoting all over. They're just wandering all over the place. No roots anywhere. They're not committed to anybody.
You know, if the next brightest preacher shows up, they're over there. If something happens, then they're over there. Well, who's your spiritual father and mother? You can't have 10 or 15. Who's your spiritual father?
By then, you should know who your spiritual father and mother is and recognize that and stick to your spiritual father and mother. Are you with me? You can have godfathers and godmothers, but at the end of the day, I'm just using that tongue-in-cheek as a metaphor. But you begin to say, okay, I'm not going to wonder anymore.
Stage number six is technon. Technon. This is 12 to 17. Technon. The attack on this stage is rebellion.
Attack none. Isn't that 12 to 17? When they're starting to smile themselves? And nobody's telling them what to do. They're, you know, 15, 16, 17. They got the biggest attitude.
And you go, what happened to the sweet child? And their hormones are raging. And they get rebellious.
And their friends are more important. So their friend's advice is more important than their parent's advice. This is when you have to crack down. This is not when you say I'm your friend.
No, I'm not your friend. I'm your parent. And you're going to get your behind right in this house at 10 o'clock at night.
All my other friends, I don't care what your other friends are doing. Your other friends don't feed you. Your other friends don't put a roof over your head. As for me and my house, okay. The attack on this stage is always rebellion.
Here's the most important thing, and you have to be careful of this in ministry. Between 12 and 17, you can reproduce. You can have children.
And the problem with a lot of young ministers is this, that they're producing children, but they're not mature enough to parent them, because they're children themselves. There comes a time sometimes you got to sit yourself down and say look I need more maturity. I need more maturity. The attack is always rebellion.
And then stage number seven is we us. That's 18 to 21. And it's during this stage between 18 and 21 that the tutors and governors has prepared you for full responsibility of your inheritance. You're able to manage it.
And this is where you have weas lysis, where you now are sun placed and you are recognized. This is when the child goes home. You remember the prodigal son. His father throws this big party, puts a ring on his finger, a robe on him, and slays the fetid cow.
What was that ceremony about? It wasn't just a welcome home. It was his father saying, you have matured enough to access your inheritance. In other words, he was sun placed on that day because he hit rock bottom and he recognized, wow, I need to go and submit. And just because you're grown doesn't mean that you stop submitting.
Amen. Now, again, I have to clarify what submission is. Submission is not you not doing your ministry. Submission is an attitude, not an action.
So you submit in your spirit and then you begin to honor. Those that have been your governor and your tutor. Honor is a sign of maturity.
You're not competing with them, but you honor them for what they bring to the table. I just feel this wonderful anointing that is flowing right now. I believe that God is doing something for you right now.
I can sense it. I can feel it. Things are beginning to make sense. We as thesis.
Galatians 3 and 4 said, but when the fullness of time was come, God sent his son we as, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we would receive the adoption of sons. We as thesis, that we would be son place. The attack at this stage is immaturity, ignorance, and entitlement.
The prodigal son, remember he was a weas, and he said, give me my inheritance, I'm old enough. So we know that he had to be around somewhere between 18 and 21, probably right at about 21. And he was saying, I'm old enough. And his father tested him for the last time.
Now listen to me carefully. He was not rebellious. His father sent him out. In other words, his father was saying, I'm going to show you, I'm going to prove to you that you don't have the full understanding of what you've got. We're not talking about a physical house here.
We're talking about the kingdom of God and you and I living in the kingdom and our father giving us. full spiritual authority, as well as access to the inheritance. You can remain immature, ignorant, and entitled because you think that you're mature enough to go out on your own without accountability and supervision. As you mature in the things of God and your son place, the accountability goes way up. In other words, you've got to have pure accountability, and you have to have the accountability of the seniors so that they can help you through.
And then finally, the eighth stage, that's mater and pater. It sounds like mother and father. Once your son plays, that means that you're 30 plus.
Jesus did not produce disciples until after he was 30. He had been... trained by God all those years, and then at the age of 30, he was able to become a father to those sons that followed him. The attack at this stage is failure to find those that have your DNA.
People that are on the same level of maturity, please write this down. Each stage has a rite of passage, has a level of authority. has specific characteristics.
These are the eight stages of spiritual maturation. Again, one more time, stage number one is Gester. This is incubation.
Number two, Ticto. Number three, Padeon. Number four, Nepios.
Number five, Pais. Number six, Technon. Number seven, Weos.
which has two stages, we us and then we as thesis. And then number eight, Mater and Pater. You're able to produce children of your own where they call you their spiritual mother and spiritual father. These are the eight stages of spiritual maturation.
Let us pray. Our Father and our God, we give you praise and honor and glory. We thank you for giving us the revelation of spiritual maturation.
And according to... Timothy, Father, you said, neglect not the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the Presbytery, meditating upon those things that you have given yourself to, holy to them, that you will profit. and that your profiting may appear to us all.
Father, I decree and declare that we would take heed to ourselves and unto the doctrine and that we will continue in them. For in so doing, this shall both save ourselves and them that hear. Father, we are leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ.
We are able to go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, according to Hebrews 6, 1 to 9. We're able to mature in the things of the Lord. Father, you said that we should grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You said, Father, in Ephesians 1, 18 to 23, that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened, that we would know what is the hope of our calling, what is the riches of our glory, of the glory of the inheritance and the saints.
What is the exceeding greatness of the power to us who believe according to the working of mighty power, in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at the right hand in the heavenly places far above principalities and powers and mights and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in the world to come I thank you now father that we are beginning to to not only lay the foundation but as the days to come to build the superstructure and there to build father upon that which you have given us today and as we excavate The eight stages of spiritual maturation. You will help us to identify and locate ourselves. No matter what dimension we are in. No matter what stage we are in. Father, we give you praise and honor and glory.
Hallelujah, that we will have integrity. That all areas of our lives will be mature. I pray, oh Father, in the name of Jesus, that you will mature us.
spiritually. You will mature us financially. You will mature us emotionally.
You will mature us intellectually. You will mature us professionally, nutritionally, corporately, socially, systemically, personally, interpersonally, extra-personally, domestically, nationally, politically, educationally, environmentally, culturally, educationally. I decree every area of our lives Hallelujah is being matured. And so now we present our body, our mind, our soul, and our spirit. That you would show us and that we would be transitioned.
And that we will not fall prey to the attack of any spirit in any one of these stages in our lives. I call you honored. I call you a mighty God. I call you, hallelujah, our heavenly father.
And we thank you that what... This process is not by our might nor by our power, but it's by the Spirit of the Lord. Bless us as we journey. Give us understanding.
Let us participate. Let us cooperate. In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, let the church say amen. Amen.
Amen. God bless each one of you. We pray that you were blessed and that... You will journey with us.
We are doing life with you right there where you are. In Jesus'name, amen. Amen. What a powerful word.
Amen. Yes, come on, give her one more round of applause. Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of Dr. Cindy Trim.
Amen. And right in the midst of this anointing right now, I don't want you to click off of this page until you hit that give button. And you sow a seed into this ministry.
And guess what? As a mature believer, generosity flows out of who we are. It's a part of our culture. You know, there's a story in the book of 2 Corinthians 8, 1 through 5. And Paul is writing a letter to the church at Corinthians.
And he's bragging about the church in Macedonia, about their level of generosity. And there's a lot of principles that we can extract. And I want you to go and read it. But... The principles that we can extract is, number one, Paul said that the church at Macedonia gave in the midst of their affliction.
That means when they were on one realm struggling to reach another one, they realized that generosity and giving was the key that would unlock that next realm that they were attaining to. Okay? Number two, they set in their minds, this is what Paul said about the church at Macedonia. They set in their minds, this is what I'm willing to give. And then they made it a point to give more.
That means they continually were pressing the envelope in terms of their generosity. Right? Number three, they didn't have to be asked to give. This is maturing.
Maturing in the thing. We're talking about the eight stages of spiritual maturation. And then a lot of times when we talk about generosity in the church, a lot of people clinch up, but they don't realize that if they were truly mature, they would have prayed about before they stepped into the building or logged on to a ministry website like this as to what I'm going to give back after I receive.
Amen? Because giving gives you access to that realm that you're attaining to. And number four, they realize that... Giving was an extension of their worship.
And although they were giving to a man or a ministry or an organization, that giving was attributed to God as worship. So right now, I want you to tap into the realm of prosperity by stepping out in faith right now and donating to Cindy Trim Ministries. Hit that Give button and rest assured that every seed that you deposit goes directly back to God. into funding missions work, and it goes back into providing resources just like this.
It goes back into feeding the hungry and providing hope to the hopeless around the world. We thank you for watching and joining us. We want you to continue watching every first and third Thursday, and hey, spread the word about the Four Points broadcast because it's live, it's prophetic, and it's all God.
Have a great night.