{Ep.126} Spiritual Fitness: The Signs and Symptoms of Spiritual Drifting

Join Kevin Wilson in a profound exploration of spiritual preparedness and responsiveness to God's will. Unveil the subtle signs of spiritual drift and discover biblical remedies. From hearing the voice of God to fostering love and self-discipline, this episode illuminates the path to spiritual vitality. Kevin's insights on prioritizing God's presence over cultural noise resonate deeply, urging listeners to embody Christ's love and share His message boldly. Embrace consistent spiritual practices, overcome apathy, and align your life with eternal values. Tune in to cultivate spiritual resilience and readiness for life's challenges.

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Transcript

Kevin Wilson (00:01.892)
Welcome back to the thinking out loud podcast. My name is Kevin Wilson and, uh, I am very happy to be back with you for another week of the show. And this is your first time. I just want to say welcome. Uh, this show is all about your life. Right. And so we do everything that has to do with culture. We talk about everything that's going to help you navigate your spiritual.

and your natural life from a biblical perspective. And, uh, so we talk about all things. There's probably not a topic that we won't touch. Uh, we've got over a hundred and gosh, 120 shows now. Uh, and, uh, there's a wide range of topics that we, uh, we talk about. If you're a new, newer listener, I encourage you go back and listen to some of those.

other episodes where we cover some other topics. And, uh, as we go in the future, my goal is just to be a one stop shop for everything that you are going to face in life, whatever it is, and you have a biblical way to handle it. Uh, we believe that the Bible has everything to say about anything that you will face in your life.

Uh, whether it be natural, spiritual, uh, social, all of that, we believe that the word of God talks about either directly or in principle. And so, um, what I'm going to talk to you guys about today is actually, uh, it's actually something that I'm teaching, uh, in my Tuesday night Bible, uh, study. We're doing a, about a 10 week series.

on a topic that I'm calling spiritually fit. And just talking about how we ready ourselves for what God wants to do in our lives, what God wants to do through us, and also what God is maybe using us to do.

Kevin Wilson (02:25.316)
For the world at large because we don't know You know when we're born and we're born again We'd never know what God will call us to do what God will ask us to do And our lives sometimes are not predictable and sometimes God calls us to be a missionary You're like man. I never thought I'd be a missionary Sometimes it's not a missionary. Sometimes you just you might be a housewife or you may be a man who has a

a career, you might be bivocational. I mean, there's so many different things that you may run into in your life. And it's crazy important that you are focused and you know exactly what God has called you to do and that whatever it is that you end up facing, that you are fit, that you are ready.

Because God has given us everything we need for everything that he's asked us to do. Right? There is nothing that God is going to ask us to do that he won't equip us to do. Now you might not feel equipped, right? Most of us don't feel equipped. We don't feel like, oh, you see, well, man, I don't speak well enough or.

You know, I don't have a large following or I don't have whatever the case may be. There are things in your life that make you feel that you don't add up or that you're not the one or you, whatever the case may be. And I will tell you right now that God, uh,

He is the one who qualifies you. Man doesn't do it. You can't do it. No one can do it because the work that Christ wants to do in the earth is a super supernatural work and there is nothing about you that's supernatural without God. Right? So, um, it is vital that you are fit for the work of God and

Kevin Wilson (04:36.1)
Um, one of the things that God had, had, had really, I feel like placed on my heart was, uh, just, just areas of our lives that we kind of let go. Sometimes we have these areas of our lives that we, um, we just kind of, you know, we, it's like, I'll get to that or, you know, we kind of let ourselves drift and we don't realize that we're drifting.

Right? Like it's just these little micro decisions that we make and we don't understand that we're actually drifting from God and we're drifting from the things of God or we're drifting from God's people. And all of these things are important for us to be spiritually fit. And so one of the things that I took my class through,

is signs to look for where you may be spiritually drifting or maybe just not in the shape that you need to be right to do the things that God has called you to do.

And you, you, you, you know, you, you go around and you're like, man, I just don't, I just don't feel like I'm ready. Or I feel like I'm not where I should be and all of these things. Right. And so what I want to do is I want to go through, um, because all of us should be intentional about our relationship with God. All of us should either should be growing. There is no in between. Okay. My pastor says this from time to time.

Is this, you know, you're either growing or you're regressing. There is no in between. Right. You say, well, no, I'm just kind of stagnant. No, that doesn't. That's not a thing. OK. You could be stagnant. But if you're stagnant, that means that you're actually digressing. Right. You're not progressing, which is what we should be doing. And so as Christians. And so it's really, really, really important that we understand that.

Kevin Wilson (06:48.932)
Um, and that we grow through, uh, these times in our lives. And so, um, you know, just like our bodies will show signs that we're not fit, you know, we kind of look at ourselves in the mirror and we go, yikes, you know, I need to go back to the gym or, uh, you know, your, we, we have certain illnesses or things in our body that shows us that man.

we're not fit. We're not fit. You know, have you ever, uh, you know, you had a little kid, whether it's your, your own kid or a grand kid or a nephew or niece, or just, I don't know, some kid at church and you're like, you want to race, you know, and you, and you start racing that person and the little kid.

And by the time you get done, you're huffing and puffing and you're, you got your, your hands on your knees and you're just kind of like bent over, you know, why? Because those are, those are signs that we are not fit. Right now that that wouldn't happen if that was something that we normally did, if we normally ran, if we normally were at the gym or we normally were doing these, these activities like that.

that little short spurt of running wouldn't have had us so out of breath. Well, it's the same thing in our spiritual lives. We sometimes spiritually we're out of breath. Spiritually, we're lethargic. Spiritually, we're not being able to keep up the pace the way we should. And we have to understand those times.

Because we don't ever want to get caught off guard and God wants to do something through us or God needs us to do something. And we're just not fit. We're just not ready. And so I want to go, um, through with you some signs that you can look at and say, you know what? These are some indicators that I'm not spiritually fit. Now here's two things.

Kevin Wilson (08:56.74)
You can listen to this and feel condemned or you can listen to this and feel convicted. Right. There's there's two there's conviction and condemnation are two totally separate things. Not even you not even in the same stratosphere. OK, because you might hear a few of these and you go, oh, gosh, Kevin, that's me. Oh, man, that's me. Right. And the.

Goal is not to go away condemned. The Bible says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk after not after the flesh, but after the spirit, right? So if you're walking with God and you're walking, uh, you know, um, according to the spirit of God, you, you're good. God is going to begin to work these things in you. My goal today.

Is that the conviction of the Holy Spirit would come to all of us because all of us there's, there's quite a few things that I'm going to go through here today. And all of us have something on this list. I can almost guarantee you, right? We all have something. And so the goal is you to, for you to be able to identify these things. And if one of these things is, is you, man, I, here's, here's what I say, go to God about it.

get an accountability partner, uh, get in your Bible, talk to your pastor, whatever you feel like that you need to do. Um, and for some of you, this is just going to be a push. You already know it. You already know, and this is just going to be a push for you to just go ahead and do what it is that you know that you need to do. All right. You guys ready? All right.

All right. So let's talk about signs that you're not spiritually fit or you're drifting from God. The first one is you have trouble hearing from God. You have trouble hearing from God. You know, I've met so many people in ministries. Kevin, I just can't hear from God. I don't know. How do you hear from God? What do you know? Look,

Kevin Wilson (11:21.7)
Here's what I want you to know. Every person on this planet that is saved can hear from God. You can hear from God. Now, remember, hearing from God is not always. And as we go through these, I want to there's going to be scriptures that I'm going to read with these. And these scriptures are to help give you the antidote or help you deeper to see deeper.

into whichever one of these issues that you're facing right now. Okay. And to give you a solution to that. And so this one, you have trouble hearing from God. Listen, what, listen, what, uh, what James chapter one, uh, James chapter one, and we're going to start at verse five, uh, and we're going to read through verse seven. It says, if any of you lacks wisdom,

You should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Right? And so the Bible says if any person, any person,

lacks wisdom. You want to know what God thinks about a situation? You want to know, you want to hear from God about, I don't know, whatever situation that you're dealing with. He says, if any person lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. And I love that verse there because it says, he gives this wisdom generously, generously without finding fault.

Right? So, so God's not going to be like, well, I can't believe you just asked me that. I can't believe. Well, don't you know that? No, no, no. God is going to use either his word. He could use another person. He could use a circumstance. He could use a, uh, he could use your five senses. Right? God, you know, God is not going to come down in a robe, a white robe and stand in front of you in your living room. Okay. Now I know there's some televangelists that say that that happens to them every other day. Okay. But.

Kevin Wilson (13:47.652)
I'm talking about real life here. Okay. He, you know, that's just not going to happen. Right. Most likely. Okay. Now there, Jesus comes to people in dreams. He could come to you in a dream, but I promise you, if you are seeking wisdom from God and you are seeking direction from the Holy spirit, you can hear from God. All right. All right. Let's go to the next one.

Going to church and being around God's people is not as important as other things. Oh man, I see this so much. I see this so much. Right. Here's what you have to understand. The devil does not want you to go to church. And I'm talking about the physical building. Okay. I know we are the church. Okay. But he doesn't want you to be around other believers. He doesn't.

But do you realize that we're commanded to do that in scripture? It's not just some ritualistic, legalistic thing that we do. Right? God is asking there, the Bible specifically tells us that we should be joining other believers. And I know in 2020 things got a little wacky and it's really awesome that we're technologically advanced so that

We don't have to, you know, if something happens like the pandemic and some of the other things that, uh, that have happened in our past and that we can't make it to church or in a nursing home or we're in a place where we just, we can't get out of our house. Okay. That we have technology that will bring the same service into our homes. That is awesome. But those mediums should not be used as your primary church.

There might be somebody that listened to me and you say, Hey, Kev, I just really, really love your show. And I just, I really feel like I grow and I feel like all these things. Right. And I understand that. And that's, I, I am humbled and I'm blessed by that. But can I tell you something? I'm not your pastor. Right. God has not called me to be your pastor.

Kevin Wilson (16:10.756)
This podcast is to be a supplement, a supplement to your relationship with God, to your church attendance, to your Bible reading, you know, your prayer. You know how much I tell you on this show, you need to read the Bible for yourself. Don't just trust everything you hear. Even me.

And you say, Oh, Kev, but I love your show and I really feel like you're biblically sound. That's great. But you need to back up. Everything that I say, everything that I say should be backed up by scripture. It is very important. Don't blindly follow anyone. Anyone. I don't care what their title is. I don't care what their or not. You know, it doesn't matter. I don't care how big their church is. Doesn't matter.

What matters is what the word of God says. And you know, the enemy loves to get you outside of the body of Christ, isolate you to where you feel like, Oh yeah, I'm good. I'm just going to have, you know, church. I get, sometimes I get afraid. I'm going to get hurt in church. So I'm going to listen guys, and I'm going to have somebody on my show at some point to talk about church hurt, but I will tell you anywhere there is humans, there's going to be hurt.

Somebody's gonna get hurt, right? Cause we're human, we're not perfect, but.

When we are at a place where being around people, God's people, and going to church is not as important as other things, that's a sign that we're drifting because here's what Hebrews 10 and 25 says, this is the NLT, okay. New Living Translation. And let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now.

Kevin Wilson (18:15.076)
That the day of his return is drawing near. I don't think I have to say anything to you about feeling and seeing and sensing that the world is changing, that we're getting closer and closer to the end. You say, Kevin, how far are we? I don't know. And if anybody tries to tell you that they know, they're probably not, it's probably not right. Let me just say that.

Right. There's a reason why I have not talked about the end times on this show. I am very careful not to get caught up in newspaper eschatology. Okay. And so, um, when he says that, uh, and I don't want to get off into that, but when he says that even more, while you see the day is drawing near, or you see that his return is drawing near.

What Paul is saying to the Hebrew church here is, or to the Hebrews is look, don't forsake, don't neglect being a part of the body of Christ. Well, Kevin, I just watch online. That's not good enough. And I understand. And listen, if you watch online and you're just doing this for a season, no, there's something going on and you just can't come to church.

That's not this, this discussion on this particular point is not for you. I am talking about people who are able -bodied, who can come to church every Sunday or Wednesday or whenever you have services Saturdays, right? But don't because they, because you just would rather my preference is to watch it from my couch at home. Well, let me explain to you.

Let me read to you again, Hebrews 1025. This is God's desire. Okay. So which one matters more, your preference or God's desire? And let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. So vitally important. The next one, signs.

Kevin Wilson (20:33.476)
that you may be spiritually drifting. You don't, you don't miss it. If you're not in God's presence, you don't miss it when you're not in God's presence. You know, I think about this and I wonder how many of us who are listening right now, when you are not in the presence of God, do you miss it?

When you're not...

in worship or you're not in prayer or you're not in your word. Do you miss it? See, because if you don't, something's wrong. It just is. And think about it like this. You know, if you have a person in your life that you love, think about, um, your wife or your husband or a really close friend or a family member, an aunt, a niece, uh,

grandchild or whatever.

Kevin Wilson (21:41.668)
You want to be around that person as much as possible. Why? Because that person brings you joy. That person, that person's cause causes your heart to swell. Right? Here's the thing. I don't know anybody who says they love somebody and then turns around and they don't want to be around that person. It doesn't make any sense.

It doesn't make any sense for a husband and a wife to say they love each other, but they never spend time together. They never spend time communing and talking and laughing together and watching movies or whatever they do. Right?

Kevin Wilson (22:30.916)
If they, they said they love each other and they didn't want to spend time with each other, every person listening to me right now would go, something's wrong. And I'm telling you that if you do not read your Bible and you're not praying and you're not, you know, in, in, in, in worship and all of those things, and you don't miss it, something's wrong. Something's wrong.

Kevin Wilson (22:59.876)
Psalm 73 and 25 says, whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. Psalm 63 and one says, Oh God, you are my God. I shall seek you earnestly. My soul thirsts for you.

My flesh yearns for you in a dry, in a weary land where there is no water. This, it doesn't mean that sometimes we don't get busy and you know, this is not about legalism, right? But this is about having an ongoing relationship with God because the thing is sometimes we end up drifting so far.

And we don't understand how we got there. And that's usually what happens. You know, it's like the old casting crown song that says it's a slow fade, right? When you give yourself away, things just don't crumble in a day. You know, that's what some of the lyrics of that song. And it's so true. It's so powerful because it it's little by little that you just start drifting. You start making these micro decisions of, I'm just not going to go to church today.

I'm just not feeling it this week. Next week there's a graduation. The following week I'm supposed to be going over dinner at somebody's house. And the next week I'm supposed to be... Like there's always going to be something. If you don't intentionally fill that time with God, something else will fill that time.

All right.

Kevin Wilson (24:49.508)
So this, all of these things are for you to catch.

Catch yourself. Right?

Number four.

things that show and there's signs that you're drifting. You don't have peace. Do you know that it is God's desire and it's God's will for you to have peace? And for some of you that's listening to me right now, peace is so elusive. You're like, Kev, with everything that's going on in my life right now, I can't imagine.

having peace. You know, you sit on that other side of that microphone and you think you have no idea. You know, you, you trust me. We all have things. We all go through things. All of us do. You might say, Hey, Kevin, I just had a miscarriage or a kev. I, I, you know, somebody close to me just passed away or I'm losing my house or I'm, I'm losing my car or.

Kevin Wilson (26:02.372)
You know, I've been just diagnosed with this crazy illness, this terminal, all the things.

Kevin Wilson (26:11.364)
And I would say to you, my heart reaches out to you because I know what it's like to go through things. And I can't claim to know what you're going through. And I can't claim that mine is, is, is, is, is as severe as yours. I don't know. And vice versa, but you know what I can tell you?

Is that we serve the Prince of peace. Like the, do you realize that God actually wants you to have peace in the midst of the storm of your life? He actually wants you to have peace. What did he say about this? And Isaiah 26 and three, it says you will keep in perfect peace.

Kevin Wilson (27:01.86)
those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you. I remember I did a I was I did a sermon series and I can't remember the sermon series. Was I can't remember what the series was. It could have been a standalone message, but I don't think it was. And. I I broke down, I looked up the definitions and the.

and looked up the Hebrew and all of that stuff of this particular scripture. And I rewrote the scripture in definition form. And I can't remember all of it because I don't have it in front of me right now. But I remember part of it said that God will keep you in flawless peace, flawless peace without a blemish.

without a worry, without anxiety, without depression, without any of those things that you are so accustomed to.

Right? He says, I'm going to keep you in perfect peace whose mind is steadfast.

because they trust.

Kevin Wilson (28:27.908)
in you.

So even in the midst of your worst moment, God is saying, if you trust me, I will give you peace.

If you trust me, I'm gonna quiet.

the fears. I'm going to quiet that anxiety. I'm going to quiet those thoughts and those accusatory thoughts that's in your mind.

Kevin Wilson (29:02.756)
Again, we have to trust God. You say, Kev, Kev, it's so much easier said than done. Friend, I know that. Friend, I know. I know. It's so much easier said than done.

Kevin Wilson (29:25.477)
I want you to know that we got to do it. If we want peace, we need to seek it. We need to trust God, trust God. All right. Signs.

that we're drifting from our relationship with God. Number five, the lack or you lack, excuse me, self -control in an area of your life. You lack self -control in an area of your life. Remember we need to be spiritually fit. That's what this is all about. Being spiritually fit. Are we ready? Are we ready?

You lack self control in an area of your life. This is where things like addictions show up. Right. Um, you might say something like, Kev, I'm, it's so hard. I can't stop this or I can't stop that. Can I tell you that self control is one of the fruits of the spirit?

The more you're spending time with God, the more you become like him, the more you bear fruit, the more you are a part of the vine. Our pastor talked about that. The more you are part of the vine and you allow the Holy spirit to prune the vine, which, you know, pruning it, it hurts. But, but, but as long as you're allowing God to do that in your life, guess what happens? You bear even more better, bigger.

fruit.

Kevin Wilson (31:15.78)
Listen to what Galatians chapter five, verses 22 through 23 says, it says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control. Against such things, there is no law.

Hmm. So even, even in the midst of things that you're like, you expect me to have control in this situation. Yes. You know why? Because the longer and the more you stay around the people of God, the more you're in your word, the more you're in prayer, the more you're in worship, you will began to bear the fruit of self control.

Kevin Wilson (32:18.244)
spiritually fit people have self control.

Number six, you struggle with truly loving people and seeing them how God sees them. Hmm.

You know, there's something that happens when you become a Christian.

Um, you know, you meet people who I'm just not into people. What if Jesus was like that? What if Jesus said, you know what? I'm just not into people. I'm not into this whole love thing for people. You know, I'm just, I'm an introvert. I'm not a person that likes to be around people. Now don't get me wrong. There are some personalities that once they're around people, they kind of start on 25 % and every person they meet and every person they talk to.

It takes away a percentage of that 25 % until they are at a zero and they do have to go and be quiet for a while and sit in a room or sit by themselves or do something quietly so that they can recharge. Okay. That's normal. That's just a personality type. But if you say things like, I just not really into people, you know, people scare me, people, I don't like to be around people. I just like to be to myself.

Kevin Wilson (33:48.036)
Can I say something that for some of you might be controversial? That's not God. It's just not. Right. You can be a person who is not I'm not saying you have to be jumping off the walls, running around, you know, slapping everybody a high five, kissing people on the cheeks. And that's not what I'm saying, because there's those people out there, too, that are on 10 all the time. So what I'm talking about. But.

Being around people, notice, notice when we, when we read that scripture, I believe it was in Hebrews and we talked about not forsaken the assembling of yourself together. And it's very easy to just sit at home. I'm not going to the connect groups. I'm not going to get involved in the small groups. These people, you know, people are going to be weird and I don't know what they're going to do. And it's their house. And I don't like to go to random people's houses that I don't know. And all of this. Okay. Well, take a friend with you. Right.

These are all these things that we have accepted. But these are not things that we should be accepting. We should not struggle with truly loving people the way God loves people. And you know, loving people is being around people. You can't love somebody you're not around. You can't love them well. Now you say, well, Kevin, I love my grandma and she lives in in Zimbabwe. OK, that's great.

Kevin Wilson (35:18.532)
That is a logistical issue, right? You're not gonna be able to go see your mom in Zimbabwe or your grandma in Zimbabwe when you live in, you know, Florida. You can't see her every weekend. I get that. That's a logistical issue. But you know what's not a logistical issue? Your church. Because nine times out of 10, your church is within, I don't know, 20, 30 miles away. And for a lot of you, it's probably five or 10 miles.

And so, you know, part of loving people, right? So the, the, the number six says you struggle with truly loving people and seeing them, how God sees them. These are signs that we're drifting. Cause folks, if we are not truly loving people or seeing them the way God sees them, something's wrong. We look, none of us are perfect.

And so it is extremely important that we are loving people well. John 13, 34 through 35 says, this is the NIV, a new commandment I give you, love one another as I have loved you. So you must love one another by this. So by this loving one another, everyone will know.

that you are my disciples if you love one another. So he goes, listen, the way that people know that you're saved, that they know that you follow me, Christ, is that you love other people. So the whole idea of, well, I'm just not into people. That's just not my thing. That's not a thing. And if that's you, you need to ask the Holy Spirit.

to work on that with you. Because there are people out there who need you. You might not think they do.

Kevin Wilson (37:26.308)
But they do right. Be careful. Right. That might be something that you need to work on yourself. It might be a self -esteem issue. It could be a, uh, uh, an issue where you feel like you're not worthy or you're whatever the case may be, but every single one of you under the sound of my voice that will ever listen to this episode.

God has uniquely knit you in your mother's womb and you are.

Kevin Wilson (37:58.052)
You are valuable. You're valuable to God.

And if you're valuable to God, you should be valuable to others. And if somebody doesn't see your value, it's because they're not connected to the vine.

Understand that understand that All right number seven. Here's number seven sign that we are not spiritually fit or we're drifting You know more about culture Than you know about Christ

Listen, there are so many things that can take us away from the things that really matter. Now here's, here's, let me, let me, let me say this. You need to be enjoying your life. Yes. You should be, you should be going and doing exciting things, going on vacations and boat rides and sightseeing and hot air balloons and, uh, you know, jet ski and whatever you do, kayaking and fishing and.

all the things that's just ton of people have totally different, you know, some people like golf, all of these. Yes, you should be doing that. You should enjoy God's creation. It's here for you to enjoy. But when those things, when the

Kevin Wilson (39:22.98)
things of life and your job and when your, your career and when, uh, the news and the, all the things that's happening in culture and the latest TV shows and the movies and all of these things, if that stuff is crowding out your relationship with God, that's an issue, right? If you know more about who got voted off of the Island or who, you know, who got married on the bachelor or, or.

who's, you know, got married off of love is blind or whatever. Just, you know, name your show.

Whatever the situation is, if you know more about that than you know about the word of God, this is a sign that your, your attention is in the wrong places.

Right. It doesn't mean that you can't enjoy those things, but what it does mean. Well, I don't know about the bachelor. Oh, I'm just I'm messing with you guys. Just not my kind of stuff. But. You know. It doesn't mean that you can't enjoy these things, but what it does mean is that there needs to be a healthy balance and a healthy diet. Of the word of God in your life and prayer and worship, right?

Kevin Wilson (40:48.612)
Number eight, you'd rather spend time in nature. Then with the God who created nature, so funny, that's actually what I was just talking about, right? And it's nothing wrong. Go camping. I mean, I'm not going to go with you, right? I'm just not going to do that. I'm not going to sleep in a tent. I mean, you know, if you knew me, you would know that that's not Kevin. I just got a, you know.

Go out there and yeah, that's not me. But some of you love that. You love to go camping. You love to be out in nature and you love and I do love hiking. I love to go for a nice walk. Right. So, so yeah, I mean, you know, a few years ago and hopefully again, very soon we'll go to a smoky, uh, a mountain national park and man, oh man, oh man, just beautiful. Right. Just beautiful. And then we did some hiking up there. Look, we love that. And I want that for you.

But I don't want that over your relationship with Jesus. And if you are spending more time in nature with nature than the, with the God who created nature.

Kevin Wilson (42:01.7)
There's a sign that you're drifting in. The scripture that I put for this one is Romans chapter one, verse 25. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and they worshiped and served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised. Amen.

Hmm.

See, we in this society, we have a huge problem with worshipping created things. We're huge on that. We're constantly, right? What do you think lust is? Lust is worshipping created things instead of the Creator. What do you think some of these other things that we do?

Right. You know, we, we, you know, we worship sports people, you know, we worship all kinds of things. These are all created things. We spend time. We spend more time on vacations and doing all these other things other than spending time with God. And we should be able to do both.

Kevin Wilson (43:25.508)
Well, Kevin, I'm just going to sit at home. I just bought a house out in the water. I just, I just, I know there's church tonight or I just rather sit at home and relax and look at, look, look out my, my window at the water.

Do you realize you're putting God's created thing before the creator? He created the water for you, but he, but he also created time and space and that time and space is to give you time to do both.

Kevin Wilson (43:59.428)
So important, so important. And I know, like I say, these are, you say, cav, but I don't, you know, yep. But just think about it. You know, it's these micro decisions that we make.

Kevin Wilson (44:16.036)
Number nine, you struggle with sharing Christ with people because you don't want to make it awkward.

Hmm. You know, there's so many of us who we have a relationship with God, but we're like secret agents. That won't blow their cover. Right. So it's like, you know, we love God, we know God, all the things, but we work with people every single day and we never say anything to that person.

About Christ. Do you realize your life may be the only Bible that anybody reads? Do you realize that God has strategically placed you in places and he is expecting and he is wanting you to be a light in the midst of darkness. You might be the only Christian that person and you're the cubicle next to you or that works in your department or works on the line next to you.

You might be the only Christian that person will ever run into. You may be the only person, maybe they'll, maybe they'll run into a lot of Christians in their life, but you're the only one that they'll actually listen to. But you got to open your mouth. You gotta, you say, well, but Kev, I, you know, I don't know. I don't want to get in trouble. I don't want them to look at me weird. And see, that's, that's, that's where we get messed up. It's not about how they look at you. It's not about how you feel when you say something to them.

It's about being obedient. God wants us to share the gospel. His last ask before he left this earth was to, he commanded him, go out, teach in all nations, preach the gospel.

Kevin Wilson (46:12.74)
Didn't stop with them. They're dead. Who's going to preach it now? The pastor at your church? What do you think? The guy on the line next to you? He doesn't even talk about God, but he's just going to randomly show up at church on a Sunday morning? Probably not. You know how that person gets from the line to church? It's you. It's me. We...

We need to find creative ways. And I understand that certain situations are awkward. I get it.

But you know what's more awkward? When that person stands before God and you were next to that person for 30 years on the line at Ford or GM or Chrysler or Toyota or wherever, right? And you worked with this person and you knew they didn't know Christ, but you just, you didn't say anything just because you didn't want to feel awkward.

And now this person is standing before God and you had the chance to tell them about Jesus, but you didn't.

Kevin Wilson (47:31.332)
That's not that. Let me tell you, folks. We have to find ways.

to share the gospel. Romans 1 16, you're very familiar scripture, but Romans 1 16 for I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. That's us Gentiles.

Kevin Wilson (48:07.108)
Right? So, so, so it says, for I am not ashamed. I'm not, I'm not ashamed. I'm not going to, I'm not going to, to be a secret agent when it comes to the gospel. It's, he says, because it is the power, the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation. The only way that a person can get to the point of salvation is that they hear the gospel. So you and I need to be sharing it.

with them.

Kevin Wilson (48:40.932)
And again, this is not to condemn. This is to convict. All right. I, my desire is that the Holy Spirit will help all of us, all of us, because there's, there's something for everybody on this list. And I want you to understand these are the things. These are the things that start that we don't even think about that we're drifting.

These are things that we know, I'm a manager. I can't say, I can't say anything. Or I'm an HR person. I can't say anything. Or I'm a this or I'm a that or I'm a whatever. Guess what? You guess, guess who doesn't care about that. Right?

Kevin Wilson (49:23.236)
God will give you ways. God will open doors for you. Sometimes people just take a liking to us and we don't even know why. We're like, why does this person like us so much? Sometimes they are just attracted to the presence of God in your life.

Take that as an opportunity. Take them out to lunch. Take them to coffee. Take whatever the case may be and share Jesus with that person. All right. Number 10 signs. We could be drifting. The only time you worship or read scripture is in church. Yikes.

You know, this one is, I would say, and I don't know what the percentages is. I don't know. And maybe if I did some research, I could probably find something. But, you know.

There is a huge number of the global church that I believe that the first time that they read the Bible that week or are in worship or pray is when they come into the sanctuary on Sunday morning or Wednesday night or Saturday night.

Folks, that's dangerous. That is dangerous for your life in general. You will not be able to hear from God. You will seek prophetic voices and you'll seek all these other ways outside of yourself because you won't take the discipline and you won't take the time to actually seek God for yourself. You are at the mercy.

Kevin Wilson (51:08.004)
Of God, you at the mercy of life, you're at the mercy of, of somebody hearing God for you. That is a dangerous place to be. Don't be that person. Spend time during the week. Praying spend time during the week, reading your Bible, spend time. And listen, even if you, you're like, Kev, I just have, I struggle sitting down. It's, again, it's hard for me to pay attention. It's hard. Okay. Put the Bible app on.

Right? It'll read it to you. There's so many apps now that will actually read the Bible to you. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you.

Kevin Wilson (51:54.884)
Allow Him to speak to you through His Word.

Hmm. Imagine if the pastor did that. The only time he read the scripture was when he got up to teach you, he wouldn't be able to teach. Imagine if you're a worship leader, the only time that he was in the presence of God, the worship leaders, when you lead worship, it should be an overflow of your relationship with God and your time in worship during the week.

That should not be the first time. Now I'm not talking about, Oh, I was on vacation or something happened and I didn't get a chance to spend that's not what I'm not talking about. Legalism folks.

I'm talking about.

Kevin Wilson (52:42.148)
Not legalism. Nope. I am talking about making sure that we're doing our spiritual disciplines. All right. Number 11. One of the other ways that we, we can, we, there's signs that we're not spiritually fit. We're not growing spiritually. We talked about, we hit on this just a little bit earlier, but.

in a different way, but yes, we should be growing.

James 1 22 says, but don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise you are only fooling yourselves. This doesn't mean, you know, more, you know, more stuff about God. That's not what this, that's not what that means. Right. It doesn't mean that you know more stuff about God.

This means that your life is literally changed as a result of what you've learned. You say, well, but Kevin, I know about God. I know all the things. But James says, don't just listen to the word, but you must do what it says. Otherwise, you're fooling yourself.

Kevin Wilson (54:07.748)
You're fooling yourself. Just because you walk into a church, does it make you a Christian? Just like if I walked into a garage, I don't turn into a car. I don't care how long I stand in that. I could stay in that car, stay in that garage for 2 billion years and it will never, I will never turn into a car. Well, it's the same thing. You can walk in and out of a church all of your life for 80, 90 years and never be a Christian.

You can hear the word and hear the word and hear the word and hear the word and hear the word. You must put the word of God into practice in your life.

Kevin Wilson (54:50.468)
Second Timothy three and seven on this point as well, always learning, but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Constantly learning. Oh man, you could quote scripture backwards and forwards, but you never become intimately acquainted with the word of God and allow it to change your life.

All right. Number 12, if something catastrophic were to happen in your life right now, if you're honest, your faith would be in jeopardy.

Is that you today? Is that you? Would you say, Kev? I just, I can't take another hit. Kev, I, I swear if, if my, this happened or something happened to my family member or something happened here, man, I just don't think I could take another hit. I just don't know if I could continue on being a Christian.

Kevin Wilson (55:54.02)
My sweet friend, can I tell you that that's a sign that you're drifting?

Kevin Wilson (56:01.732)
a sign that you're drifting. Jesus said to his disciples, he says, in this world you will have trouble. But he goes, take heart, I've overcome the world. He said, take heart, I have overcome the world.

Trust in me. Cast your burdens on me.

Kevin Wilson (56:30.66)
The, the, and I understand it, there's times and, and you have to understand that the enemy, one of the things that he loves to do is he loves to wear out the saints. He loves to wear you down to the plate, to the point where you just go, you know what? I'm just, I give up. That's exactly what he wants. Don't give him what he wants because I promise you, he hates you.

I promise you he does not want anything good for you and at the end of that giving up is death.

Kevin Wilson (57:07.428)
It doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter. Keep going. Keep moving. I don't care if it's a mini step. I don't care if it's a half step. I don't care if you have to slide your foot. Keep moving. Don't let the devil fool you.

It's not worth it. I promise you.

Kevin Wilson (57:39.492)
You say, Kev, you just don't know. You just don't know, man. You're right. I don't know. But let me tell you something. This guy. And I again, I can't say all the things that some people don't even know. Some people very close to us don't even know some of the things that we've been through, right? Because I don't broadcast stuff. I don't, you know, yell and scream and call everyone and all. But, you know, I just I don't and I don't know. I, you know, I'm not saying that's right. I'm just telling you.

that we all go through things.

We all do. You know, and some of it, I'm sure some of it's probably pride, right? I'm not I'm not immune to that, you know, and I'm not saying, you know, that's why I say I'm not saying that me not, you know, yelling it from the rooftop is is right. I'm just telling you that we all go through things, all of us.

Kevin Wilson (58:38.788)
But here's, here's what the scripture says about this. Let's, I want to, I want to read a couple of scriptures to you on this one. Okay. So you say, Hey, can I, I can't take another hit. I, man, if I, man, you just don't know what's happened, man. If I, if something else happens, I think I'm just going to hang my hat up on this whole Christian thing. Well, let me, let me, let me give you some examples of people in the new or in the old Testament that ended up in the, the new Testament hall of.

faith, fame, as we call it. Hebrews 11, verse 30 through 32 through 40. It says, in what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith, listen to this, conquered kingdoms, administered justice and gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions.

who quenched the raging fire and escaped the edge of the sword, who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, who and put foreign armies to flight. Women receive their dead back. Excuse me. Women receive back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured. Oh, here we go. Others were tortured and refused their release.

So that they might gain a better resurrection. Hmm. Still others endured mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sought into. They were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskin and goat skin. They were destitute. They were oppressed and they were mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. Did you hear that? Did you catch that?

these people who put their faith and their trust in God, even though they were stoned, even though they were tortured and they were mocked and flogged and they were put in prison and they were sought into and they were, they went around in being destitute and goatskins and oppressed and mistreated. Did you hear what I said? It says the world was not worthy of them.

Kevin Wilson (01:01:05.444)
That is really something to say about the Bible. I mean, I don't know a higher thing that you could say about somebody for the Bible to say that the world was not worthy of you.

But notice what happened to them. What if Paul would have said, man, if my eyesight goes, or if I get put in jail one more time, if I get, if I get hit one more time or flogged or imprisoned or whatever, one more time, I think I'm going to give up on this. He didn't give up. And I'm telling you today, don't give up.

Kevin Wilson (01:01:53.604)
Verse 39 says, these were all commended for their faith yet they did not receive what was promised. God had planned something better for us so that together with us, they would be made perfect. There's a whole thing to unpack there too, but I, we don't have time. Romans eight 38 through 39. This is, this is Paul talking.

Listen, listen to what he says. Remember now remember how we are. Sometimes I just can't take another hit, man. If I take another hit, listen to this for I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor death nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, nothing.

Nothing will separate us from the love of Christ. So you can take another hit. Maybe another hit stop is coming, right? Like we shouldn't be waiting around for the next shoe to drop. That's not how we should be living our lives. But I am telling you, if you've having hit after hit after hit, like a lot of us do in certain seasons of our lives.

I'm telling you!

Kevin Wilson (01:03:25.252)
to keep trusting God. I'm telling you to keep your faith in God. I'm telling you that you are valuable to God.

Kevin Wilson (01:03:39.108)
and none of this stuff, all of these things pale in comparison to the glory that is going to be revealed to the joys that you are going to experience for eternity in heaven.

Mm.

Another sign that maybe you're drifting or you're not spiritually fed is you have spiritual apathy. What does apathy mean? Well, it's lack of interest. So the dictionary says lack of interest, enthusiasm or concern. Think about that. When you first got saved, man, most people are not. I shouldn't say most people, but a lot of people in my experience.

When you get saved, man, you run it, you're running around. You want to tell everybody about Jesus. You want to, but here's what happens after some time goes by. If we're not careful and we're not intentional, we become apathetic.

And we just kind of lose interest. This is what I'm this is the stuff we're talking about, folks. This is what I'm saying. We start. I don't really know. I'm not going to go to church. I'm not going to, you know, I don't like the, you know, they they got those lasers. They got I'm not into that. OK, they you're not they're not you're not there for lasers. Forget the lasers. Close your eyes. And worship Jesus. I'm not into the songs that they say, OK, that's OK.

Kevin Wilson (01:05:16.9)
You know, we're not all going to like everything. Okay. You know, and maybe there's a church that does fit more of your, but don't not go to church, right? Spiritual app, we lose interest apathy. We lose our enthusiasm or concern.

Galatians five and seven, spiritual apathy, Galatians five and seven. It says you were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth. What happened? Where'd your interests go? Why are you lacking enthusiasm? Why are we lacking concern about our spiritual state? It's important.

Kevin Wilson (01:06:06.212)
Mmm.

Kevin Wilson (01:06:10.02)
Number 14, your relationship with God is like a roller coaster.

Is that you? Do you feel that way? Do you feel you say, man, I'm, you know, I'm up one day down the next, or I have these great seasons and then I'm down in the valley and I just, you know, I just get these times. Yeah. I mean, are we going to have seasons where we're, you know, we struggle or are we going to have seasons that, that are going to be valley experiences? Yes. There are things in our lives that will go up and down, but our relationship with God should not.

Kevin Wilson (01:06:48.356)
James 1 and 8 says their loyalty is divided between God and the world and they are unstable in everything they do. You're either hot or cold. You're either in or out. There's no in between. In between is where the enemy starts getting busy.

Kevin Wilson (01:07:11.876)
All right.

That's where the devil, because there's, there's only, you know, you either growing or you're not growing. And then, and which means like we said earlier, you're regressing, right?

All right. Number 15, you're not content. If I'm being as 412 says, I know what it is to be in need. I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any, in every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Hmm. Are you content or do you need to buy that next thing?

Are you content or do you wish you had married somebody else? Are you content or do you wish you had more of something or, you know, you, you, you, you, you can never be content with the amount of money you make per year. You can never be content with the amount of things that you, that you're, that you need.

That you want, I should say, because the next verse, Philippians four 13, that people always misquote and they say, well, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That's not a good translation. The Bible, what it actually says is I can do all.

Kevin Wilson (01:08:35.204)
this talking about all those things in chapter four, verse, verse 12 and verse 11 and verse 10 and all those that were Paul talked about. Hey, look, I've been poor. I've had a lot, but, but, you know, and I've been all these different seasons in my life. I've been in all these different seasons, but you know what? I have learned to be content. I can do all of this through Christ who strengthens me.

Right.

Kevin Wilson (01:09:08.931)
It is so important that we understand that.

Contentment, you know, godliness with contentment is great gain. So good. 16, I'm almost done here. You are more focused on gaining things here than gaining things there. And this is not just for wealthy people. You know, you might be listening to me say, hey, Kev, you know, I don't have much. But do you realize even?

those who don't have much still have things that they that they that they they try to you know you're just you're constantly trying to get more you know if you're rich you're trying to figure out how to get richer if you're poor you're trying to get rich like what are we doing folks what are we doing

Kevin Wilson (01:10:09.892)
Mark 836 says and what do you benefit if you gain the whole world? But you lose your own soul So do you what what do you gain what benefit is it to you? Because you can't take any of your four -wheelers your your fancy trucks your Your your C dos your I mean you can't take any of that stuff. You can't take your house with you You can't take your jewelry with you. You can't take

anything with you.

Kevin Wilson (01:10:45.285)
only what you do for Christ will last. Only what you do for Christ will last.

Kevin Wilson (01:10:57.252)
All right. Matthew six, 19 through 20, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth or malls and vermin destroy where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where malls and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Number 17, we're almost done here, folks. Your life doesn't look much different than it did when you weren't saved. You just added water.

and that water is Jesus.

This is a big one. This is a big one. People who listen, let me tell you something. If Jesus have saved you, you have truly been saved. Truly been saved. Your life is going to look different. This is all it is to it. You you. And doesn't mean that everything is going to be perfect. Nope. Sure doesn't. Because you never you'll you won't be perfect until you get to heaven.

But I will tell you right now, your life is going to look dead. If your life does not look different, if you're still hanging out with the same people, if you still have the same vices, there's still issues and you've been serving God for a while and these things are still a part of your life. Something's wrong. Something's wrong. You know, either you're not allowing yourself to be around good, godly people, or you are around good, godly people.

Kevin Wilson (01:12:37.156)
But you're, you're back at that. What the script here, James says you're listening, you're hearing the word, but you're not doing any of it.

Kevin Wilson (01:12:52.132)
Our life should look different. Second Corinthians 5 17. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone. A new life has begun. Leviticus 10 10 says, and that you may put difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean.

Number 18 signs that you may be drifting or not spiritually fit. It says, um, you get defensive when reminded about spiritual disciplines. You get defensive when reminded about spiritual disciplines. You know, when somebody comes up to you and they say, Hey man, you really, gosh, you know, like me right now say, Hey, you need to be reading your Bible. You need to be praying. You need to be, and you just, you get angry or you get defensive or you get upset.

That should not upset you. If, listen, if you are upset because somebody is encouraging you to spend time with the person that you say that you love.

Something is wrong. Something's wrong. If you're listening to me now and you go, oh, this is the worst podcast ever. Could you tell me something nice, Kevin? Could you encourage me today? I thought this was supposed to be a season of encouragement. I'm not sure why I'm talking like that, but you know what I mean?

Right? You, you, you, you, you, you're missing the whole point. This is the Holy Spirit. This is God reaching out to you saying, Hey, Hey, you're a little off track. I need you to get back on track because I've got great things for you. I want to grow you. I want, I want to know you more. I want you to know me more. I want, I want us to have a very robust relationship. So if you get irritated by this,

Kevin Wilson (01:14:51.3)
or irritated by accountability partners or people in your life telling you that you need to do this stuff, something's wrong.

Kevin Wilson (01:15:06.02)
The last one is you live with the mindset of technical sins and you live in this world of how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?

Kevin Wilson (01:15:21.572)
Do you realize that every morning when we wake up, you know what our posture should be? How can I be more like Jesus today? If you got up every morning and you ask yourself, are you prayed and said, you know what? Jesus, make me more like you today. You realize, and if you really believe that and you act on that,

Do you realize how much your life would change? Realize how much your life would change at work at the stoplight. When somebody cuts you off, when things happen that you didn't expect, do you realize how much more prepared or how much more fit you will be in that situation?

Kevin Wilson (01:16:16.74)
You realize that?

Kevin Wilson (01:16:23.78)
It would change your life. It would literally change who you, how you are.

Kevin Wilson (01:16:34.756)
Galatians 5, 16 says, so I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Romans eight, five through seven says those who are, uh, those who live according to the flesh have their mind set on what the flesh desires, but those who live accordance in accordance with the spirit have their mindset on what the spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh.

is death and the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's laws, nor can it do so.

Kevin Wilson (01:17:23.748)
God.

wants us to be spiritually fit. There's some, there's some of you out there that, that, that on the other side of this studio and this mic, you, you, in this camera, you, you are the, you are the definition of fit in your physical body.

You've got the muscles, you've got the abs, you got the, you got strong legs, strong arms. I mean, you, you eat kale all day. You've got the shakes going. You, you, you got it.

Do you realize it? And by the way, that's awesome because it takes a lot of discipline and it takes a lot of dedication. I applaud you for that. I truly do because it takes a lot of discipline and a lot of dedication. Do you realize, though, that if you were to put that same effort in your spiritual life, what like what a monster?

in a good way, you will be to the devil. Like, I mean, you imagine that if you, you put that much intentionality into your spiritual walk with Christ, you say, Kevin, I eat organic, man, do you mind? Do you realize if you were to eat organic, right? You took out all the weird theology and, and put away all the garbage that had been preached out there these days.

Kevin Wilson (01:18:55.684)
and you actually got into the word of God and you got some organic Bible and you just began to eat the word of God. Do you realize how fit you will be? Do you realize if you would just do the spiritual disciplines and the muscle memory of reading your word and worshiping and being in prayer and getting to know God, do you realize what a spiritual giant you'd be?

You're nervous. You're concerned. You have anxiety. You're not content. Why? Because you are not connected to the one who gives you everything you need. You are malnourished.

Kevin Wilson (01:19:42.692)
And so instead of you happening to life, life just happens to you.

And you just allow things to come as they come. And you go, man, when is life going to let up on me? When am I going to catch a break? When am I going to be able to listen? Do you realize that this stuff would not affect you as much as it does today? If you were fit, you were spiritually fit. I told my, my class on a couple of Tuesday nights ago, when we started this, this, this series,

And I said, guys, I said, it would be like me trying to fight Mike Tyson. I am in no shape to fight Mike Tyson. He would give me one punch and I'd be on the, I'd be done. Fight over. Right. Why? Because I am not, I have not put my body through the disciplines that it needs to fight Mike Tyson. And I'm asking you, have you put your spiritual life through the

disciplines that it needs to fight the enemy.

Kevin Wilson (01:20:55.844)
Have you put your -

your spiritual life through the dedication. Have you given the dedication it needs? So that you can actually withstand all of the fiery darts of the evil one. As we get closer and closer to the end, things are not going to get better. They are going to get worse in our society. We can hide and we can say, I'm just going to turn my TV off and.

go into a hole and not leave my house. I mean, but that's not what God wants us to do. God wants us to be a light in the midst of darkness, which means that the darker the world gets, the brighter the church should be. And the only way the church is bright is that you're bright because remember the church is not a building. The church is you and I.

So I encourage you, this is to encourage you and to spur you on and to give you that poke to say, hey, don't drift, don't watch it, be careful. This is me being your accountability partner and also preaching to myself to say, hey bud, you're just getting a little bit off, won't you? Get on that side, right?

Kevin Wilson (01:22:23.94)
I love you and I want to see you succeed in the things of God. I want you to grow. I want you to, I don't want you to, to, to drift. I want you to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. That's what I want for you. I want you to put the full armor of God.

Kevin Wilson (01:22:51.3)
All right. If you need help, you need prayer. Do not forget our phone number 248 -301 -2010. Leave me a voicemail or you can text that line and I will put you on the list to pray for. If you want to share your need, fine. If you don't, you say, Hey, Kev, could you just pray for me? I will do that for you. All right. I love you. God bless you. And we will see you next time.