This message was shared by Apostle Kathryn Krick, Lead Pastor/ Apostle of 5F Church in Los Angeles, on October 19, 2025. To watch the full video, scroll to the bottom of this post. We pray this teaching blesses you and equips you to walk as a powerful vessel of God. 

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” 

If you really want to be someone whom Jesus can use mightily and if you want fulfill your calling on this earth, you must become a disciple. “Disciple” means a learner, a student. So if you're a lifelong disciple, you’re also a lifelong student. God has so much that He needs to pour into you, especially right now. In this season, most Christians are coming from totally old wine. They think it was the new wine, but it wasn’t anything of the new wine, really. And some are coming from a mixture of old and new wine. 

Jesus says that to receive the new wine, you have to shed your old wineskin completely—you have to have a totally new wineskin, or else you won’t be able to receive, keep, and nurture this precious new wine. It’s so important to know the season we are in right now. For those of you whose eyes have opened up recently to God’s power, even a few years ago, that’s not too long compared to decades of not knowing Jesus or decades of having old wine doctrine in you. Your spiritual eyes have recently opened up to so many things about the spiritual realm you didn’t know: God’s power, God’s compassion, and love. So many of you have been Christians for decades and you really didn't know God’s love. You were never shown God’s love accurately. You were shown a Pharisee version of God, similar to how the Pharisees wrongly represented God. For so many of you, your eyes have recently opened up to God’s love. There’s so much you have to learn because you’ve recently entered into the new wine. You’ve just started to receive the new wine and you have so much old wine that you still have to get out of you. So it’s important that you are always humbling yourself, that you are a lifelong learner. If you’re not seeing the fruits of Jesus in your character and in the works in your life, that’s an easy way to tell that you have a lot more to receive, a lot more to learn, and a lot more areas of growth. So be humble, be real with yourself, be honest with yourself so that you are able to continually learn. 

To be a disciple, you have to deny yourself and pick up your cross. That means doing things you don’t want to do: to do things your flesh doesn’t want to do. You have to pick up your cross to really be a disciple of Jesus. You have to deny yourself completely, which means surrendering all, crucifying your old self, crucifying all of your fleshly nature. 

Galatians 5:24

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Those who belong to Christ have completely crucified—not partially crucified, not 90 percent crucified—they have totally crucified their old self, their old nature. That’s what is required to be a disciple of Jesus. It’s not required to be a churchgoer or to be someone who calls themself a Christian. But to be a disciple, to be one whom God can use, and to fulfill your purpose on this earth, you have to crucify your old self completely. 

Many of you need to hear this because some of you have not crucified your old nature completely—only partially, only parts of your old self. You don’t want to end up like the Israelites who wandered in the desert, do you? It was up to them whether they would wander around and take years to get to the Promised Land or whether they would go quickly. But because they chose to hang on to their Egyptian selves, they had to wander. They were stagnant. They were not growing. They were complaining in the wilderness. They were not humbling themselves to see spiritually that God was with Moses, and that they could trust Moses even when they didn’t understand certain things. They could trust that God was with Moses; they could trust the leadership of Moses.

But the Israelites started questioning Moses. And as they questioned Moses, they were questioning God, because God had appointed Moses as leader. Moses’ actions were led by God, and so as they questioned Moses’ actions, they were questioning God. Then they started complaining about the food that God was supernaturally releasing from the sky to them. At one point they said, “It would be better if we were back in Egypt” (Exodus 4:12).  

Their old Egyptian selves liked the Egyptian life, the old Egyptian way of doing things, the old Egyptian lifestyle. That part of them was alive; it was not crucified, and that’s what gave them so much trouble and kept them from growing. Most of them didn’t fulfill their purpose. They didn’t walk in their calling, they didn’t get to walk into the Promised Land because they simply couldn’t grow. They chose to not grow. They had to grow in order to stop going around in circles and to move forward into the Promised Land. But because they chose not to grow, they kept going around in circles. It was up to them. 

You need to make sure that you are fully crucifying the Egyptian self in you. If you don’t fully crucify your old nature, your old self, it will look like this: you’ll be a good Christian a lot of the time, you’ll be acting godly a lot of the time. In those times your old self is sleeping, it’s not active, it’s not coming to the forefront. But once in a while, temptations come. A temptation gets your old self going, it awakens the old self that hasn’t been crucified, and that old self wakes up and causes you to act in the flesh, to cause chaos, and to misrepresent God. 

That’s why some of you may notice that you’re doing well, you’re living purely and righteously, but once in a while, you act in a way you’re not proud of. Why is that happening? Because you have not totally crucified your old self. You have not denied that part of your flesh. You have to come against the ways of the flesh. You have to say, ”No I don't want this in my life. This is not representing Jesus rightly, this is not pure, I don’t want that. I despise that. Get out of my life. I deny it. I crucify this part of me.” But the parts that you haven’t crucified yet, those are the parts that you like, that you will argue with and make excuses with in your mind, “It’s OK. This is OK. I see other Christians doing this, too, so it’s OK. I see other Christians who have big platforms, ministers even, doing this, too, speaking this, too, posting this, too, so it’s OK.” Deep down you’re convicted, but you make excuses, because you like it. 

Think about this: when you’re lukewarm—and I went through years of being lukewarm before my eyes were opened up to God’s power and love, so I know what I’m talking about—you’re liking the things of God, you’re loving God, but you’re also liking some things of the world. But you’re not going too deep in the world, just a little bit, because you see others doing it and it’s not as bad as what others are doing. You’re dipping your toe in the world, in the old wine, and you justify these things because you like them. 

You need to embrace the correction of the Holy Spirit. You need to embrace that conviction that you truly do hear and then you try to cover up. Instead of despising that conviction, you need to embrace it. God corrects those whom He loves, so when you feel conviction like, “Oh I shouldn’t be doing that,” instead of thinking, “Oh, but I like doing that,” learn instead to see it how it really is, to see that God’s conviction is for your good. It’s to help you. It’s not to punish you. It’s not to keep you from having as much fun. It’s for your good. I promise you, that’s one thing I can promise: fun with Jesus is so much better than the fun of the world and the fun of the old wine. For many of you, it's not a lot of things of the world that you haven’t crucified, but it’s things of the old wine. So hear this for what you need to hear it for. 

The reason that people like to have fun is because of the way it makes them feel. It releases happiness, the smile on their face makes them feel good, the joy, the contentment, the peace, the excitement. But the energy that Jesus brings in His will is so much greater than the happiness or whatever kind of feeling you feel when you have fun in the world’s way. I can promise you that. I don’t promise many things, but I can promise you that. I can guarantee this to you. The will of God is the best place to be in the world. So when this conviction comes, you need to change your mindset. When you're in the old wine, when you’re not understanding God’s grace, love, and compassion and you’re seeing Him as judgmental, then you receive the conviction with judgment, with condemnation. Whenever there’s judgment and forcefulness like, “Don’t do this! You shouldn’t be doing this!” that makes someone want to rebel. It doesn’t make them feel excited to follow the rule when something comes with force, right? So it’s important that you renew your mind with what God has shown you of His love, of His goodness, of this truth that I’m telling you: that God’s will is the best place to be. So then when that conviction comes, whether it’s in a teaching or in a still small voice as you’re about to do something, as you’re about to post something, see it as love, see it as, “This is for my good. Yes, thank you God. I want to despise what you despise, God. I want to despise the things of the flesh. I want to despise the old wine. I want to despise it so I can deny it.”

To be a disciple of Jesus and to pick up your cross, you need to shine your light—you need to be the light of the world. You need to represent Jesus rightly and fully. People are watching. This is serious business, and so anything that you are doing, any lifestyle that you have that is not representing Jesus rightly, you need to crucify in order to be the light. Anything that you are doing, any way you are behaving, any words you are saying, anything you are posting that’s not conforming to the kingdom of God or representing the kingdom of God and Jesus rightly, you need to deny and crucify it! That is what God is asking for. 

It’s so important that you are doing your part so that God can mold you to be like Him. You have to take the action of denying. You have to take the action of crucifying your flesh. You have to take the action of receiving that correction and doing something about it, applying that correction and conviction to your life. And this is where we get into the topic of “The Soil of Your Heart"—tending the soil of your heart so that the seeds that God put in you can grow. 

Matthew 13:3-9

Then He told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop–a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Matthew 13:18-23

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes, because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

This is the parable of the sower. God is the sower. He is planting seeds in you. The seeds that He is planting in you are His words: His logos words, based upon the Bible, the written word, and the rhema word, the present-day word of God. The rhema is God speaking something to you now. It comes from the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, and it will primarily come through your spiritual leader or leaders as they teach, because you need help understanding the word of God. That’s why God gave the five-fold ministry. Ephesians 4:11-13 says: The Spirit poured out gifts to the church. They were apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. And the purpose of these gifts, to summarize, is to equip the believers, so that they would no longer be immature baby Christians, who are tossed around by the schemes of the devil, but instead they would be mature.

They would be so mature! They would be victorious in their own spiritual life over the devil!  Because your life is not supposed to be this constant combat with the devil. The Bible says that we are more than conquerors; another translation says, “He has given us overwhelming victory” (Romans 8:37). God’s power compared to the devil is a joke. The difference is laughable. The devil is just a liar. He tries to make it seem like he and God are equal in power. It’s such a joke! It’s laughable. It’s hilarious.

If you were to physically see and measure the size of God, God would be up to the ceiling (obviously, He’s way bigger than that) and the devil would be tinier than a grain of sand. He’s microscopic. If you could see it physically, you would laugh at the devil. He’s a liar! You are not supposed to be in constant combat with the devil. You are supposed to be walking in overwhelming victory over the devil. 

That’s my life every day, glory to God. I’m walking in overwhelming victory over the devil. I’m not spending time thinking about the devil. I’m not spending time being distraught about the devil’s schemes upon my life. I don’t give him an ounce of my thoughts or my time. Any attack that God allows, I know God is going to use it for my good. I think, “Haha, joke's on you, devil!” The only time I’m thinking about the devil is laughing at him when he attacks me, knowing that he is going to pay. 

Why do I speak with faith like this? Because I’ve been equipped by the five-fold ministry. My spiritual father is a prophet. His anointed teachings have opened up my spiritual eyes, so I can see, God is up there (pointing to the ceiling), and you can’t even see the devil (pointing to the floor). I see that in my life! And I’ve been equipped to know the schemes of the devil and how to conquer him every single time. That’s why I walk with this faith. And this is how you are supposed to walk as well—to walk in this confident faith and overwhelming victory. 

How do you walk in this overwhelming victory? You need to be equipped like I was equipped! You need to have anointed teachings that open up your spiritual eyes. The Bible is very clear on this: We need the five-fold ministry; we need anointed teachings to equip us to be spiritually mature. 

What does that equipping look like? Equipping you to understand the Bible, because that’s our roadmap. That’s everything we need to know: the Bible, the word of God! It’s the roadmap of how to have victory over the devil. It’s all in there. But you need revelation of what God is really speaking through His word. The Pharisees crucified Jesus because of their wrong revelation of the word of God. Do you see how important it is to have the right revelation, Jesus’ revelation of the word of God? You need the equipping so you don’t end up like a Pharisee, but like a disciple. You need anointed teachings to understand the word of God.

God is the sower, and He uses His anointed ministers as vessels through which the seed comes forth. Servants of God, like me for example, partner with God to sow a seed in your life through the teachings. So right now I’m dropping a seed in you. God and I are partnering together. These words are seeds. They are alive, and they will transform you so much! That’s how I have been transformed, by my spiritual father planting seeds in me, the word of God, these spiritual seeds. Isn’t it exciting to come to church when you know that? That’s the power of the anointed teachings! Glory to God!

Right now, I’m planting seeds—God is planting seeds in you through me, through the teachings. 

Matthew 13:23

The seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

That’s powerful! Are you excited to receive the word of God? Look at what you can produce by this seed, by this 45-50-minute teaching coming in your life: a hundred-times harvest!

What does that look like? It looks like your spiritual eyes opening up so much more. You are able to transform so much, so that God can pour His anointing in you, because now He trusts you and He can use you to touch so many more lives. That’s what it looks like. That’s what the harvest looks like. But it only comes upon those who will understand it. 

… someone who hears the word and understands it.

This is describing someone who hears the word, who has their ears fully opened up to hear spiritually. You are reading this with the expectation that God is going to speak to you—not that I am going to speak to you, not just to read a sermon—but to receive seeds from God! You need to come with this expectation, with the humility that says, “I need this word. I need this seed. I don’t have a full forest, a full garden. I need this seed today, because my garden is a little empty. I need this seed. I need to change. I need to transform. I need more understanding of God’s ways and His new wine. I need this word.” 

When you come to church or to a livestream, you should come with this serious expectation: “God wants to plant a seed in me that could yield a hundred-times harvest. This is very serious. This is really important. This is a big deal. I need to treat it really seriously. This word of God that I receive today is so life-changing; it can transform me so that God can use me to change many lives.”

That takes humility. This is the one who hears. And the Bible says over and over that it’s the pure who shall see God. It’s the humble who shall receive the revelations from God. 

Jesus says in the section in between the verses we read, “The Pharisees over here have eyes but they do not see. They have ears but they do not hear. But blessed are you who see and hear” (Matthew 13:13). He is talking to the disciples. What was the difference? The disciples were humble. The Pharisees had pride. The Pharisees were know-it-alls; they knew the word of God really well. They had been believers and followers of God for a long time. So they couldn't hear the new thing that Jesus was trying to teach them. He put the seeds on them and the birds just plucked it away immediately. They didn’t value the seed, so that the seeds could sink down in their hearts, in the soil of their hearts and germinate, to be covered and protected. 

When you put a seed in the ground, you don’t put it on the top. You have to plant it down deep so it can germinate and be protected, so that birds won’t pluck it and so it won’t be trampled on. You have to be humble. You have to be real with yourself, as I mentioned, and see that you still need to grow. You don’t have the full fruits, like Jesus has, like the disciples had, like you may be seeing in servants of God today. You need more! You should think, “I need more! I need to learn. I need to change. I’m not a professional disciple. No! I’m far from it. I’m a kindergartener.” Come in a humble way like that. When you come to receive the word of God, it’s not time for you to be confident in the Lord. You need to be confident in the Lord, but you need to be humble first and receive, so you can then be confident in the Lord and in what He has revealed to you. You need to learn first. When you come to church, you need to come with this humble kindergartener’s heart. “There’s so much I have to learn, and I am ready. I am going to receive this word of God today. I welcome correction and conviction with open arms. Give it to me, Lord! Humble me, Lord! Correct me, Lord, because you love me. I receive your love!” Because God corrects those He loves, the Bible says (Hebrews 12:6).

It’s your job to cultivate the soil of your heart. That is your job. It’s not my job to see that you grow. It’s my job to plant seeds. It’s your job to make sure that you grow.

By the way, I don’t do this for fun. I don’t teach for fun. Servants of God do not teach for fun. I definitely don’t preach for fun because my testimony is that public speaking was my biggest fear and weakness. I never thought, “Oh, I have this powerful revelation from God, I want to go live, I want to preach to a bunch of people what God spoke to me!” That was never me! This is all God, this ability to preach and the fire I have now to preach. Glory to God! I don’t do this for fun. Servants of God do not preach just because it’s Sunday and we have to preach a sermon. We do not do it to go through the program. No! We do this: I teach you because I was sent by God’s kingdom government to release this revelation that God has entrusted me with for your sake; to release it to you to help you be who God wants you to be.

That’s why I preach: to teach you. That’s why God commands me to teach you, to help you be who God called you to be. It’s not for my benefit. It’s not for my fun. It’s not to go through the motions and do something religious on Sundays. You need to see it that way, too. Don’t go through the motions; think, “I am coming to receive a word I need!" 

In the Scripture, we find that if the seeds are just left on top of the ground, birds can pluck them. 

What happens is that there are people who love God, they love the new wine, and they love revival, but they’re not taking the word of God as seriously as they should. They’re not taking these teachings as seriously as they should. They’re taking the teachings they like seriously, but with the ones that convict them, they think, “But I like this part of the old wine. Are you sure this part of old wine isn’t new wine?” That goes on in their head instead of receiving that seed. You should be here with this open heart. In your heart, you’re preparing, you’re digging down, making a way for the seed to come underground instead of being on top. That’s your job: to come and prepare, to think, “I empty myself out. I’m digging out the soil. I empty myself out of things that I thought I knew, of the old wine, of old things I’ve been taught, so I can make way for this precious seed. I don’t know what this seed is going to be; I might not like this seed, but I know this seed is from God. I’m not listening first and then digging. I’m emptying myself out first and making a place for that seed.” 

You receive that word and you say, “Yes, amen!” Maybe you don’t understand, like the people in Jesus' time when Jesus was saying eat my flesh and drink my blood (John 6:53-56), when He was talking about communion and the spiritual revelation of how we must intake His body to have salvation. When he said this, many people didn't understand and they ended up leaving Him! Many! 

That’s an example of Jesus pouring out the seed, bringing this teaching and it’s snatched away by the devil immediately, by the birds, because the people didn’t come ready to receive. They came wanting to question the word. 

Once God has called you to be planted where He wants you to be planted, at a church that is anointed and where God has called you, He’s calling you to be childlike, not skeptical and prideful. It’s not wise to just be childlike to every minister because not every minister is anointed to teach you and equip you to be who God has called you to be. A lot of ministers have a mixture of old wine and new wine; some have total old wine. But what I’m saying is when God has called you to be planted somewhere, when He’s shown you the fruits, get all that skepticism out of you or you’re going to be like those people that left Jesus. You’ll be going there, listening to the word, then deciding if you want to receive it or not. And when you say, “I don’t know,” you let the devil speak to you, you let the birds pluck it away, and you could end up being deceived by the devil and leaving, just like the people left Jesus. The twelve disciples didn’t leave Jesus. They said, “Where can we go?” (John 6:68) They had prepared their hearts already to not question the word that Jesus was releasing, but to receive it. 

Once you are planted here (I’m speaking to those of you who are planted here, or maybe if you’re not sure if you’re planted yet but you’re seeing nothing but good fruits), you don’t need to come with skepticism. That’s just going to harm you. You have to be humble, pure, childlike. That’s how you prepare a place for the seed to come, to go down into the soil of your heart. Then you put the soil over it. You say, “Yes, I receive it. Come, seed. Yes, this word of God, I receive it. OK, I’m putting soil over top of it now to protect it.” “Yes! I receive this word, and on top of that, I meditate on it!” You meditate on the word; you watch this message again. 

One of my spiritual children recently tagged me on their story and shared this testimony: “I watched the teaching from Sunday three times, and on the third time, I got so much more revelation! It was so shocking!”

As you relisten to the messages, it’s like putting that soil over top of the seed. You’re making no place for the seed to escape, for birds to pluck it away. 

What happens many times is that people don’t come with this reverence that God is calling them to, in order to receive this word. They come, they hear it first, and they think, “Eh, I’ll return to this later.” God is calling them to receive the word. God is convicting them, but they’re not ready to deny that part of themselves yet. They haven’t totally crucified their old man yet. Maybe they don’t fully reject it, but they think, “Eh, I don’t really want to receive this right now.” They leave the seed on the top of the ground. They don’t protect that seed. They don’t take that word seriously. So then what happens, the bird plucks it. The devil plucks it. 

You have to understand that one of the biggest things that the devil doesn’t want you to receive is the word of God, the rhema word of God. It’s how you grow! It’s how you grow to be a mature vessel of God. God can entrust you with His anointing and you can then destroy the devil’s kingdom and lead many people to Jesus. You need to be spiritually aware of how much the devil doesn’t want you to receive the word, and his schemes to try to pluck it from you. That’s why some people grow quickly. Others don’t grow very fast. They’re planted in a church where God’s power is, but they’re not growing fast. That’s also why some people behave in strange ways. You might think, “I thought they loved the new wine. I thought they loved the word of God. Why are they behaving like this? Why are they posting this?” It’s because they haven’t crucified that part of their old self, so when they hear that word of conviction, they’re not receiving that conviction, they’re not preparing a place for that seed to grow. They’re not valuing that seed, and they are not protecting the seed with soil. 

Some seeds that are planted, it’s like a waste. Some people who don’t receive or value the teaching, it’s like a waste. They might as well not have even listened to the message because the devil plucked it. They can even say, “Oh yeah, I want to go back to this teaching. I want to go back and remember what I’ve learned,” but the devil already took the seed. But the good news is you can go back to the old teachings and come with an open heart, and then God can plant a seed afresh. Hallelujah! 

The devil can cause you to forget what you’ve received. You can even receive it and think, “Oh yes, that’s true. I feel that conviction. I need to do better with that. I’m acting kind of in the old wine in that area. I’m acting judgmental in this area. Yes, that’s a good word.” But you’re taking it casually. That’s the difference between Pharisee hearts and pure hearts. There are pure hearts that aren’t taking the word of God seriously enough. They’re taking it too casually. When you think, “Yes, I need that conviction,” but you take it casually, the devil plucks the seed and you forget. You literally forget. The devil causes you to forget what you heard in the teaching. You actually received the conviction, but you didn’t value the conviction, and you didn’t start applying it in your life and making that intention. 

Any one of you who are called to leadership, you have a responsibility to represent Jesus rightly, to not be popping up your old self here and there, confusing people. They might think, “That doesn’t seem like the Jesus we’re learning about. That doesn’t seem like compassion. That doesn’t seem like humility. That doesn’t seem like love. That seems judgmental. That’s not what we see our leader doing, the way we’ve been taught. It doesn’t look like they’re imitating our leader like they imitate Christ.” If you’re in a place of leadership, those who are underneath your leadership will think these things and it will confuse them. It’s a big responsibility to be in a place of leadership. 

Like for those of you who are small group leaders, it’s a big responsibility you have. And not just small group leaders, but every single one of you is a leader in God's revival army. You are on the front lines of God’s revival army. This revival is going to extend to the ends of this earth. This revival is for the whole body of Christ. There’s so much more ground to cover than where we are now. You are among the first. You are leaders! Those of you who are planted, who are a part of this revival army, who have said yes to God’s power and to the new wine and to God’s principles and ways, you are among the first. You are on the front lines of this revival army. You are leaders! You are all called to be leaders. Many are called, few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). Many are called to be leaders, to be people who represent Jesus rightly, who look like Jesus, who sound like Jesus, whose social media posts look like Jesus! 

You need to understand that people are looking at you like a mirror. They want to become more like Jesus, and in those of you that are in this revival, people are seeing you as leaders without you realizing it because they’re seeing you thrive. They’re seeing your light shine. They might not treat you like a leader but they’re looking up to you. They’re looking at your light, thinking, “What is it about their light? They have the abundant life that I want.” They’re looking at you like a leader, and the more you’re representing Jesus rightly, the more they’re attracted to listen to your testimony, to listen to you share about Jesus, to receive your invitation to come to church, to watch this revival and receive online. 

People want to look at you and see the image of Christ, to see Christlikeness. They’re looking up to you. They see you as a leader. They’re looking to see you represent Jesus rightly. That’s a responsibility you have. You need to remember that when it comes to taking care of the seeds that are planted. It’s not just about your own spiritual growth; it’s about many others who are looking up to you. It’s about a responsibility that God has already bestowed upon you.  

People should never wonder about you. They should never see questionable things about you. They shouldn’t think, “What they did was weird. That doesn’t seem Christlike. That doesn’t seem like what I’ve learned, like what we’ve learned at church.” You should carry that in your heart, that you have this responsibility, that people are looking up to you. They’re looking at you very carefully. I know it sounds like a lot of pressure, but when you surrender everything to God, His yoke is easy and light. “My yoke is easy, my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). The devil wants to give us his yoke and that is very heavy. God wants to give us His yoke, which is picking up our cross, surrendering our lives. But He makes it doable. He makes it totally doable and not heavy. It may sound like pressure, like “Oh, I need to be thinking about all these people looking up to me.” But it’s not pressure. It’s possible with Jesus, but you have to pick up your cross. 

Yes, people are watching you. People are seeing every single post you make on social media. People are listening to the words you say. People are watching your actions. The more you’re like Jesus, the more you set an example for them to follow and be more like Jesus, too. If you can have this fear of God and see the seriousness of your calling, it will help you. It will motivate you. It will strengthen you to make that intention to be a person who grows. To be a person of good soil, in whom the seed grows and produces a great harvest! 

Are you ready to grow? It’s time to grow. It’s time to look carefully at every part of your life. What part haven’t you crucified? What part are you going around in circles like the Israelites because you’re keeping your old Egyptian way. What “Egypt” in you hasn’t gotten out yet? 

When you come with this open heart, ready to be corrected and convicted, you will hear God’s voice clearly, because He wants you to transform more than you do. It’s time now. It’s time to grow like never before. It’s time to take God's word more seriously than ever. It’s time to please God with your obedience in this. Hallelujah.