Are You An Out Of Shape Christian?

In this episode, Kevin discusses the importance of being in shape spiritually as a Christian. He emphasizes the dangers of being shaped by the culture, the people around us, and our own fleshly desires. Kevin encourages Christians to stand out and not conform to the ways of the world. He reminds listeners to focus on pleasing God rather than seeking the approval of others.

Transcript

Kevin (00:00.112)
In the world of athletics, it's not uncommon for players to have a lot of skill and talent but be unable to fulfill their full potential because they didn't take care of their bodies. From the perspective of they didn't eat right, they didn't exercise, they were just not in good shape. There are a myriad of stories you can think of any sport, basketball, football, you name it, where there have been players who have been drafted, number 1 draft picks, high, highly talented, coming out of college, or what have you.

Once they got to the big show, the big leagues, the professional ranks, their level of lack of shape kept them from living out there for potential. And there's a lot of people you can, you can Google again, scores of athletes who once they got in the game, they show some great flashes of things. You say, my goodness, if only this person would get in shape, if only they would take their physical health seriously.

Now that's really not too different from us as Christians because we, a lot of us, matter of fact, all of us have been given gifts and talents by God. So just like that athlete, that first round draft pick in basketball or football, when it comes to the things of God, you and I first round draft picks when it comes to him as well. He's drafted us into his army to do his work. But just like these athletes, unfortunately, we a lot of times as Christian are out of shape.

Now when I say out of shape, I don't mean necessarily that you're not reading your word, that you're not studying, that you don't have a relationship with God. So yes, you know the Lord. But when I say out of shape, I mean that you are not allowing God himself to shape you. That you're allowing things and places and perspectives to shape you, to shape your thinking, to shape your mind. So now that gift, instead of being used to glorify God, can end up doing other things as opposed to what it was in the beginning.

originally intended. So that's what I want to talk about this week's episode is how can you tell as a Christian to make sure that you're not out of shape spiritually when it comes to the things of God. So the first way that a person can show that they're not in shape is if when they operate in their gifts and their talents that they're shown that they're being shaped by the culture.

Kevin (02:25.808)
Now I've talked about this in a similar sense, one of the episodes. And it's one of those things where as Christians, we have to understand that we are not supposed to be like the world. That the world church again is called out. You are not separate. God has pulled us out from the darkness that the scripture says into his marvelous light. But what happens family is that too many times ministries and ministers, and that includes everyone, you have to be a priest to be considered a minister.

we get caught up in what the world is doing. We get caught up in the popular things. We get caught up in the music and the movies and the culture and even the clothing. All of these things that the world is popular, we tend to be shaped by those things. And unfortunately, as I just stated, we're not supposed to be like the culture. We're supposed to stand out. And it's kind of a thing where we have it backwards.

we think in order to bring people to Christ, we have to be like the world and be shaped by the culture. What is actually the opposite? The more we're entirely the culture, the more we actually stand out. Think about it. The fact that you're not like everyone else is going to draw the eyeballs to you. Wait a minute, there's something different about her. There's something different about him. I'm sure there are people that you may have led to Christ.

because they saw how different you were, how you were so counter culture. And then you have to look at it from this perspective. Christian, if you do know the word, like I hope you do, if you do have a relationship with Christ, like I hope you do, then you realize that some of the music that the culture says, you shouldn't be listening to anyway. Some of the movies that's popular, you shouldn't be watching anyway. Some of the clothing that's popular, you shouldn't be wearing it anyway. And this is one of those things again, when it comes to.

when we do the church such a disservice because we give the world ammunition to use against us. Because when you go to churches and you go online and you can just go to YouTube or TikTok, you can see millions of them. People come in the church and they have these themes that are based on a song or a series is based on a movie. And let's go there as well for both sexes. But more importantly, I want to, I want to kind of focus on my ladies here.

Kevin (04:50.128)
A lot of times you have ladies who are speaking from pulpits and speaking engagements and their clothing is such to where it's not really representative of what the Christian morals and values they claim to represent. You can't have, you can't be talking about Christ when everyone's looking at your cleavage. It's just, and the problem is again, shaped by the culture, right? The problem becomes you can bring that up to a Christian.

And you can tell it being shaped by the culture because the first thing they will say is, well, you can't be a Pharisee or you can't judge me. Well, guess what, Christian, if you are a Christian, it is my job to tell you brother, sister, friend, you need to not dress that way. You need to not watch that movie. You need to change some of those songs in your rotation on your phone or on your Spotify or whatever you listen to. But what happens is too many Christians.

are being shaped by the culture as opposed to being shaped by the spirit. And then when people from the world see the people who are supposed to be Christians looking just like them, they think they can continue to live like they live and be considered Christian. Because we again give the world and give people in the world a perspective or a belief system that thinks that you can do what you want and God is peaceful. And you and I both know as Christians, that's not the case.

God expects us to change. It's a cliche coming. You can come as you are, but as a Christian, as you grow, you should not stay how you are. So if we're being shaped by the spirit as we should be, then we should not be shaped by the culture. Let me give you a scripture to start off. Very famous scripture. Romans chapter 12, starting at verse two. It says, don't copy the behavior and custom of this world.

but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. And this is one of those things too, talking about being led by the culture and shaped by the culture, which is kind of ironic what I'm about to say. It's the curse and the blessing of social media. Like it's a blessing because of me sitting in front of this camera with this.

Kevin (07:12.976)
equipment, doing this show. There are people who will see this and will meet Kevin Toomer, who I would have never otherwise been able to meet. There are some people, hopefully, that I blessed, I've encouraged, I've instructed, I've ministered to, that otherwise, all the way across this globe, would never get a chance to see me. I would never have had a chance to reach and interact with them. So that's the blessing of social media is that you can have an audience that's literally worldwide in a matter of seconds.

Beautiful thing. But here's the curse of it. The curse of it is too many people want to get on it because of that same reason. Because you can get on and in 10 seconds have a worldwide audience. And the problem because I'm going to go there. Not everyone needs to have a worldwide audience. Now everyone should have a right to their opinion. Everyone should have a right to believe what they want to believe and say what they want to say. But at the same time,

That's not the same thing as everyone having a right to say what they want and it be received because not everything that people say should be received. Not everything that people say is in line with the scripture, is in line with the world, is suitable for public consumption. So that's the curse. And again, if you go to social media, I see it a lot. the things that just make you shake your head, not even about faith.

not even about Christianity, just plain decency. There are things that you see in the world that people are doing and songs and behaviors and people just get online and they say anything. And what happens is I see it time and time again. Someone will say something that's abhorrent and it goes viral. And then the next week, somebody referred to it on Sunday. They'll do a whole sermon.

based on that quote, that person, somebody may say something off color, and it gets a lot of love and it goes viral, there's a preacher waiting to use that same thing next week. And why are we using worldly methods to do spiritual work? We don't have to use cultural things. God's spirit is not enough. You need to tell me, the Holy Spirit has seen you. You have his word if you read it which you should.

Kevin (09:36.88)
You have His Holy Spirit, you've been praying and you have a relationship with the Spirit, but you think you gotta dig into the cesspool of the world because the Holy Spirit is not enough. You're not effective enough doing God's work outside of using what God has given you. You see how crazy that sounds? But that's what happens with so many of us as Christians. We are being out of shape because we're not being changed by the Spirit. So it's incumbent upon us to have the right perspective and understand.

As the scripture says, yes we are in the world, but we're not of it. And we should act accordingly. People should see us and scratch their head and be like, something different about Kevin, something different about Joe, something different about Susie. Let me find out what it is and we should be able to articulate what that is. So that's the first thing. We need to understand about what's different or what makes us sometimes as Christians,

appear to be out of shape. But the second reason why we can be out of shape as a Christian is because first again we've been shaped by the culture. But secondly, we've been shaped by the people. And this is one that's really hard because we're people. And it's hard. You can't avoid everyone. You can't just live in a bubble, especially as a Christian because we're not called to live in a bubble. We're called

to be evangelist, to be able to go out, to be able to spread the gospel, to be someone who can defend the gospel. We have to be apologists and evangelists. We have to be light in the world. So it means we're gonna be rubbing elbows with people in the world. Well, what happens is we will let their perception or their thought change how we view ourselves or how we should live. Because what happens is we again,

have the Holy Spirit, we have God's word, we have prayer, we have all of these things that tell us how we should carry ourselves. But one person can say the right thing or the wrong thing, depending on their perspective, and that changes everything. Sometimes you and I have been walking resolutely with Christ, filled with the Spirit, Spirit -led and Spirit -fed. And one person sent you an email. One person,

Kevin (12:03.856)
since your texts, one person says something and all that did was take you away from the path. So what's one thing about being shaped by the people? Not only do being shaped by the people take you away from the path, but sometimes being shaped by the people helps you take you on an imposter path. Sometimes it takes you off the path completely. So you're not even following Christ, but this is the part that's dangerous. You can be shaped by people.

and be misled and thinking you're still on the right path. Now you're still going, you may still be doing your work, you may be still preaching, you may still be teaching, you still may be doing a podcast, but God isn't pleased with you. God isn't getting glory because now you're shaped by the people, shaped also from the perspective of, and this is key, kind of alluded to the first point, right, about the culture. Because if I'm so concerned about what I'm doing for God pleasing people,

then I'm really pleasing people, I'm not pleasing God. Let me say that again. If I'm so concerned in my pleasing of God about pleasing people, I'm not really pleasing God, I'm really pleasing people. And what happens is this. Now I have to continue pleasing people. I have to continue doing things and doing tactics and things and tricks and things because guess what happens? You get to look at it in culture.

Things are transient so quickly in prop culture. The things that were popular five years ago are not popular now. So guess what you gotta do? Keep up with the times. Okay, I gotta keep in step with the next trend. So guess what you're doing? You're changing to keep up with the trends. All the while, God is marginalized. Because now you're not thinking about what he says, because his truth withstands the test of time. It doesn't cater to the culture, but because people...

or now you're God, I'm going there. People are now the reason why you're doing it. Guess what I gotta do? I gotta switch up now. Okay, they like this kind of thing, I'm doing this. Okay, now they're into this now. So I gotta switch up. And most of the time, we're not thinking about how God feels. We're not thinking about how that is in line with scripture because again, my goal is being shaped by the people. And what happens a lot of times, and I see this so often as a minister, as a preacher, and it drives me up.

Kevin (14:30.032)
It's when I see preachers Give any scripture and first of all y 'all know me I'm a stickler out of context. They already strike one and strike two But then I can tell They're only talking about the people How this is gonna be your season? God's gonna move in your life. God's gonna do this for you you you you you you but then too They'll try this is how they got clever, right? It's under a

thin veneer of your destiny. So yes, God has a plan for your life and let me tell you how it's going to bless you. You see what I'm saying? It's not about God's plan coming to fruition. Yes, brother, sister, parishioner, God has a plan for you. Now let me tell you how it's gonna help you. You see what we're doing? Shaped by the...

Making sure that these people who come to this church, who come to this, whatever it is, if we come, as I've said multiple times on my show, self help seminar, a Christian pep rally. I come in, I mean, I'm gonna keep it real. Come in the church. If your pastor focuses on so often about relationships, more so than about your religion, you got a problem.

This is even not a personal thing. I need you to think about this guys. Where in the scriptures does it say anywhere where a person who was called by God, it gives relationship advice in a church setting. Now, as a Christian, should you get counseling for relationships? Absolutely. Do you need help in letting God lead you to your spouse, your husband, your wife? Absolutely. But that's something you do.

pastor or the leader, whoever that is, you and that person, you guys go aside and you discuss those things. But if every week I come to this edifice and I'm hearing about how gospel seen your husband or gospel seen your wife or there's all there are good men or there are good women and what are they doing capitalizing on things the people want because people like to talk about these things. So it's about me being popular.

Kevin (16:56.465)
First point, the culture, the people make the culture. So this is what people, this is what's going on in the world. This is what people are talking about. So I'm gonna let that shape my view. Because again, I said earlier, sometimes people will listen to other people when they listen to the scriptures themselves. Now part of that is they're lazy. They don't wanna read the scripture for themselves. But then it's easy for me to just say, you tell me what it's.

Okay, that sounds reasonable, especially if it's reasonable and in line with what I want anyway. Think about it. How often do people you see it on online, people leave churches, people leave buildings, whatever, and they say, my goodness, he was talking to me. He was on my street. Now does that happen sometimes? Absolutely. A proper preacher with.

proper exegesis the Holy Spirit can hit the target. Absolutely. But what usually happens in a lot of these cases, it has nothing to do with spirit. It's everything to do with trying to hit the target with that person once. I came in wanting confirmation about what I'm doing or confirmation about how I'm feeling or confirmation about I'm thinking about doing this. I'm thinking about going here and then you just tell me preacher that I'm a good person, that God's gonna bless me.

It's time for you to start their business. It's time. The Lord told me, there's somebody here. He told me you got the green light to write that book. It's the green light to start that business. The Lord told me to tell someone in this room today, I don't know who I'm talking to. Red flag. I don't know who I'm talking to, but God told me to tell you to try again. That this time it's going to work. Then they use the scripture out of context.

Peter in the boat go back into the deep God told me to tell you that you went out into the boat the first time and you didn't catch nothing but Jesus said go into the deep this time go into the deep see? Shaped by the people because who don't want to hear? Yes, it's my time. Who don't want to hear? Yes, this is it's my season. So you and I have to be careful.

Kevin (19:17.424)
that we're not letting people's perception and of course, like we just alluded to the culture shape us from what God may say, because let me say this to you as well. What if God's plan is for you to go through a rough time for a season? When was the last time you heard that in church? That a preacher came out and prophesied that someone in his room is going to have a sickness. Someone in his room is going to lose a loved one.

Someone in this room is going to have a job loss, a career change. Someone in this room is going to have a life altering event. You don't hear that in church, but it happens all the time. Why don't you hear it? Because the people don't want to hear it. So as a person who's being shaped by the people and not being in proper shape, that's what I'm gonna tell you every single time. Let me give you a scripture. John chapter 12.

verses 42 and 43. And it says, yet at the same time, many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees, they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear that would be put out of the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than praise from God. Now that's a very powerful scripture too, because what it's saying is Jesus talking, of course, saying that there are people who,

absolutely believed in Jesus. They saw him doing the works, they saw him doing the miracles, but it was like...

But if I follow you...

Kevin (20:55.248)
The people gonna have something to say I follow you Then you know what that organization of me and fill in the blank They gonna kick me out if I follow you my family Might not be happy if I follow you This person I've been seeing for a few weeks and it seemed like this might be the one but they're not a Christian like that So if I follow Christ like I think I should then I might riches relationship

And I've been waiting five years because the man to God told me that this is my season to not be single no more and this person finally came. So now what should I do? And see what happens? As Christians, we have to be prepared to make that hard decision. We have to be prepared to take that cross that Jesus talks about. We have to be prepared to take on whatever it means because Jesus before me, the world behind.

It says the scripture, they love the praise of man more than the praise of God. And of course, we don't have people acting like that in 2024.

And that's the whole problem. That's why so many Christians, as I'm talking about this whole episode, may be fine physically on the outside, but inside, unfortunately, are in abysmal spiritual shape. So we as Christians gotta make sure we stay on the right path. The path that may be hard, the path that may be difficult, but it's the path that keeps us in great shape when it comes to God. And the last thing for this week.

And sometimes we as Christians can show that we're out of shape. And this is one, every single person on this planet, this way. Well, they deal with the first two as well, but this one more specifically, this one is really coming out. You and I are definitely out of shape as a Christian if we're being shaped by the flesh. Now this is the one where we all are guilty. Prezacoply includes.

Kevin (23:09.584)
We carry our flesh with us everywhere we go. We take us everywhere we go. Now as Christians, obviously we take the Holy Spirit with us, but the flesh is right there with us. And I don't care how long you've been saved. I don't care how often you pray. I don't care how close you are with the Lord. You can be super, super spiritual. Know the word, study, do a podcast, preach, teach, do Sunday school. You could be a great evangelist.

You can be a great apologist. You can do all these things. Your flesh is still arguably your greatest enemy because you don't lose this. This goes with you everywhere you go. Now, when we say flesh, we can take that different tentacles. It could be obviously, if we're going to read scripture, the famous one, you probably know it, but the things you see, all of us at some point,

have seen something somebody had and was like man I wish I had that car I wish I had that house I wish I had that job let me go there man I wish my marriage was like theirs I wish my husband was like that I wish my wife was like that have you done that? or man I really want to be the number one blank

I want to be the one that everyone knows. I want to be the one that everyone comes to. I want to be known or regarded as the expert in my field because I want to be known. I want to be propped up. I want people to know who Kevin is.

So we got that going on. And then it's just sometimes not just something that someone else wants, something you just want. Sometimes you just want stuff just for you and everything you want, you shouldn't want. Every desire we have is not of God. As a matter of fact, most desires are not of God, which is why as Christians we have to be born again to change our desires because the world caters to our flesh. Think about it.

Kevin (25:23.792)
Why else do you think God took us out of the world? Because the world caters to what our flesh wants. I saw this thing, this interview with this person, I don't know who they were, but it's interesting, right? He was saying that people who would be celebrities, he was talking about Hollywood, he was kind of like a, I gotta be honest, he was more like a conspiracy theorist, one of those crazy conspirators, but he said it was interesting. He said that there are people who are celebrities, right? He said when they become a celebrity, famous, and they get rich, they have all this money and fame,

At first, it's great because now I got the money, I can do what I want. So now I can get the house. Now I can get the car. I can take the trips. I can go wherever I want, do whatever I want. People are clamoring for me. You're the greatest, you're the greatest, you're the greatest, you're the greatest. But what happens is this. At some point, it gets boring. Because, okay, I've already taken all the trips.

Yeah, okay, I guess I get the 10th car. Okay, I got the house. You know what? I've, we're going in with those. I've indulged in all bisexual fantasies that I ever wanted to. I've been, I've been interested in all the greatest, most attractive looking men or attractive looking women. I've indulged in all my sexual things. So my flesh in every area you can think of has been satisfied to the point to where now, I'm bored. So guess what they have to do now?

They have to do things that are depraved. They have to do things that are just so wrong and evil because the things that are just normal are no longer doing it for them. Now why am I bringing that up? They're being shaped by the flesh. They're letting the flesh tell them this is what's valuable. This is what you should seek. This is what you should pursue. Not God. We're not pursuing the spirit.

We're not pursuing the world. We're not pursuing what God's plans are. We're totally trying to fit our own agendas. Too many of us, even though we say we're Christians, we're really not. All we are are fans of Jesus. We're part of the Jesus Appreciation Society. But if you're a Christian, you don't just appreciate Jesus, you belong to it.

Kevin (27:48.56)
And if you belong to him, guess what? Your flesh, as he has said time and time again, has to die. Again, when was the last time you went to a church service and you heard the preacher say that? When you come in this building, are you dying today? And I'm not talking about physically. How much have you died in the last?

How have you crucified the flesh in the last week? In what ways have you denied yourself in the last week? Could you do a chart of that? Could you chart the growth of the death of your flesh? Could you chart to see how you have denied yourself increasingly? Now that's hard, but it's what we're called to do. Now granted we have help doing it, the Holy Spirit helps us, but as Christians,

This is the expectation that we should not be shaped by the flesh. We should be scraping off.

Let me give you one more scripture. 1 John chapter 2, starting at verse 15. Very famous scripture. Do not love the world, nor the things it offers you. For when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but these are from this world.

And this world is fading away along with everything that people crave. Just the last part. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. Think about that. That when we give in or give up these desires for the flesh, we're pleasing God. And it says that that's the way to life. I've talked about this in episodes. I have a series I did a year or so about.

Kevin (29:51.152)
walk in the narrow path as a Christian. That this Christian walk is costly. This Christian walk is not comfortable. This Christian walk can be lonely, especially when you're trying to not be shaped by the world. But the good news is the end always just defies the means. That if we stay focused,

if we persevere. Scriptures are replete with those admonitions that we need to stay on the course, to not deviate, to not fall away. Repentance is a regular thing in the Blessed Christians. That's part of staying in shape. Think about it. When you talk about staying in shape, not go to the gym a few times a week, right? And if I miss a week of going to the gym, I can feel it.

I mean, I'm not, you know, buff or whatever, but I'm in better shape now than I have been in many, many years. I feel physically fine. But if I don't go to the gym for a week, first of all, I feel bad. Like Kevin, man, you got, come on, you trying to, you trying to, trying to be healthy. You gotta go, you gotta go, you gotta go. But then physically, I just feel like, I feel like something's missing. I gotta go, I gotta go.

to get in this weight room. I gotta lift these weights. I gotta get on a treadmill. I gotta do these machines. I gotta do all this stuff to stay in shape. Now consequently, or conversely rather, don't you feel that when you're not being shaped properly by the spirit, don't you feel like something's wrong here? Okay, I'm doing this stuff. I'm doing these things, but I gotta get back in the gym as it is.

the presence of God and part of that exercise routine about the people repenting about the culture repenting about the flesh that yes I used to think these things were great but now that's not important now as I'm growing as a Christian my desires have changed a lot but there are things I still want to accomplish and some of them are things in the world you know you think places you want to go things you want to experience

Kevin (32:12.912)
Nothing wrong with that, God created those things. But there are things that I really used to want, that now I don't care if I never do. Now why's that? It's not because I'm some super spiritual person, but God has changed me. He's shaped me. He's shaped my desire. So now, having a million dollars, it's not something that drives me. Being able to know that everyone knows who Kevin Toomer is, doesn't drive me.

What does drive me is getting in front of this camera and sharing the gospel, doing what God has called me to do, operating in my gifting. That's what drives me. What drives me is making sure that when I leave this planet, that Jesus looks at me and says, well done, that good and faithful servant coming to your rest. That's what motivates me. That's what drives.

So as Christians, we gotta.