Leading The Way

Guest (Male): Listen as pastor, author, and international Bible teacher Dr. Michael Youssef begins this Leading the Way audio for the first Monday in 2026.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Satan will never attack a stagnant believer. He will build your reclining chair. Stay where you are. Rock-a-bye baby. Oh, go to church, yes, yes, yes. Of course, go to Bible study, and go to these retreats and conferences. That's fine. Oh, but don't bother getting out of your comfort zone. Don't bother exercising faith at the front end.

Guest (Male): No pain, no gain. Words most often heard in the gym, but also applicable to your spiritual life experience. You see, those pursuing spiritual growth will also encounter some discomfort, often even pain, as the Holy Spirit prompts you to step away from mediocrity and toward a deeper, more mature walk with Christ.

Today on Leading the Way, Dr. Youssef continues his life-changing series, *It's Contagious, Pass It On*, revealing how Satan wants to lull you to sleep while God brings life and growth, even through the pain.

As he begins, this quick reminder that Leading the Way is a worldwide, listener-supported gospel ministry made possible through your prayers and generosity. Learn ways to stand with Dr. Youssef and Leading the Way at ltw.org or call us. Speak with a ministry representative at 866-626-4356. Right now, though, listen along as Dr. Michael Youssef begins today's lesson.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Most of us know in biology 101 that for the bodies to grow, each cell has to grow to a point of splitting itself into two, and those two distinct cells are called daughter cells. Once these two new cells develop, the old one dies off or actually is flushed out of the body. Then those two cells will grow again and the process continues. That's how we grow from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.

And I thought about this, our creator God, the God who created our bodies and the God who puts it in such perfect order, has done the same thing with us growing spiritually. That for our spiritual growth, the spiritual cells have to be broken and the old ones have to be flushed out in order that we may grow into the likeness of Christ.

It is just as important growing spiritually as it is growing physically. Just as physical growth is a must for a healthy body, so is the spiritual growth for the believer. And your spiritual growth is not only for the glory of God, but it is an evidence of your salvation. It reveals Christ in you, it assures you of your salvation, it brings you comfort in times of sorrow, it equips you for ministry, and above all, it produces the joy of the Lord in your life.

Beloved, listen to me. A stagnant Christian is a very sorrowful Christian. It really is. Let me put it another way. A flowing stream seldom freezes, but a stagnant water sitting motionless in cold temperature freezes and becomes immobile. You know, some of you go to high school reunions, and you know if you ever got to your high school reunion and your former classmates would say to you, "You haven't changed a bit. You just talk just like you used to and you think like you used to." If that happens to you, alarm bells should be ringing.

Far from being a compliment, that's an insult. That's how I would take it. Why? Because God is in the business of growing up His faithful children. Because God is in the business of moving His children upward and onward. Because God is in the business of maturing His children. Because God is in the business of changing His children from one point of glory into another, not stay still.

In fact, you cannot grow in Christ without pain. And maybe that is why so many Christians have ceased to grow. They have become stagnant. Often our growth can only take place when we are broken and in pain. Often our spiritual growth is very stretching, spiritually speaking. It's agonizing. And we always talk about growing pains for children. That's how it happens in the life of adolescents. They feel growing pains in their body. There are growing pains in the spiritual life. When you grow spiritually, there are growing pains.

Philippians chapter three, beginning at verse 12, that's exactly what the apostle Paul is saying. He is describing spiritual growth. He is saying as he strains forward with every ounce of energy, just like the runner and the sprinter who push their bodies, he pushes his spirit. And so in the process of growing in Christ and in the process of growing like Christ, like a runner, they may experience physical agony and their legs hurt, their back hurt, and their head throb, but they strain forward.

They keep on stretching because they need to get to the finish line. That's where their goal is. That's where their eyes are focused on, the finish line. And when you're growing in Christ, you will experience brokenness, you'll experience pain, you'll experience sorrow, and you will experience sheer agony. But that's not going to stop you from pressing on. Why? Because your eyes are on the prize. Your eyes are on the Lord Jesus.

If your eyes are on Christ, if your eyes are on the joy of the finishing line, if your eyes are on the joy that comes from the Lord, you will persist. There are those, of course, the moment they face signs of spiritual straining, stretching, they back off. But you know what? They miss out on the great joy. They do. One of the things that will always keep you from appropriating the joy of the Lord and the benefits of the joy of the Lord is ceasing to grow in Christ.

When you take your eyes off Jesus, when you look back at the past and stay in the past, whether your past is success or failure, it makes no difference. They both are going to hinder you from going forward. Because staying in the past, whatever your past may be, good or bad, success or failure, it's going to keep you from future victories. It will keep you from experiencing greater heights. It will keep you from experiencing greater joy.

The past with all of its success and failure must be flushed out like the old cell from the body. And the Apostle Paul here, fighting a heresy that invaded the church and was threatening to destroy the church at the time, Paul and John both in their writings and even Peter, they are fighting this one single heresy that has invaded the church even while the apostles still alive, with vengeance.

And that heresy known as Gnosticism comes from the Greek word means knowledge. Because that heresy basically taught that if you have greater knowledge, you reach a state of perfection. And Paul said, "Forget it. I know as much as anybody, but I'm far from perfect. I have not achieved it. I have not accomplished it. But I'm still straining forward. I am stretching forward. I'm going for it. I'm going to reach it when I go to glory."

Today, this modern Gnostic movement that is invading the so-called evangelical church with vengeance. Isn't it amazing? Nothing new under the sun. Here's how it goes, listen carefully. God looks upon us and sees us perfect through Christ, which is the absolute truth. Yes, nobody can doubt that. But here's the devil's twist on it. And therefore we must look at ourselves as perfect. Who would need to grow if they become perfect, right? There's no need to grow.

And they contradict the entire scriptural teaching about sanctification. And yet that seems to be growing in variety of ways across the Christian church. And Paul said, "Far from being perfect, I am pursuing the prize. I am straining and stretching, I'm agonizing to reach that prize." How is he doing this? He says, "I am constantly dissatisfied with my present spiritual condition. I'm constantly aware of my desperate need for growth in Christ-likeness.

I'm constantly aware of my desperate need for more of Christ's holiness and Christ's righteousness in me. I'm constantly aware of my sinfulness and the desire inside of me that want to claim more of the righteousness of Christ." Sometimes I meet wonderful Christians who would say to me, "Michael, I'm struggling with sin in my life and I'm dealing with sin in my life, and I shouldn't be feeling that way. I've been walking with the Lord for some time now."

I said, "That is a sign that you are growing in Christ. The fact that you are conscious of sin, your sin, the fact that you want to confess your sin is an indication that you are growing in Christ, not the other way around." Hear me out, please. This is important. The more you want to be delivered from sin, the more you're straining forward wanting to grow like Christ. The opposite, of course, also is true.

Those who are smug and self-satisfied and feel they are a cut above everybody else, "I've reached a level that is higher than everybody else," these are the very people who are in danger. They really are. They are in danger, great danger in their spiritual life. Why? Because straining forward in conformity to the image of Christ and becoming more like Christ, as you strain forward, you cannot do it unless you first let go of the past.

You've got to let the past go, then you stretch forward with a new vision, with a fresh walk and daily fresh walk with the Lord. In the Christian life, it's like climbing a hill. You can't stand still. You're going to slide back or you're going to fall. That's just the Christian life. That's the way it is. Did you know that the greatest problem of the people of God when they got out of the land of slavery in Egypt and got into the wilderness, do you know that their two greatest problems is the opposite of what Paul is teaching?

He says you forget the past and you strain forward, right? You know what they wanted to do? They wanted to go back. They didn't want to go forward. I mean, they were just want to go back to Egypt. And you say, "Folks, you were slaves in Egypt." "Oh, yeah. But the food was tasty." "You were up to your hips in mud making bricks for Pharaoh." "Oh, but the food was delicious." "Pharaoh's whips were on your back." "Ah, but the leeks and the garlic and the meat was plentiful."

Sadly, there are a lot of leek and garlic Christians. They are forever looking at their past, whether it's failure or success, and they stay in their past, never move forward. But the old cell has to be flushed out. The old cell has to die in order the body might grow. And the same thing spiritually. They make no progress toward entering into the promised land.

And you say, "What is my promised land?" Listen to me. Your promised land is conquering new territories in your life for Christ. It is taking occupying new areas for Christ in your life. It is dedicating more of your life for Christ, bringing glory to Christ. Hear me out. The only thing that we must never forget about the past is past salvation, past deliverance.

The only thing we must never forget from the past is the death of Christ on the cross of Calvary in order that He may redeem us and bring us to eternal life. That's the only thing. Remind yourself not to repeat the sins of the past, yes, but don't stay there because that's where the devil wants you to be. He wants you to dwell on past failures. He wants you to dwell on past sins. He wants you to dwell on past successes. But you say, "I'm straining forward. I'm going forward."

Don't live in the past. Why? Because God is anxious to take you, He really does, to greater heights. God wants to take you to greater victory. God wants to take you to greater glory. God wants you to have greater joy in your life that comes from conformity to Christ and growing in Christ. Beloved, looking back and staying back and not moving forward with greater and fresh vision from God every single day will keep you in a state of spiritual danger.

Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. And you've heard me say this, and I testify this firsthand. If you are not going through spiritual conflict, if you are not fighting against the flesh, if you are not in conflict against the spiritual principalities and powers of the evil one, chances are you both are traveling in the same direction.

Satan will never attack a stagnant believer. He won't. He will build your reclining chair. Stay where you are. Rock-a-bye baby. That's the way. "Oh, go to church, yes, yes, yes. Of course, go to Bible study, and go to these retreats and conferences. That's fine. Oh, but don't bother straining and stretching in your spiritual life. Don't bother getting out of your comfort zone. Don't bother exercising faith at the front end."

Because Satan is never going to bother a careless, prideful, and arrogant Christian. He won't. But then you'll also never know the great joy of victory. You'll never know that. You'll never know how to appropriate all of the benefits and all of the blessings that come from the joy of the Lord.

At the foot of one of the Swiss Alps, there is a marker there honoring a man who actually fell to his death at that very spot. In attempting to climb higher, he fell to his death. And the marker gives his name and a very brief epitaph. Here's what it said: "He died climbing. He died climbing."

Beloved, let me tell you something. That ought to be the epitaph of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. That we died climbing, not standing still, not being stagnant, not dwelling on the past, not focusing on all the negative things of the past or even the positive things of the past. That we died climbing toward the prize that we have in Christ Jesus.

And that is why Paul goes on to say, look at verses 17 all the way to end of the chapter three. Let me put it in my own words, okay? I'll give you a Youssef interpretation. Here's what he's saying. Find those who are good climbers. Find those who are good runners. Find those who are good strainers. Find those who are good sprinters. Find those who are good forward-looking people and emulate them.

Don't emulate those narcissistic Christians who say that God is a cosmic genie who exists to grant people what makes them happy. Don't emulate those. Verse 19 describes the people that you should avoid. It said those are the ones who do not believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. They are the enemies of the cross. They are the ones whose God is the uncontrollable, sensual appetite and impulses.

These are the people who wink at sin and abomination and they may even legislate it in the church. They are the people who are proud of their perversion. They're the ones who add to the gospel or those are the ones who take away from the gospel in order to make it palatable to people. Don't emulate them. In fact, run away from them as far as you can.

Look at verse 21, the Apostle Paul concludes this chapter with an incredible verse. It ought to be memorized by every believer. Verse 21, "Who," talking about the Lord Jesus, "by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body."

How many of you would remember the clothesline? I grew up with them. They're in the balcony, one pole here and one pole here and the clothesline stretched. And there you hung clean clothes to dry. And beloved, I want to tell you that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is like that clothesline. Everything hangs on that clothesline. If the clothesline falls, all the clean clothes falls with it.

The same thing about the resurrection of Jesus. If the resurrection falls, all of Christianity falls with it. When the resurrection of Jesus stands, everything in the Christian faith stands with it. The divinity of Christ hangs on the resurrection of Jesus. The atonement of our sin and the forgiveness of our sin hangs on the resurrection of Jesus. Our victory over sin on a daily basis hangs on the resurrection of Jesus.

Our own resurrection to eternal life to be with Him forever is hanging on the resurrection of Jesus. Everything hangs on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the Bible said Paul is saying that resurrected Christ one day is going to split the sky wide open and He will bring an end to everything as we know it, everything as we see it. We look at things and we think they're real.

We think they're forever. We think that this is where our future is. But no, no, no. God is going to come and He's going to change. He's going to bring an end to sin and to rebellion. He's going to bring an end to suffering and pain. He's going to bring an end to diseases and sickness. He's going to bring an end to sorrow and grief. He's going to bring an end to tear and regret. He's going to bring an end to temptation and failure. And He's going to bring an end to Satan by tying him up and throw him into the lake of fire.

And Paul said when that happens, our broken and tired bodies, our tormented bodies will be no more. For He will grant all His faithful children new bodies. Bodies that like Jesus's body after the resurrection. These transformed bodies will be delighted in serving and singing praises to the Lord for eternity to come. For John the revelator said there will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him, and they will see His face, and His name will be written on their foreheads.

Beloved, I want to tell you I live for that day. And so let me challenge you from the word of God as we run the spiritual race. Keep your eye on that great joy. Keep your eye on the prize. Does this thought make you rejoice? If it doesn't, then you need to pray to the Lord and say, "Lord Jesus, I confess and I repent of my sins. Come into my life. I want to receive You as Savior and Lord."

Because if you're not rejoicing about that day, there's something wrong with your salvation. Every one who's redeemed, adopted by Jesus, longs for that day. This joy the world will never, ever, ever, ever, ever comprehend. They'll never understand, let alone have it. But believers can appropriate all of the benefits and all of the blessings of this joy of the Lord every single day, every single day while we're living here for Him.

Guest (Male): Words of truth guiding you toward joy in your Christian life. Thank you for listening to Dr. Michael Youssef on this episode of Leading the Way audio.

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