Ps Darin Browne @ Ignite Christian Church

Reach Your Full Potential Step 1- A Clean Heart

In recent weeks we've looked at the fact that God has placed within you greatness. Now many confess that they don't see it, or feel it, but God has made you unique, and has a plan for your life.

 

As we discussed. He has placed within you unique skills, talents and abilities, and then He has and is using circumstances and people to hone those skills, so that you are perfectly suited to the unique tasks He has prepared in advance for you to do.

 

We've examined the hurdles and difficulties you might face as you seek to reach your full potential in the Lord. We've cleared that stuff out, and now we have the opportunity to

look at how you can start reaching your potential.

 

So over the next several weeks I want to examine 7 essentials for discovering your full potential, courtesy of one of my favourite authors Charles Stanley…

 

Let's get started with essential number one… a Clean Heart

 

CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART

 

Psalms 51:10

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

 

Do you know with certainty today that you are in right relationship with God? Is your heart clean today, or are you carrying guilt or shame from something in the past? Do you sometimes even feel so guilty that you doubt that you're saved at all?

 

To reach your full potential in God you must start with a clean heart!

 

WHY IS A CLEAN HEART NECESSARY?

 

The natural state of man is sin… ever since Adam, we all sin and fall short of what God has for us.

 

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 

I’ve spoken to people who believe that mankind is basically good. They are either delusional or have never had kids! Every baby clearly demonstrates that we are hard wired to focus on ourselves and self gratification from our first breath— Feed me! Change me! Hold me! Dress me! Comfort me! Do for me! It is a mark of maturity when a baby grows up to feed itself and care for itself. It is an even greater mark of maturity when a child begins to care for and give to others.

 

How many children does it take to screw in a light bulb? One. They hold it up and the whole world revolves around them!

 

In the spiritual realm, we are also born with a focus on ourselves. We want what we want. We want the world to revolve around us. We want to determine our own destiny and to gain control over everything within our grasp. We want to know it all, be it all, and have it all. I want it all, and I want it now!  We often seek only those things that will bring us immediate gratification. Delaying gratification is a difficult concept, especially for a child, or an adult man!

IT’ ALL ABOUT ME!

 

People think of themselves and their own interests first and foremost… it’s called pride! In our pride, putting our own interests first, we have no desire for God and what He wants for our lives, unless it's what we want, right?

 

In fact, most of us only want God in our lives if He can solve a problem or meet a need or often desire we have. It's all about us, guys, if we're truthful!

 

But when we acknowledge  that we are sinners and that Jesus pays the penalty for our sin, when we ask Jesus into our lives, we also receive the Holy Spirit and slowly but surely our desires change. The Bible describes this as being a new creature!

 

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

 

Anyone living in human pride tends to put their own interests first and wants what he wants. He is living for himself. He may have goals and aspirations, he may have talents and abilities, but they are self-made and self-prioritised.

 

Some people who do not know Jesus as their Saviour and Lord still set goals of helping other people. But here's  the difference—they set their own goals. They choose to help others because it makes them feel good. They establish their own definitions for a good deed and determine how much is enough when it comes to doing good.

 

The person who truly knows Jesus and is truly forgiven experiences a change in spiritual nature. They also start into an ongoing process in which their mind is renewed and redirected to walk the Lord’s path, refocused in His desires, and reenergised to fulfil His purposes.

 

UNLOCK THE POWER

 

When you give your life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit begins to unlock and unleash the fullness of your potential.

 

Not me, not you and not even your mum! The Holy Spirit—the promise of the Father and the gift to every person who believes in Jesus Christ as the Son of God— He unfolds before us all that we are created to be and to do.

 

So anytime you think, I can’t do this, you must immediately reply, But the Holy Spirit can and will.  Anytime you think, I don’t know what to do, you must immediately reply, But the Holy Spirit knows, and He will lead and guide me.

 

The Holy Spirit will not help us do anything that is apart from God’s will, plan, and purpose. He will not empower us to do things that are of our own design simply because we think something is a good idea or a worthy project.

 

You cannot decide what you want to do, and then just pray Lord bless it. But we do, don't we, and we do it all the time!

 

If you want to unleash the power of your full potential in your life, the only power source is the Holy Spirit. Right now, the only question you need to answer is, “How do I tap into the power of the Holy Spirit?” In other words, how do I get my mind, will and emotions lined up with His?

 

And that's why this first essential is so important… Until you have the new, cleansed heart that God offers you through forgiveness, you cannot fully understand the work of the Spirit. A clean and yielded heart is capable of hearing and heeding the voice of the Holy Spirit.

 

Ephesians 5:18

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,

 

The Greek word for being filled is in the present tense, implying an ongoing and continuous process. It means, be being filled, not a once off event.

 

OUR CONTINUAL NEED FOR CONVICTION, CONFESSION, AND CLEANSING

 

 

The Bible commands us, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19). To quench is to stifle. We are also told not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). To grieve is to cause sadness. What causes sadness in God? When we reject His love and His plan and do our own thing, it grieves Him. Anytime we choose what we want over what God wants for us, we stifle the Holy Spirit’s ability to help us.

 

Nothing grieves the Lord, and nothing stifles His work in us, more than disobedience. When you sin you sever your relationship with God, grieve Him and stifle the Holy Spirit.

 

You cannot reach your full potential in God if you continue knowingly, willingly indulging in sin. If you have habitual sin in your life, it's time to clear it out and open the top end of your potential. You can't dabble in sin, flirt with sin, mess with sin and expect God’s blessing!

 

If you carry guilt over something you've previously said or done, it's time to clear that out and stop it stopping you!

 

So if we are to discover what God desires to do in us and through us, we must have the Holy Spirit’s help. We must allow Him to enable us and empower us. We must be plugged into God’s power and be close to Him. We must ask the Spirit daily to cleanse us of all sin and to direct our attentions, our minds, our affections, and our desires to God and His plan.

 

And the ugly truth is that you are only as clean as your last decision or choice.

 

SEARCH ME O GOD

 

Stop to think about that for a moment. You are only as clean as your last thought, your last attitude, your last action. Your need for the cleansing power of God’s forgiveness is ongoing, and never-ending. You must ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal your sins so you can confess them and be forgiven continually.

 

Psalms 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!

 

David asked God to reveal anything that he should confess before Him, anything needing forgiveness. He didn't say she'll be right mate! He said it ain't right, God show me how to make it right.

 

God knows what you should and should not do. He knows the best choice you should make and the best solutions for the problems you are facing. God knows what sin you need to confess so ask Him, so let His Spirit clean your heart.

 

Yes, your heavenly Father knows, so don't try and figure this out for yourself! Don't make yourself feel guilty or under pressure. Ask Him, and let Him reveal your heart, your attitudes and what it is that has become a barrier to your relationship with Him.

 

THE BLESSINGS OF A CLEAN HEART

 

Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).

 

People who are pure in heart see God, not necessarily in visions, dreams, etc. But as God works in and through their own lives, they will begin to understand that the Lord is behind every good thing in their lives (James 1:17). The pure in heart learn that God is working all things for their ultimate good.

 

Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

 

The pure in heart begin to see with God's eyes, rather than their own! Their will begins to align perfectly with the will of God. They are set to reach their full potential!

 

Do you want to see more of the Father’s work in your life? Then pursue, desire, and seek a clean, pure heart.

 

 

 

IT IS TIME TO CLEAN UP YOUR ACT

 

We live in a time when purity has become “old-fashioned.” The world places a higher value on tolerance, acceptance, and keeping an “open mind.” But God’s Word tells us to “be holy” and “keep yourself pure” (Lev. 11:45; 1 Tim. 5:22). Most of us are so open minded our brains fall out! We are so tolerant that we tolerate everything, even blatant sins.

 

Purity is commanded, and it’s possible, yes even for you and me! Why? Because God’s Spirit lives within us, and that means that our very nature can be changed and made clean from every sin, past, present and future.

 

How many times a day do you wash your hands? If you are a surgeon, you likely wash them several times a day. If you are a mechanic, you might wash your hands only before a meal. So it doesn't matter how well you wash your hands, you still need to wash them again sometime in the future, right?

 

Do you wash your hands only when you can see dirt on them? No. You likely wash them before handling food or picking up a baby, even if your hands appear to be clean. You may not be a scientist, but you have probably figured out that viruses and bacteria are invisible to your naked eye.

 

You would probably find people not wanting to be near you if you washed your hands and face once a month, brushed your teeth every couple of months, or had a shower once a year. Regardless of what you see, or how you smell, hygiene like this would likely see you frequently sick, and socially isolated!

 

Some people think they can keep their heart clean by going to church once a week, once a month or by catching a few connect groups. Keeping a clean heart is a daily exercise.

 

7 STEPS TO MAINTAINING A CLEAN HEART

 

Proverbs 4:23

Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for from it flow the springs of life.

 

Keeping your heart clean requires diligence and vigilance, obedience and discipline.  If you are to ever discover and move into the full potential God intends for you, you must be diligent, vigilant and careful about keeping your heart clean.

 

1.     RECOGNISE YOUR SIN

 

Listen, we all sin, and we all fall short of what God wants for us. You know it, I know it, God certainly knows it, so who are we fooling? Many of our sins happen in secret, and we don't want anyone to know.

 

Four pastors went fishing. One pastor said, “Brothers, our people confess sins to us, and confession is good for the soul." So I want to confess that I have a gambling problem. The next said he often stole money from the church coffers. The third had an eye for the ladies and had strayed a few times. The final guy sat quietly, and they said, “surely you have some sin to confess, brother? What is your secret vice?" Finally he answered, "It is gossiping and I can hardly wait to get back to shore!"

 

You can't fool God so  why try? Don't try and fake your way through sin, deal with it! Until you recognise it, you cannot deal with it. It's the elephant in the room!

 

Luke 12:3

Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

 

Ever since Adam and Eve we've tried to cover our sin with fig leaves. But at some point they drop off and your sin will be exposed. My advice is don't let it get to that point!

 

2.     CONFESS YOUR SIN AND SEEK FORGIVENESS

 

Don't cover up your sin, confess it and let the blood of Jesus cover it over! God is there right beside you when you're in church and when you're in sin. Trust me, you won't surprise Him.

 

Whatever you've done, whatever you currently grapple with, there is no sin God cannot forgive. I've prayed with murderers who've found forgiveness, with adulterers, with swindlers. And here's the thing…

 

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

Corrine Ten Boom said that God throws our sin into the sea of His forgetfulness and puts up a sign saying “No fishing!”

 

So if you have confessed something you've thought, said or done to the Lord, don't let the devil drag you through guilt about it again! To quote Elsa in Frozen, Let It Go!

 

3.     KEEP SHORT ACCOUNTS WITH GOD

 

As we mentioned before, you need to wash your heart every day, even several times a day. Don't accumulate sins and bulk process them. We don't want you running up a big list of sins, then going to confession every so often and off loading them.

 

Keep short accounts with God. The longer you leave sin unconfessed in your life, the more likely it is for the poison to infect you and ruin your potential.

 

Psalms 32:1-2

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

 

Once there was a little boy who wanted to go fishing. He dug up what he thought were little worms. He then put one on the hook, it nipped his finger but he immediately caught a fish. He thought, this is great bait. Put another on the line, it nipped his fingers, but he was catching fish.

 

Later the sherif asked him where he caught all the fish, and what he used as bait. The little boy proudly showed his bait, and the sherif froze… he said, quickly get in the car!

 

The boy was rushed to hospital, but died within an hour. You see they weren't worms at all, they were tiny, baby rattlesnakes!

 

Sin is like that. We think we're having fun, but all the time we're dying! Don't let poison accumulate in your veins, get it out straight away!

 

4.     COMMIT TO PURITY

 

You can pause right now and make a commitment to purity. It doesn't mean you won't sin, but you can promise to seek God and start making the right choices. Decide and commit to having a clean heart.

 

1 John 3:3

All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

 

Don't just talk about it, don't just theorise about it, commit to being pure. Commit to being obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice, so today I'm asking you to commit with me to being pure, and if you do mess up, confessing it immediately. Remember, you're only as clean as your last thought.

 

5.     RUN LIKE CRAZY!

 

All of us face habitual sins of some sort. You know the one, that one sin that seems to plague you, that the devil throws at you time and time again, and you most often fall for it?

 

Jospeh faced a continuous, unrelenting temptation in Potiphar’s wife. He didn't try to stay strong, he didn't flirt just a little, he ran. If you struggle with a habitual, ongoing sin, don't try and take it on… run like crazy.

 

2 Timothy 2:22

 

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

 

If it's too big, too strong or too tempting, run and get the heck out of Dodge!

 

6.     BE ACCOUNTABLE

 

James 5:16

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

 

Don't struggle alone, find someone to whom you can be accountable. Find a buddy to have coffee with every week or so, and share your struggles, pains and let them hold you accountable for what you do.

 

7.     BUILD A FENCE AROUND YOUR HEART

 

If you make your heart clean, build a rock wall around it!

 

Protection from evil, the power to live a godly life, the ability to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the capacity to reach your full potential in Christ, these are not vague things floating around that may randomly come to you if you're lucky.

 

You don't stay clean and pure in your heart watching TV, surfing the Internet, checking out Facebook or even coming to church.  The way you stay pure is by reading, studying, applying and obeying the Word of God

 

Psalms 119:9-11

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.

With my whole heart I seek you;

let me not wander from your commandments!

I have stored up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you.

 

If you are serious about reaching your full potential in God, you need to keep a clean heart. Hide God’s Word in your heart every day. Do the Bible Reading plan, memorise verses, whatever it takes to have His Word ever present in your life.

 

Today, I challenge you to clean up your act, and be pure and clean in heart. Some of you may have specific sins you are grappling with, and I encourage you to come forward for prayer. But all of us must keep short accounts with God.

Keep Listening for His Voice- Pastor Nev Nielsen

This timely and powerful message encourages us to keep listening for his voice.

Pastor Nev shares his heart and encourages us to look for and listen to the voice of God in all aspects of life, no matter how busy we get and no matter how stressed we get.

So settle back, relax, and make sure you are listening for his voice in this beautiful message from Pastor Nev

The Power of Faith- Ps Marie Cartledge

The power of faith is an often overlooked part of the Christian walk.

Many Christians think they understand faith, but they have no idea of the power the can come when you truly believe in what God can do in and through your life. In this exciting message, Pastor Marie shares her heart and what she has learned about the power of faith in her many years of ministry experience.

So if you want to learn more about faith, and discover the true power of faith, this message is for you!

Hurdles to Reaching Your Full Potential in the Lord

The last 2 weeks we've done some serious business with God with a view to reaching our full potential in Christ. We've fully committed ourselves with a solemn promise to pursue this until we reach our full potential, and then last week we offered to the Lord our greatest fear and failure, never to take it back.

 

And I am excited. As your pastor, it thrills me to know that we have a church of leaders, a church of people who will rise up and become all they can become in God.

 

But we're not there yet! All the commitments and promises in the world, no matter how sincere, mean nothing if you get entangled in things that hold you back.

 

When they start the hurdles race in the Olympics, the runners are on the starting blocks. They are ready. Then the command comes “Set”, and they assume the position where they are set to explode into the race.

 

At this moment, they are totally concentrated on the task at hand. They're not thinking about their mortgage, their relationships, their hairdo…. They are totally focussed on the race, and on the prize.

 

So this morning I want you to practice being disentangled from all that the enemy would bring against you to stop you become who God wants you to become.

 

DON’T HOLD BACK

 

The Jeep commercial proudly calls you… don't hold back. But I bet, if you think about reaching your full potential, something is holding you back…

 

Is it that you want to pursue your potential but just aren’t sure that you can? Or are you revved up to run the race that God has set before you?

Is it that you're not sure what what to do first?

 

You know you cannot possibly reach your full potential without God, but just knowing this isn’t enough. Specific shackles in your thinking may need to be faced and dealt with. God will help you correct your thinking, but you must make the first move.

 

Today we are going to cast off those shackles, and disentangle you to let you run!

 

CASTING OFF THE SHACKLES

 

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely (entangles us), and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

 

Most Christians have allowed themselves to become shackled in their thinking in one of three ways:

 

1.     EXCUSES

 

They have made so many excuses for so long that they are bound up by them. The truth is that there are no good excuses for failing to pursue your God-given potential.

 

Benjamin Franklin said, “He who is good at making excuses is seldom good at making anything else.”

 

2.     EXEMPTION

 

Many people have exempted themselves from pursuing their potential for any number of reasons. They have decided that their situations or circumstances are unchangeable and that nothing further should or can be done. In their minds, they have already reached the limits of what they can do. Not God’s limits, their own contrived limits.

 

Or, they have arrived at the perfection of their character so no further refinement is needed.

 

3.     CONDEMNATION

 

They have condemned themselves for failing to ask God to reveal His plan and purpose for them. You may think you’ve missed it because you didn’t seek the Lord’s direction earlier in your life. Not so! You can discover and begin living according to His will, plan, and purpose right now. Start by asking God to forgive you for missing the mark in the past. Then pray for Him to show you what He desires for you to do now.

 

IT’ YOUR CHOICE

 

Lots of people in the Bible seemed unlikely candidate for success in life, but God saw the potential despite what they had done.  Remember Moses killed a man, but God saw a great leader of His people.  In fact, in his old age, he became one of the foremost figures of the Old Testament, and wrote the first five books of the Bible

 

The apostle Paul— previously called Saul, was not only guilty of murder; he had a self-appointed purpose of killing all Christians and destroying the church. But he became the most important missionary of all time.

 

Your past does not dictate what God is able to do in you and through you in the future! Even if what you have accomplished in life is excellent by human standards, it is nothing compared to what God can do with your future. Never allow what happened yesterday to dictate what you will do tomorrow for God! Never rest on your past achievements and refuse to take on the challenges that lie ahead.

 

If you are resting on your laurels, you're wearing them in the wrong place! Today is the day to cast off these shackles of faulty thinking. Embrace the awesome future God has for you!

 

1 Corinthians 9:24-25

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

 

SEVEN HURDLES TO OVERCOME

 

After you shake off the shackles that are keeping you from seeking and acknowledging your potential, you are likely to encounter several hurdles in your attitude or thinking.

 

Make no mistake… all the good intentions you can muster can be derailed by these 7 hurdles.

 

HURDLE 1- LIMITED PERSPECTIVE

 

Many people are focused completely on themselves in the here and now.. I mean, this is the selfie generation. As a result, they are extremely short sighted.

 

They see only what is happening right before them or what is affecting their lives with the greatest intensity at any given moment. Their only and over riding concern is what is happening this hour or this day.  Such people live in the moment, sliding from minute to minute without any thought, from drama to drama living life as a soap opera and wondering, “Why this stuff always happens to me!”

 

People with limited perspective react to life rather than respond to it. Reactions are immediate, instinctive, impulsive, and generally highly emotional.  Responses, by comparison, are measured, evaluative, and “thought out” to some degree—and therefore, tend to be slightly delayed in time.

 

Reacting or responding really reflects your personal walk with God. Godly people react less and respond more, and their responses are based in the Word of God and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

 

Having limited perspective is like looking only in the mirror. You only see how people, circumstances, or situations affect you—not how they might impact the lives of others.

 

And the crazy thing is this… people with limited perspectives, while they usually fail to consider others, they usually expect others to think continually about them and are upset if that is not the case!

 

If you believe that your purpose in life is solely in the here and now, or that your purpose is wrapped up entirely in what will benefit you, it is very likely that you will become extremely self-indulgent. The only question important to you is, “What brings me immediate pleasure and satisfaction?” And then you will seek out and pursue only those things.

 

Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

 

To change your perspective you need to ask the question, “What does God have in mind for me and for my life?” Our ultimate purpose on this earth is not to gratify and satisfy ourselves, or to be happy, but to bring pleasure and joy to the heart of the Father… it's a new perspective.

 

 

HURDLE 2- FEELINGS OF LOW SELF ESTEEM OR VALUE

 

We live in a world that tries to convince us that we are just chemicals, just over evolved monkeys without a soul, without a spirit and without hope beyond the grave. It tells us to be consumers, live each day to get the most happiness we can for ourselves.

 

If you don't believe God has created you with a plan and a purpose in His mind, and if you don't understand and believe the promises in His Word, then you will not value yourself.

 

You also won't value the lives of others. That's the sinister power of such a world view. The evolutionist who tells you you're just a sack of evolved chemicals, that there is no God and you have no eternal soul, is the same driving force behind the idea that babies are just collections of cells, and if they don't fit with your plans they can simply be discarded.

 

But if you do understand that God loves and values you, and has done since your conception, that He plans and orchestrates every aspect of your life and circumstances, that He knows every thought you make, every part of you and that He has a plan for every moment of your life, then you can see yourself as valuable, worthwhile and precious to Him.

 

You are fearfully and wonderfully made!

 

Psalms 139:13-14

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

 

HOW VALUABLE?

 

• God has given you a body with a degree of strength, energy, stature, and coordination.
• He has given you emotions and a capacity to experience and express them in a godly way. He has given you a need for love, an ability to receive love, and the capacity to express it to others.
• He has given you a mind and an ability to think, reason, and remember.
• He has given you an ability to communicate, both with and without words.
• He has given you a measure of faith, spiritual sensitivity, as well as a desire to know and be in relationship with Him.

 

You see, God values you beyond anything you can fully imagine or understand. Consider all the galaxies and the stars and the planets moving through a universe so vast that we human beings cannot comprehend the edges of it. Think about all of the magnificent plants, animals, mountains and deserts on our planet, the seas and all that is in them, the patterns of sunrises and sunsets, and the beautiful colours and shapes and sizes that God unfolds before us on a daily basis. Consider all that our Creator has made.

 

None of it—despite its apparent grandure and beauty—none of it compares in value to you. To God, one human being is worth more than all the rest of His creation combined. It is in you that He has placed the capacity to know Him, love Him, serve Him, and live with Him forever.

 

Even the angels stand in awe at what God has made available to you, placed in you, and provided for you.

 

As a human being, you have been endowed with the ability to express love to God and to receive His love. And only you can love God and receive His love in the unique way that He has planned for you before the foundation of the world.

 

No one else can relate to the Lord precisely the way you can relate to Him. In that, He is pleased and calls it good!

 

So if you are thinking right now, “Well, I don’t see that I have the potential to do anything to serve God or to be used by Him to extend the gospel.” THINK AGAIN!

 

If you say that, you're only looking at your life only through your own eyes, not God’s eyes. God has made everyone, and that includes you, with the potential to serve Him on this earth and to be a witness for Jesus Christ.

 

HURDLE 3- CONSTANT COMPARISONS TO OTHERS

 

This is closely linked to low self-esteem or self-worth… The tendency to compare one’s success or abilities to another person.

 

Galatians 1:10

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man?

 

When you do this you'll find yourself quickly jumping to excuses for your perceived lack of success or ability… “I wasn’t born into the family that person has,” “I don’t have the same education,” “I haven't had the same opportunities,” or “I’m simply not gifted in the way that person is.”

 

And guess what.. you're right!

 

The truth is, you're not like any other person who has ever lived, is alive, or will ever live. You are unique you're one of a kind!

 

The problem with comparison is that we use our perceived shortcomings as an excuse for failing to trust God and pursue the unique potential He put in us. If we regard ourselves as failures before we even begin the race,  often never even start the race!

 

Paul said

1 Corinthians 9:26-27

So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

 

Boxing the air is a way of saying wasting your time and energies. He didn't do that, he played to win! Everything he did, everywhere he went, every word he spoke or wrote he did so to serve Jesus and win souls. He expected to finish the race and win. Paul was not there to capitulate, to make up the numbers or to float through his life standing for nothing and falling for everything!

 

So don't  you start off expecting to lose! Don’t set out to be average, to be inconsequential, to be without power.

 

However, at the same time, remember you're not running someone else's race, you're running your own race.  God has set a course before you, designed exclusively for you, with tasks before you that you alone are to complete.

 

God has equipped you with exactly what He intended for you to have as the basic tools, gifts, and abilities to fulfil His plan for you.

 

HURDLE 4- LIMITING YOURSELF

 

God’s plan for you has nothing to do with your family tree, your school or college, your culture, your race, your financial and material acquisitions, or your personality.

 

Your purpose in life is not something you can achieve. It is not something made by man, nor is it a situation into which you were born or grew up. It is not something that you figure out as you go along.  God chose your destiny, He designed it and equipped you for it.

 

No trial or hardship negates His plan for you. No difficulty you encounter can deflect you from His plan and purpose… unless you choose to be disobedient or choose to give up!

 

Many of us carry self imposed limitations that have been with us since childbirth.

 

When a baby elephant is tethered by a very thick rope to a stake firmly hammered into the ground, it tries several times to get free, but it lacks the strength to do so.

After a year, the stake and the rope are still strong enough to keep a small elephant tethered, although it continues to try, unsuccessfully, to get free. At this point, the animal realises that the rope will always be too strong and so it gives up.

When it reaches adulthood, the elephant can still remember how, for a long time, it had wasted its energies trying to escape captivity. At this stage, the trainer can tether the elephant with a slender thread tied to a broom handle, and the elephant will make no attempt to escape to freedom.

 

These limitations are often what our parents told us we could or couldn’t do. In some cases, they are rooted in cultural or religious teachings that told us life was nothing more than a series of rules and regulations to keep.

 

Some of you may have been brought up in a legalistic church, with everything labeled “Thou shalt,” and “Thou shalt not,” emphasis on the latter. Such a strict upbringing can cause you to put man made limits on what God has for you.

 

Now I'm not advocating that we throw all rules away, because that does not give you freedom, that gives us you breakfast in bedlam!   Many of these rules are not Biblical at all (even if dressed up to be), so we need to let the Bible be the guide here, not rules.

 

Former rules include lipstick, shorts, movies.

 

Isaiah 29:13

“These people come near to me with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship of me

is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

 

Jesus faced this too, because by His time there were literally hundreds of rules made up that devout Jews had to keep.  But Jesus said, “I have come to set the captives free!” (Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18). He came to release people from their sin nature and from the legalism that had imprisoned their minds and weakened their faith in God.

 

So don't let rules or preconceived expectations limit what God has planned for you!

 

HURDLE 5- FEAR OF DISAPPOINTMENT

 

The Bible says 365 times do not be afraid, that's one for every day of the year!

 

Perhaps you are afraid to let God down, or other people. Question is, are you sure your fear of disappointing others isn't really a fear that they will disappoint you? Are you afraid that if you really open up and truly go for it to reach your full potential, God or people around you will let you down?

 

Often we say we don't want to disappoint others, but in reality we're afraid that others will disappoint us because they will fail to support us or recognise our achievements. Perhaps we fear that God will let us down, have another plan we don't know about or be unable to make His plan work properly.

 

Look, the truth is there will always be those who don't support you, criticise you compete with you or are jealous of your successes. There are always those who covert what you get or achieve. Just this week we attended a pastors conference at a church nicer, plusher and classier than ours, with a great kitchen and coffee shop. Fiona said, “Thou shalt not covert thy neighbour’s Crystal Cathedral.”

 

But here's some greater truths…

 

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

 

• God will never reject you, forsake you, or fail to encourage you as you seek to follow His leading and fulfil His plan for your life. He will help you, not hinder you.
• God is never disappointed by your sincere desire to do His will. He will uphold you, send others to assist you, and guide you to the path He desires for you to walk.
• God can turn all of your disappointments into joy. He has wonderful and unique ways of turning even the worst rejection into grand acceptance. He very often turns the harshest critics into the closest allies.

 

Many  people with a fear of disappointment are often perfectionists who expect too much too soon—both from themselves and from other people. The truth is, nobody can achieve perfection in this life. Each of us can do our best at everything we attempt, but no one is going to be perfect or do perfect work all the time. Furthermore, God has a timetable for the fulfilment of our potential. His will, plan, and purpose are revealed slowly and over time, day by day, step by step.

 

 

HURDLE 6- FEAR OF FAILURE

 

 

Fear of failure is a constant hurdle we face.

 

Each of us must acknowledge that we already have experienced plenty of failures. How many times do you think you fell down learning to walk as a baby before you finally took your first steps? How many exam questions have you blown? How many times have you tried something and not succeeded? If at first you don't succeed, perhaps skydiving is not for you!

 

2 Chronicles 20:20

Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.”

 

We all fail, but that does not mean we are failures.

 

Some thought Jesus failed when he was executed on a cross, but God never saw Him as that!

 

Failure is part of God’s success formula! He does not exempt us from failing. Rather, He uses it to teach us and reveal to us what does not work as we pursue what will work.

 

You may have heard about the failures of Abraham Lincoln before he was ultimately elected president of the United States. We know the many failed attempts of Thomas Edison before he finally invented the light bulb. Failure is not only a part of life, it's an essential!

 

Every major invention, every major success has been preceded by multiple failures. So it is reasonable to assume that you will fail at times as you pursue God’s plan for your life. It is what you do with your failures that count. Do you deny them? Do you refuse to learn from them? Do you give up and refuse to try again? Do you allow them to discourage you to the point that you give up on yourself and on God? These are not the right responses to failure.

 

Failure on some level is inevitable. But without failure, you won't learn, so buckle up and get ready to fail, but make sure you get back up again. I can tell you that the older I get the more I realise that I have done things in God I never thought possible. I have even become someone I never once thought I'd be.  Look back on your life, look at how far you've come with God, how much you've grown and this should encourage you to have no fear of being disappointed, even if you fail a time or two.  Believe God will do as He has said.  He always has and always will.

 

When you fail, just ask, “God, please show me how and why I failed. Help me not to repeat it, and enable me to get up, move forward, and trust You to work all things together for my eternal good.”

 

One of my strengths as a pastor is not that I never fail. I do, and often! But I do not like repeating the same mistake twice. Fail once, it's learning. Fail twice it's hard learning. Fail 3 times and it's a bad habit you need to change.

 

So don't focus on the possibility of disappointment or failure, focus on the possibility of success. Focus on winning the race set before you. Focus on the rewards and benefits of a godly life of obedience and perseverance. Focus on the positive things God can accomplish through you and on the people who can be positively influenced by your example.

 

Those who refuse to take risks out of fear of disappointment and failure rarely experience the full joy and satisfaction that God desires for them. So rather than focusing on what you can’t do, haven’t done, or have already failed at doing, focus on the fact that God has placed within you the capacity for success. He has prepared you for all kinds of cool things for you to achieve and accomplish. God has built into you the ability to be complete and whole. He did not create you to partially succeed. He expects you to fulfil His purposes for your life, not to fail.

 

HURDLE 7- LAZINESS

 

We live in a basically lazy society. We all want to get rich quick with little or no effort. We all want awesome relationships in our time frame and our terms. We have a remote for the fan, the aircon, the TV, the DVD. Nathan tells me the new Tesla car even drives itself, you just have to sit there.

 

Everything related to God’s vision of success for your life is already in you. But if you are lazy, you will not make the necessary effort to explore or develop the gifts and talents that God has placed in you. If you are not willing to get up and get going on the tasks that lie ahead, you cannot experience the true joy and satisfaction that come with completing them to the best of your ability.

 

Each of us faces a four-fold challenge about any task we undertake:

 

Productivity—doing as much as we can

Quality—doing things as well as we can

Time management—doing things as efficiently as we can

Maximum impact—doing things as effectively as we can

 

These four challenge areas automatically raise certain questions:

 

Are you doing everything you can today to reach your full potential? Are you procrastinating, letting things slide, or avoiding or putting off certain responsibilities or tasks

Ike reading the Bible? Are you doing things in a slipshod manner instead of giving every task your best effort? Are you using your time well? Do you let your mind wander? Do you take unnecessary detours? Do you have goals that focus your efforts? Have you determined the area where God desires for you to have impact or influence? Are you continually looking for evidence that what you are doing is having significant results, such as making a positive difference in the life of another person?

 

Hebrews 6:12

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

 

God does not reward laziness, and He doesn't bless a sluggard. We must first do the natural before God does the supernatural, so if you are sitting around wasting time watching the idiot box, don't expect to reach your full potential in God that way!

 

There are no excuses for laziness.

 

GOD’S MASTERCLASS

 

God has a master plan, and you're part of it. When God created us, he gave us gifts and abilities that fit with his purpose for our lives. As he transforms our lives, we are able to use our gifts in keeping with the purpose for which God created us.

 

Romans 12:4-5

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

 

That's what church is about.  God has given each of us certain gifts and abilities. It is only when the members are connected to the body in their appointed place and fulfilling their appointed functions that their usefulness is realised.

 

In light of this truth, we must seek to discover our spiritual gifts and find a place where our talents and abilities can be used to help others. Then the entire church can experience spiritual growth. That's why we have 201 today. If you're not sure where you fit, come along after the lunch… it's free, and will help you reach your full potential in Christ!

 

Today, search your heart and decide if you face any of these hurdles, if any of them seem daunting. If so, come forward and let or team stand with you to sort them out, to empower you to leap over these hurdles in a single bound.

How to Reach Your Full Potential in Christ

Last week we began to have a look at how you can reach your full potential in Christ. We touched on the incredible potential God has placed in all of us, and how unless we commit ourselves fully to the task of obediently seeking Him, we condemn ourselves, and even sometimes content ourselves with being mediocre.

 

And that is not God’s will. He sees unlimited potential within you, unfathomless beauty in your character… He sees what you could and should be, the very image of His one and only Son.

 

And last week most of you stood and made a covenant with the Lord to step out with Him and discover the amazing potential and destiny He has for you. You may have had a tough week, you may have faulted, but I can assure you that God’s promise to you stands if your promise to Him abides.  It is that solemn promise that I want to further develop this week…

 

QUESTIONS TO ASK GOD

 

Imagine this: You are an intrepid, hard hitting reporter, Oprah Whimpy.  You've interviewed amazing people in the past, and asked the big questions. You asked Lance Armstrong why he used steroids, you've asked Napoleon why he invaded Russia, and you've asked Superman if he really is from Krypton.

 

And now God Himself is being interviewed, and you can ask the big questions again. You could ask how He created the heavens, you could ask about end times… but why not ask about something that affects you, and indeed all of us?

 

Why not ask God about His will, plan, and purpose for your life? Are you fully willing and available to receive His answers? Are you afraid of what He would say, or afraid that you will never measure up to His opinion of you?

 

Ok, now let's get specific! Among the questions I would ask of Him—and I encourage you to ask— are these:

 

• “What do You want to do in my life?”
• “What do You want to do through my life?”
• “What do You still desire for me to experience?”
• “What possibilities lie within me?”
• “What potential lies before me?”
• “What could I become, or what should I become?”
• “What did You have in mind when You created me?”
• “What do You desire for me?”

 

 

Only God can answer these questions. And for most people in the vast majority of situations and circumstances, He will answer them only when asked.

 

Jeremiah 33:3

Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

 

Every year at around this time of year thousands of students and young people are planning their futures— the job they want, the course the want to study, the career they want to pursue, where they want to travel, who they want to meet and marry, the experiences they want to have. My questions to them would be: “Have you asked God what He has created you to do and be? Have you asked the Lord what He has planned and purposed for you?”

 

But it is not only the young person who needs to ask these questions. Everyone needs to ask God these things periodically throughout life. Old and young, mature and naïve, employed and unemployed, married, divorced, parents, whatever the case may be, all of us needs to ask the Lord the big questions!

 

Talked during the week with a couple who face a situation… do they follow their dreams, or take the safe way just to earn money. I always inclined to the first option, lest you get stuck in a job you hate, miserable for years, just for the money. I urge all of you to discover your dreams, reach for your dreams and, if you feel like money or anything else is in short supply, trust God and be generous and, like the Israelites facing the Red Sea with the Egyptian army at their back, believe for a miracle.

 

But God, would you really do that for me?

ARE YOU DISQUALIFIED?

 

I bet some of you are sitting here thinking you're not good enough, that God couldn't have an incredible plan for your life.

 

Sometimes we think that what we have done in the past, or the situation we are currently in disqualifies us from reaching our full potential in God. But God’s Word reveals to us that destiny is a series of choices, regardless of our past or current circumstances, and you can start making right choices this morning!

 

So you are still qualified to reach for your full potential and destiny in Christ even if…

 

• You've recently lost a partner through death or divorce
• You've recently lost a job or job opportunities, or can't get one
• You're about to be married or move
• You’ve got rowdy, out of control kids of any age
• You've just changed churches
• You've done drugs, slept around, robbed banks… even murdered someone.

 

None of these disqualify you if you come to Jesus. None of these circumstances change the fact that God loves you, God has called you and God has a plan and purpose for your life!

 

It doesn't mean you can keep behaving badly, so don't bother asking Him to lead you if you're determined to wander off the path He sets for you and do your own rebellious thing.  But if you're willing to listen, learn, and obey, starting today, you are definitely not disqualified from reaching your destiny in God.

 

We all need to ask God repeatedly and frequently, “What did You create me to do and be? What have You planned and purposed for me?”

 

1 Corinthians 2:9

But, as it is written,

“No eye has seen, nor ear heard,

nor the heart of man imagined,

what God has prepared for those who love him”—

 

THE FIVE PILLARS OF POTENTIAL

 

The Bible offers us 5 key pillars to help us understand how we can see our potential in Christ realised…

 

1.     EVERY PERSON HAS POTENTIAL

Every person has potential—no matter how much you may have achieved already, or messed up so far,  and no matter how old you are. There’s still more God has for you to be and do!

 

2.     EVERY PERSON HAS BEEN CREATED TO BRING GOD GLORY

Every person has been created to bring God glory. How do we accomplish that? By being the people He made us to be individually and then collectively as His church. We also bring Him glory by fulfilling His purposes for us on earth.

 

3.     WE ALL NEED GOD’S HELP

No one can reach his potential without the Father’s help, whatever our God-given talents and gifts.

 

4.     WE MUST FACTOR IN THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION

No person can reach her potential without factoring in the spiritual dimension associated with it. God has not only created you with the gifts and talents to do His work on this earth, but He also has created you with the desires, dreams, and disposition to become a person with whom He enjoys fellowship and spiritual intimacy. Part of your potential lies in who God made you to be, not only in what He created you to do.

 

5.     ONLY GOD KNOWS THE LIMIT OF YOUR POTENTIAL

Only He knows the limits of your potential. You are finite and do not have the ability to fathom all that God has purposed for you. No one can fully understand the depths of His love, the help that He desires to give, or the blessings and rewards that He has prepared.

 

WHAT YOU SEE ISN’T WHAT YOU GET

 

A person may reach the pinnacle of a profession or be lauded as the best in the world at a particular sport, skill, or craft. He may rank at the top of any number of the world’s scales or criteria of evaluation. You may look at certain people and admire them, or even want to be them!

 

But unless this person factors God into their life, seeking to love and serve Him wholeheartedly, they will never reached their full potential. They might maximise their outward abilities but, as CS Lewis said, there's a God shaped vacuum within them.

 

My example Pastoring.

 

YOUR POTENTIAL INCLUDES ATTRIBUTES, ABILITIES AND ATTITUDE

 

The potential God sees in you includes both abilities, attributes and attitudes.

 

1.     ATTRIBUTES

 

Your attributes are your character traits—they are the real “you” that exists, regardless of external circumstances. They are the you you carry around with you. They are the “you” that shows up no matter where you go or with whom you associate.

 

The Bible gives us a very good description of the character that God desires to see in each of us. The apostle Paul wrote that it is the Father’s purpose to conform us to the image of His Son Jesus, so that we might reflect Christ’s nature and character to the world around us.

 

Romans 8:29

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

 

That character is summarised in another of Paul’s writings as being marked by “love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23).

 

These are not attributes that we can produce on our own. They develop in us as we say “no” to temptation and the flesh and “yes” to the Holy Spirit living and working in us. The Spirit matures us into the fullness of Christ’s character. He generates in us the awareness, ability, and courage to live out a new life marked by godliness.

 

They are the fruit of a life led by the Holy Spirit and educated to God.

 

You cannot reach the full potential of your attributes apart from God.

 

2.     ABILITIES

 

The same is true for your abilities. You may think that by exercising, practicing, or pursuing education and training, you can reach the fullness of your God-given abilities.

 

In truth, however, you cannot. The Lord gives you opportunities for developing your talents and gifts. He orchestrates your life to put you into the company of the right teachers, encouragers, and yes, even competitors—all of whom have a role in pushing you to achieve your full potential.

 

But never forget that it is God who gives you the mental and physical energy to pursue the development of your talents and gifts. He is the One who provides your next heartbeat, your next breath, your next idea, and your next awareness of what is still possible. And God gives you the opportunities for displaying and using your talents and gifts in ways that came and will produce true growth.

 

I attended University and graduated with a B. Optom. I had studied the eyes, the brain, visual performance and function, lenses, contacts lenses and so on. I had applied for a got a job.

 

My first day in the job I was terrified. All this knowledge, but I did not know diddly squat about the real world, the real visual needs of real people. Until the theory and knowledge was applied in the real world, I wasn't very useful! Learning is completed with application.

 

Would you rather see an experienced doctor, or a new graduate who might know more theory?

 

The Christian life was never intended to be a matter of book learning or head knowledge. If Christianity is going to work, it must work in real life, with real people facing real problems.

 

God wants us to live out the life He created and intends for us to live. The Bible tells us repeatedly to get knowledge and understanding. But then it challenges us to pursue wisdom, which is the application of knowledge and understanding in real-world situations according to God’s commandments and principles.

 

Look at Solomon’s prayer as he became king…

2 Chronicles 1:10

Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?”

 

IMPROVE YOUR SERVE

 

But we must take a step beyond the mere application of what we know—that step is service. Our abilities are truly challenged when we manifest them in ways that genuinely serve, bless and help other people.

 

1 Peter 4:10

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:

 

I sing… I have for years. I use to sing in bands, I was asked to join many bands. I could have maybe been famous as a singer, maybe not. But singing, as much as I love it, as much as I enjoy it and have talent for it, is nothing compared to singing for Jesus. When I turned away from bands and towards what God had for me, it was then I saw my true potential being realised. When the opportunity comes to use my voice and skills as a musician for purposes that are truly evangelistic or worship-oriented, it was then that the fullness of my potential began to be realised from the Father’s perspective.

 

And here's the crazy thing.. I wanted to sing before big crowds (don't we all), and through my ministry and serving Bill Newman I have realised and fulfilled that dream. I have sung before tens of thousands more than I ever would have in a pub band!

 

Only God provides those genuine opportunities for service, then rewards them with His presence.

 

Skills or abilities that are used in real-world situations for true service to the Lord give an added dimension to the word purpose. At this point, a person truly experiences fulfilment and  joy.

 

3.     ATTITUDES

 

God has also placed within you the attitudes that will drive you to develop the right attributes that bring Him glory.

 

Yes, at times your attitudes might be marred, scarred or worthy of being barred. They might make you duck, they might run amok, or they might just plain suck, but deep down, whether you're currently, half hearted, hard hearted, broken hearted or wear your heart on your sleeve, God has given you attitudes. The right attitudes!

 

2 Timothy 1:6-7

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

 

Yes, the Father has placed within you the aptitudes that can be trained and moulded into the right abilities that bring Him glory. And what you may see as a character flaw, in His hands can become your greatest strength!

 

Your timidity can be developed into patience and greater trust in Him. Your stubbornness can become the fruit of long suffering and faithfulness. Your anger can give rise to godly zeal. Your past hurts can provide valuable wisdom and experience to help you minister to others.

 

But always remember, it is God who works throughout your entire life to bring you to the fullness of your attributes and your abilities, your aptitudes and your attitudes. You cannot do it in your own strength. You can only do it in God’s strength and supply.

 

It was once said, "Only one life, twill soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last!”

 

That is the reason I say with boldness: Only God knows your potential, and only God can help you fulfil it. God sees not what others see, but He sees deeper, He sees the hidden potential your boss, your husband, even your mum does not see!

 

EMBRACE THE POSSIBILITIES

 

God not only has a plan in effect for your entire life—His plan goes on to future generations, all the way into eternity. God sees ahead what we can't!

 

Do you think the apostle Paul, locked up in a Roman prison, trying to communicate with a few of the churches and people he loved, do you think he knew that what he wrote would affects millions of people 2,000 years later?

 

There’s no way to know how many people your life will influence. You don’t know who is watching, listening, or learning from you. Your kids? Your friends? Maybe even your pastor? It’s impossible to know for certain what those you influence will do, who they will influence, or how they will affect the world.

 

Every person impacts history in some way—for God or for the enemy, for good or for evil. What you do and say lives on in the hearts and minds of others, to some degree, with a definite result or consequence. The decisions you make today echo throughout your life, and the life of your children and those around you!

 

Are you willing to line up today with God’s purpose and plan for your life and begin discovering what He still has for you to do?

 

HISTORICAL PROOF

Ever heard of Edward Kimbal? Most people haven't, but let me relate his story…

Kimball was a Sunday school teacher with rowdy boys in his class in the mid 1880s. He tried to win each one to Jesus individually, despite their unruly and hyper behaviour.

One young man, in particular, didn’t seem to understand what the gospel was about so Kimball went to the shoe store where he was stocking shelves and confronted him in the stock room with the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  That young man’s  name was Dwight L. Moody.  In the stockroom on that Saturday, he received Jesus Christ as his Saviour. He became the greatest evangelist of his time, winning hundreds of thousands to Christ.

But God’s plans and purpose doesn't end there.

Moody influenced a man named FB Meyer, who in turns had a profound effect on  another man’s heart, Wilbur Chapman.  Chapman became an evangelist who preached to thousands also.  One day, a professional baseball player had a day off and attended one of Chapman’s meetings, and thus, Billy Sunday was converted.

 

Billy Sunday quit baseball and became a famous evangelist, winning thousands to Christ including a young, scholarly man called Mordecai Ham, who wanted to preach the gospel  also.

 

Ham wasn't big or famous like Billy Sunday, but one day in 1934 he visited a little Baptist church in Charlotte, North Carolina to preach a series of revival meetings.  One especially tough evening he shared the gospel and called souls to repent and receive Jesus Christ, and only one awkward, lanky, country boy came forward to ask Jesus into his life that night. No big response, so he might have thought the evening a failure, but God didn't.  The name of the teenage boy who responded that night… Billy Graham!

 

SPIRALLING DOWN OR UP?

 

The decision you make in church over these next few weeks will affect eternity. Failure to trust God to reach your full potential means you might be the missing link in a life changing, world altering move of God! So the choice is yours today… yes or no, life or death, in or out, move towards your full potential in Christ, or stay where you are?

 

Those who never discover and pursue God’s purpose for their lives very often feel disappointed, empty, and discouraged. They are frustrated, and you might be frustrated of even anxious today looking at your life.  If worry and anxiety are allowed to grow unchecked, they turn into depression. And if depression is not reversed, it can turn into deep despair. This downward spiral can be devastating.

 

The very opposite occurs in those who wholeheartedly pursue God’s will, plan, and purpose. They feel energised, satisfied, and encouraged. They have hope and joy, even facing difficult circumstances. They ride the waves of problems and challenges, see each one not as a fear, not as a set back and not even as a hardship, but as a stepping stone to greatness!

 

They see life’s challenges as a golden opportunity to believe God and reach their potential, and they believe that He is using those situations and circumstances to carry them forward to a greater good and greater trust in Him. The more they experience the Lord at work in their lives, and through their lives, the more they trust God and grow in their intimacy with Him. This upward spiral continues all the way into heaven.

 

Psalms 75:7

but it is God who executes judgment,

putting down one and lifting up another.

 

I once heard the story of a little girl who was walking on her toes throughout the house. When her father asked her, “Why are you walking that way?” she replied, “I’m seeing what it’s like to be a big girl.”

 

God has a will, plan, and purpose for your life that should keep you walking on your tiptoes!

 

He has even greater spiritual maturity for you, greater reward for you, greater joy for you, and greater success for you. And all of it, from the Lord’s perspective, is so fantastic that you cannot begin to imagine how good it will be.

 

What is your greatest failure? What is the thing you perceive as holding you back from truly fulfilling the commitment you made last week, to move into your full potential? Is it lack of trust? Past hurts? Fear of others, fear of financial failure, fear of the future? Were you told you'll never amount to anything? Do you feel like you'll never be good enough? Have you tried to be a better person in the past and failed?

 

I want you to imagine that failure, in your hands, and come and lay it at the front.

How to Reach Your Full Potential in God

If you squash a spring, you can feel the tension in the spring, which scientists call potential energy. It has all this energy stored within it, its under tension and ready to pop, but the energy has not amounted to anything yet. You can feel the tension in the spring.

 

So it is with people. So many of us have potential, tremendous, life changing, world conquering potential, but it cannot be seen and has not been realised yet. We sense it is there, we feel like we could amount to something awesome for God, but as yet nothing is seen.  And like a spring, we too feel the tension of knowing we could become more than we are right now. And not us, but the Lord in us!

 

Ephesians 3:20

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

 

FEEL THE POTENTIAL

 

Stop right now and look deep within you heart. Do you believe that there's more there, that you have greater potential than what others and indeed you yourself see manifest today?

 

The truth is, most Christians are not pursuing their full, God given potential. They are not factoring God into their decision-making or into their goal setting.

 

Most Christians cannot clearly define what they believe to be the Lord’s foremost purpose and plan for their lives. They will stare at you blankly if you ask, “What do you believe is God’s will for you? Why do you believe He created you? What is the Father leading you to do next in your life?”

 

Many believers have a vague idea that there is more, that they have a greater destiny, but they're not sure, have no idea what it is and no idea how to obtain this.

 

Let me assure you of some great truths as we start this series on how to reach your full potential in Christ.

 

1.     GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOU

 

First, God absolutely has a will, plan, and purpose for your life individually and personally.

 

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

 

He also has a broad will, plan, and purpose for all of mankind, and He has specifically designed you and equipped you to fulfil a portion of that bigger will, plan, and purpose.

 

You are not an accident. You are not on this earth merely to live a certain number of years, months, and days, and then die. You are not here to make up the numbers. You are here to accomplish a job that God assigned to you from eternity past.

 

2.     GOD HAS GIVEN YOU GIFTS

 

Your heavenly Father loves you and has already embedded into you all of the gifts and talents you need to complete the work that He has assigned, prepared, and provided for you to do. God has already embedded into you all of the raw material necessary for you to come into a relationship with Him and to develop the character of His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

1 Corinthians 12:11 (Message)

All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

 

Your job is to discover the gifts and talents that God has placed in you, to develop them, and to begin to use them as the Lord brings opportunities for service or ministry. Hence 201.

 

3.     GOD HAS MADE YOU UNIQUE

 

Third, nobody can be who you are, nobody can replace you, and nobody else on this earth is capable of fulfilling the Father’s plan for you. Nobody else can do the work He has gifted you to do, know the people He is leading you to know, or offer the praise and prayer that He is giving your voice to. To find fulfilment, you must be and do what God made you to be and do.

 

Isaiah 64:8

But now, O Lord, you are our Father;

we are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

 

As we join together as a church, God even hones and shapes us to fit perfectly  together

 

1 Peter 2:4-5

you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood,

 

4.     GOD HAS ESTABLISHED A PATH

 

Fourth, God has a path you need to walk to reach the God given potential in your life. This requires a word that is frowned upon in our modern world… discipline!

 

Proverbs 4:25-27

Let your eyes look directly forward,

and your gaze be straight before you.

Ponder the path of your feet;

then all your ways will be sure.

Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.

 

You must establish firm commitments in various areas of your life in order to pursue and begin to reach your God-given potential. It doesn’t unfold accidentally, randomly  or automatically. The pursuit of your unique potential and purpose requires you to seek God’s very specific help in very specific areas of your life.

 

You cannot wander off doing whatever you like and expect God to lead and guide you. It takes obedience, it takes discipline. If you don't read His Word, if you don't go to church or wander from church to church seeking a big zap from the Lord or the latest Holy Spirit fad, you won't grow, and you will miss the path God has for you!

 

The question I ask you, which He has also asked me, is…

 “Do you want to reach your full potential?”

 

If your answer is yes, then the next month or two in Coast Church is going to be must watch, must attend viewing for you. If it's no, I'm sad for you, because you are going to miss out on the most exciting life ever!

 

IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!

 

Destiny is a series of choices. It doesn't happen randomly as new age philosophy will try to tell you. It's not floating out there in the never never waiting to strike against you when you least expect it.

 

If you fail to reach your destiny, don't blame your parents, don't blame your spouse, don't blame your circumstances, and definitely don't blame God!  You, and you alone are responsible… just you!

 

In our modern world, no one accepts responsibility. People today blame their parents, their upbringing, their exes, their teachers. They blame bad luck, bad drugs, bad friends, bad churches or bad leadership. They point the finger at the GFC,  KFC, COC, MTV or a whole range of things for not reaching their potential.

 

But at the end of the day, it all comes down to you. Plenty of people have had rougher starts and more tragic pasts than you, but have still risen to reach their potential.

 

It all comes down to your decisions. You can decide right now that you are going to stick with me in this series and discover how to reach your full potential in Christ, or not. Your choice!

 

STEPPING OFF THE PATH- LOSING YOUR DESTINY

 

Saul was Israel’s first king, but he got impatient, took matters into his own hands and lost his destiny. Samson was Israel’s great saviour, but he chased women and failed to keep his temper and lost his destiny. King Uzziah was a great king, but he wanted to also be a priest, so he overstepped the mark and was punished with leprosy and lost his destiny. Great men, great destinies, thrown away by bad choices and lousy motives!

 

I’M SO EXCITED, AND I JUST CAN’T HIDE IT!

 

Are you excited about your life? Or do you feel as if you are merely existing?

 

Ephesians 3:20

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

 

If you're excited, why not let your face know about it!

 

Are you moving with confidence toward a desired goal, towards the life and destiny God has for you? Or do you feel as if you are drifting along from day to day without any sense of purpose or direction? Going through the motions.

 

Perhaps there was a time when you were excited about your life, but now the excitement has faded, and you are asking, What has happened to me? Why am I so apathetic about my life? What happened to my inner drive? What happened to my hopes and dreams of becoming someone great for the Lord?

 

Are you stuck in a rut? A rut is just a grave with the ends knocked out, it's not a place you want to be! In this series I'm going to show you how to bust out of the rut and reach for the stars!

 

There are reasons we feel stuck, discouraged, or adrift. There are reasons people lose their enthusiasm for life. There are reasons God’s people lose their hope, their sense of purpose, their sense of destiny, and their joy. There are reasons life becomes just one long bore.

 

To punch through the curtain of reasons and reach your full potential, you need to recognise two fundamental but sometimes intimidating truths…

 

1. God has placed within you more than you realise
2. It is likely you've settled for the just adequate life you have now.

 

 

THE JUST ADEQUATE LIFE

 

I meet so many people who have settle for a just adequate, often a barely adequate life.

 

Somehow along the journey of life, they became complacent and content in their circumstances. They settled for what they believed was adequate or satisfactory. They stopped striving for more, and after a while they stopped even seeing that there's more there at all.

 

Ecclesiastes 2:22-23

What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

 

The sad thing is that eventually the person who has settled for a just adequate life may actually feel threatened by challenges to achieve, more, or experience more than what is presently the reality of their life. Ultimately you turn your back on your future and refuse to hope for more, seek more, or pursue more.

 

In fact, you might be sitting in your seat right now feeling uncomfortable and maybe even a little offended by what I am saying.

 

If that is where you are today, I encourage you to begin to see yourself the way God sees you. When you look at yourself through His eyes, you will no longer be satisfied with a just adequate life. You'll see that God has much, much more for you.

 

And don't fall for the age argument. Just because you're older, just because you are in a new church, just because your family or work situation is bad, none of these should limit your potential. Right Doug?

 

SEEING THROUGH GOD’S EYES

 

Your heavenly Father sees you through eyes of love and forgiveness.

 

 He sees where you are now, but more importantly, He sees the person He made you to be. He sees beyond your sin, your fears an your hangups, and His eyes see the awesome potential and possibilities He created you to fulfil.

 

You can decide right now that you want to discover this hidden potential. You can ask God right now to start to show you His will and the God given destiny He has for you. You can covenant with Him right now to align yourself with His plan and purpose for you. Decide this, and you are about to embark on one of the greatest journeys of discovery imaginable.

 

God promises to bless you with life at its best (John 10:10). So where do you start to learn how God sees you?

 

Psalm 139:13-16 is a great start…

 

Psalms 139:13-16

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

 

1.     YOU’RE FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE

 

I didn't say it, God did. He made you, and He made you unique and awesome!

 

When God created Adam and Eve, they were perfect, but sin intervened and marred His beautiful creation. When God looks at you, He sees your full potential in all it's original glory.

 

This doesn't mean He wants to make you into some beauty queen, but rather it means that He desires to engage in the process of transforming you from the inside out, so that you will be continually being moulded into the most God-beloved, Christ-Honouring, Spirit-filled, person you can ever be.

 

It also means that He is working all situations and circumstances for your good so that you can perform the functions He has equipped and enabled you to accomplish or complete during your lifetime.

 

God is not out to make you comfortable, but to develop Godly character. The symbol for Christianity is a cross, not a cushion. Most of what we pray for is about making us comfortable, successful or prosperous, but God will often use adversity to mould us into who we should be.

 

And He has a plan for us, Jeremiah 29:11. He has a destiny for our lives, if only we would see ourselves as God sees us.

 

2.     HE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU

 

Psalm 139 says “Your eyes saw my unformed substance.” Even in the womb, He saw it,

 

Your substance is more than your body. It is the sum of all your natural gifts, talents, dreams, personality, and abilities. He made you one of a kind, and from your beginning, He saw your potential, He saw right to your ending. The Lord has always known what you could be and do, because He is the One who created you.

 

3.     HE KNOWS THE DAYS FORMED FOR YOU

 

Psalm 139:16 says that He know the days formed for you, when there was not yet even one of them.

 

You see, you were born at a particular time, to a particular family in a particular location. He made your life a set number of years in a set environment so you could be and do all that He created you to be and do.

 

Some of you faced tougher circumstances than others, but all of us have faced pain, adversity, heartache or abuse at some point. If you let Him, God can draw goodness out of even the most horrible circumstances, and use that to help you reach your full potential and achieve what He wants in you life! Fiona’s great counselling skills have come about at least in part by the abuse she has suffered and triumphed over.

 

He will bring people and circumstances into your life, both good and bad, to fashion you into what He has planned for you. If you have ever wondered why you are on this earth, understand that God has placed you here as a unique person and given you unique experiences both good and bad to have you achieve a  unique mission, aimed at establishing and extending His kingdom. Your potential lies securely and completely in that purpose.

 

WEAVING OUR WAY THROUGH LIFE

 

If you are starting to catch a glimpse of how exciting discovering your potential could be, of how God is weaving all things together then I’m excited too.

 

Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

 

The threads of you as a unique individual are being intertwined with the threads of unique situations, circumstances, experiences, and relationships to produce an incredible, multi faceted, beautiful destiny.

 

Out of tragedy emerges triumph. Out of fear comes fulfilment. Every disaster can be turned into victory. A set back is just the set up for a come back!

 

There was once a mule who fell into a well, a water shaft.  The villagers compared the effort of a rescue with the value of the animal and decided, on balance, it was better to bury him. They started shovelling dirt. The mule had other ideas. As the clods hit his back, he shook them off and stomped them down. Each spade of earth lifted him higher, until he reached the top of the well and walked out. What his would-be killers thought would bury him actually delivered him.

 

God works all things, even the tough things, for your ultimate good, and the fulfilment of your full potential.

 

• He is bringing into your path people, opportunities, challenges, and resources.
• He is placing in you dreams, desires, and expectations about the challenges that already are making their way to you.
• He is preparing you in every way for the many opportunities that lie ahead.
• He is setting within you the expectation that something purpose-filled and exhilarating is just about to emerge.

 

When you begin to see the wonderful, prepared future that God is unfolding before you, life will take on greater importance and purpose. You’ll wake up every morning with an excitement and a desire to experience all that He has planned for you!

 

 Or you can be satisfied with a second rate, second best, just adequate life. You can get so complacent and self-satisfied in your just adequate life that when the alarm goes off, you roll over and go back to sleep. And the longer you leave it, the more unfulfilled and apathetic you become, and you quickly finish up blind to the fact that God has more for you to be, to experience, to receive, and to do.

 

CHOOSE LIFE

 

Today the choice is ours! It's up to us to choose what God has already has chosen for us. Do we sit, content in mediocrity and devoid of hope, or do we seek the fullness of life in God.

 

Deuteronomy 30:19

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,

 

God challenges us today to choose life, and not just any life… He means life to the fullest!

 

Today God sets before you all the possibilities of life. He wants you to embrace the life He has planned for you. This means that we must determine in our hearts and minds to live every single day to the utmost. We must welcome every new opportunity, grab hold of every new challenge, and face every new day with eagerness to discover what God has for us.

 

And we must obediently and daily seek and follow the Lord!

 

You see, God never shoots for the ordinary. He is the God of the extraordinary! Look at the stars and galaxies, look at plants and animals. Look at the lives of other Christians you know, Christians totally sold out and committed to serving Jesus, who live life to the full in every aspect of life, regardless of their health, finances or family situations.

 

Jesus hasn't called you to an ordinary, mundane, merely okay, or just adequate life. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). An abundant life overflows with God’s presence; it overflows with His love, joy, peace, hope, blessings, and power. It is full of God ordained, God planned and God orchestrated potential, and it is here for you this morning with one simple decision!

 

Are you passionate about life?

Do you deeply desire to experience all God has for you?

Do you really want His best in your finances, your job, your leisure, your hobbies, your relationships, your marriage, your church and your family?

 

The choice is yours… now choose life!

 

Today I am asking to ask you to commit to reaching your fullest potential in Christ. It will mean coming to church, it will mean reading the Word daily, it will mean facing some tough decisions perhaps, and it will mean commitment.

 

Where ever you are at today, whatever you see in your own life right now, if you are ready to reach higher, go deeper and move towards your full potential, I'm going to ask you to stand with me.

I Need Patience... NOW!

One of my greatest sins… If ever I was preaching to myself, this would be it!

 

 

2 Corinthians 1:20

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

 

Last week we looked at the Promises of God, how they are yes and amen. Not promises you seek out and claim for yourself, not blab it and grab it or name it and claim it promises, but ones that God quickens to your heart. Those promises, when you're sure that God has given it to you, you can stand on forever!

 

We learned that the missing element in truly seeing God’s promises manifested in your life is oftentimes not faith, but simply knowing God. If you serve Him, if you love Him, if you truly know Him then faith grows because you know you can trust Him. And of course you get to know God by reading His Word.

 

But there is one teeny, tiny snag… impatience!

 

This is surely one of my greatest sins. I get impatient with almost everything. I'm impatient with my work, impatient with ministry, impatient on the road, Impatient when I have to wait at the bank, impatient that people don't seem to want to change, impatient when my needs aren't met. I'm even impatient with myself that I still struggle with impatience!

 

Rush Doo you said, The impatient may not always be wrong on issues, but they are almost always wrong in their attitudes. (Quote by - R. J. Rushdoony)

 

Genesis 15:4-8

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

 

God made a promise to Abram. He promised him back in Genesis 12, and it took 25 years, 25 YEARS for the promise to come true.

 

God spoke to Abram many times. God speaks to us every day too. It says his faith was credited as righteousness, and maybe God did that because He knew just how long it would take, and how faithful Abraham would have to be.

 

The promises of God are yes and amen as we saw in last week’s message, but one of the major problems we face is that His time frame and ours rarely line up. His is almost always longer.

 

The Reformer John Calvin (1509–1564) said, “There is no time in which God does not invite us to himself.” And there is no time when God calls more loudly to us than when we are asked to wait patiently and persevere in the face of silence.

 

WHY ARE WE WAITING?

 

Let's face it, human beings, and me in particular, don't do patience very well.

 

Abram and Sarai faced a seemingly endless wait. They had no children, yet God had told Abram that he would have an heir (see Ge 15:4). What was God doing?

 

And I bet if God has given you a promise, and it tarries, you ask the same question, right?

 

When we are faced with waiting, our minds race ahead. Our fingers tap. And often we begin to question: “Where is God, anyway? Life wasn’t supposed to look like this.What is God doing? Why hasn't He answered my prayer?”

 

God intended for the holding patterns of life to be times of reflection and contemplation that draw us closer to him. They are times of invitation, when God calls us to Himself. They are not His attempts at frustrating us. They are not times when He's “teaching us a lesson.” He's a loving Father, and He doesn't make us wait for no reason. He loves us, and has a plan for us. And if we wait, He has a reason.

 

In fact, often the reason (apart from character development in us) is that He is orchestrating situations and circumstances in the background, in ways we neither know nor understand…

 

Exodus 2:23-25

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

 

When Joseph suffered in prison, God knew. When Daniel prayed God knew and sent an angel who was delayed. When Paul was in prison, God knew.

 

During waiting times, it can be helpful to prayerfully reflect upon our own impatient tendency to run from God during the silence. We get frustrated, and frustration and impatience rarely leads us closer to God. We cry out, but there's only silence, so we get mad! I want it all, and I want it now.

 

This impatience tendency shows our fear; it reflects a lack of faith that God loves us and has our best interests at heart. We struggle to trust Him, even more so if we don't know Him.

 

As Tara sang last week, if what we are praying for doesn't happen, will you still trust, will you still wait in hope?

 

WATCHING OUR WAIT

 

These days everyone seems to be watching their weight, but how about watching your wait?

 

John Piper said, "Patience in doing the will of God is not an optional Christian virtue, because faith is not optional and impatience is the fruit of unbelief. This is no minor skirmish!”

 

If we were to step back and have a good look at ourselves as we wait, we would probably observe a number of behaviour traits and emotions…

 

1.      RATIONALISATION

 

When we have to face a waiting period for our promises to come true, we often come up with our own explanations or reasons as to why the promise is not happening , and how we want to approach our circumstances.

 

We often rationalise things to give God a way out. We pray if it's your will, not to truly be obedient to His will, but to give Him an escape clause just in case it doesn't come true!

 

When our reasonings differ from what God’s Word has revealed, we usually try to disguise our true motive. We rationalise that we can do without the promise, so we can do what we want to do rather than be obedient the the Word of the Lord.

 

We sometimes think it through and rationalise that we should just do what we want to do, because God will do what He wants. We rationalise our behaviour, our lack of faith, what we say and do. He hasn't kept His end of the bargain, so why should I?

 

2.      CONTROL

 

As we wait, albeit impatiently, we feel the intense need to direct our own fate. Sure, we put on a spiritual front, we talk about trusting God, but the need to control is rooted in a lack of faith and fear.

 

Control freaks are horrible to be around, terrible in church leadership, but I suspect that all of us deep down grapple with the need to control the situation. I know I do.

 

Hence the phrase, "God helps those who help themselves," and no, it's not in the Bible!

 

3.      JEALOUSY

 

Often as we wait, we see others who seem to be being blessed in the way that we desire to be blessed.

 

Jealousy is often rooted in our belief that God owes us. We accept the Lord, He forgives our sin, He restores our life and somehow in our twisted, self centred, human rational we think God owes us! Our whole society thinks we're owed everything. We are self privileged, and from day one we expect parents, the government, the church and God to give us the privileges and blessings we think we're owed.

 

And we hate it when we see others getting ahead while we seem to be standing still!

 

 

4.      IMAGE-CRAFTING

 

We take control of circumstances because we worry about how we look in the eyes of others. Impatience is fuelled by our preoccupation with our self image.

 

We want to look godly, we want others to respect us, and when God makes us wait, and we get impatient, we potentially look bad, then our real selves are exposed. Waiting shows who you really are.

 

5.      DISILLUSIONMENT

 

We secretly fear that God will never provide what He has promised us, so we go out and get it for ourselves. When we’re gripping tightly to our dreams, we often act unwisely.

 

Let me put it this way… when we love our dreams more than we love God, we do unwise things to try and make them happen.

 

6.      STEPPING OFF THE PATH

 

God’s promised, He's quickened that word to me heart, and that should be enough. So we wait, and we wait, and eventually we say, “This is ridiculous, somebody's got to make this happen!”

 

Now Sarai found out the hard way that whatever we acquire outside of God’s will often turns to ashes. Her plan to raise a family through Hagar misfired badly. There is a path to the Promise, but you won't find it if you go wandering off into the bush!

 

THINGS TO WATCH WHILE YOU WAIT…

 

1.      SELF FULFILMENT

 

When Fiona and I go shopping, I often suggest that we go to different places in the store to save time. I tell her I'll meet her at a certain aisle. But this often doesn't work. I arrive, she's not there, so I get impatient and won't wait for her and I go looking for her. Meanwhile she arrives, finds me not there, doesn't know whether to look for me or wait. It's a mess.

 

Wherever you go, whatever you do I will be right here waiting for you! But no, I'm different, I'm a man of action, I get stuff done, so I tell the Lord,

 

“FORGET IT, LORD, I’LL DO IT MYSELF”

 

One of my daughter's favourite phrases growing up was, “I do it mine gelf!” And so we would wait while she tried to tie her shoes, or feed herself.

 

Genesis 16:2

And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

 

Many times the hardest part of surrendering to God is the waiting. Here Abram and Sarai show us what not to do when things don’t progress as quickly as we had hoped. Rather than waiting for God, they took matters into their own hands. They chose a servant girl, Hagar, to be a surrogate mother for Abram’s son. It was logical, it was helping God, it was sin!

 

Now I'm all for listening to your wife, but this was one occasion Abram shouldn't have listened. This and the Garden of Eden.

 

This “solution” resulted in a complicated family relationship that has served as a source of conflict to this day. Abram’s descendants through Hagar are the Arab nations. Their conflict with the Jews, Abram’s descendants through Sarai, keeps the Middle East in constant turmoil.

 

When you're hanging onto a promise that seems distant or impossible, a wise man resists the temptation to take matters into his own hands.

 

2.      CONTRARY COUNSEL

 

Contrary counsel, often masquerading as good, godly advice, will always come after God speaks. Human reasoning and counsel from others will appear reasonable, sometimes even godly, but human wisdom must never supersede God’s clear instruction. Encounters with God stretch our faith, for His ways are not our ways.

 

Please understand, I'm not advocating never listening to advice! You need to listen to advice, but not take it all, especially if it contradicts God’s expressed Word!

 

2 Chronicles 10:8

But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.

 

Solomon’s son Rehoboam split the country because he listened to his mates, not the wise older advisors.  Don't make the same mistake!

 

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR WAIT

 

Here's one quote that sums it up…

 

Stay in God’s appointed place, go at God’s appointed pace.

 

The trick to waiting in righteousness is to not lag behind, not rush ahead but,

 

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

 

So how can you walk humbly with Him?

 

1.      FIND THE ROOT OF IMPATIENCE

 

What's at the core of your impatience? Is it fear, unbelief, or is it control? Is it pride, perhaps the belief that you are capable and talented enough to do it your gelf?

 

Step one is asking God to search your heart to reveal the core issue…

 

Psalms 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!

 

 

2.      STRENGTHEN YOURSELF IN THE LORD

 

 

1 Samuel 30:6

And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

 

Turn to God in your impatience. There are 2 ways to do this…

 

a.      DRAW CLOSE TO GOD

 

Prayer and our daily Bible reading plan can and will change your life, and will draw you closer to God, and nothing will sustain you in tough times like truly knowing God.

 

James 4:8

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

 

 

b.      DRAW CLOSE TO GODLY PEOPLE

 

Fellowship with people you know will stand with you. Meet with them at church, have coffee with them. Open your heart to them. Be vulnerable, and ask them to stand with you.

 

Ecclesiastes 4:12

And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

 

3.      CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTION

 

Changing how you see waiting can have a huge effect on how you wait… patiently or not? It's time for a change of perception, folks, it's time to see waiting not as a punishment , not as an attack, but as a privilege, as an opportunity to develop more character, more faith and more trust in an infinite, ever faithful God!

 

Waiting is your chance to shine!

 

So how do you change your perception?

 

a.      WATCH THE WORDS YOU SAY

 

I'm not talking about positive confession, saying you're healed when you're clearly not, etc, but you do need to monitor your speech, and make sure you are not negative in what you say. Speak positively, speak words of trust and faith.

 

Luke 6:45

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

 

Negative words reveal the secrets of your heart. They indicate that you have fear and lack of faith. They reflect what's going on inside you.  So speak Words of encouragement and stay positive, even if things look bleak!

 

b.      WATCH  THE WORDS GOD SAYS

 

Know God’s heart by reading His Word…

 

Isaiah 49:23c

Then you will know that I am the Lord;

those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”

 

 

Isaiah 64:4

From of old no one has heard

or perceived by the ear,

no eye has seen a God besides you,

who acts for those who wait for him.

 

Isaiah 40:31

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

 

Don't stop, don't sit down and have a pity party. I know it's tough, I know it's discouraging, and so does God. But when the Bible talks about waiting on God, it's not a passive but an active word…

 

QAWA, Hebrew, means wait expectantly, lie in wait for, look patiently with expectation, and twisted together. When you lie in wait for something, you are constantly in a state of readiness, of expectation.

 

Waiting for God in Biblical terms means, keep doing the good things, keep up the disciplines of Bible reading, prayer and attending church. It means wait, expectantly, for if God said it, it will surely come to pass!

 

FINALLY… LET IT GO, AND LET GOD!

 

 

Impatience tells God that you don't truly trust Him. Waiting expectantly thrills the heart of God, and believe it or not actually achieves a great work within you!

 

We need to let it go, and let God do it!

 

At the end of Exodus 2, God heard the cries and groans of the enslaved Hebrews and He was moving to act for their deliverance long before they understood His plan. God is at work on our behalf even when He appears silent. He will always keep His promises.

 

Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

 

But I know many of you are saying it's all just too hard right now, you're down, you're discouraged and feel without hope. It feels never ending! Those promises seem miles away, if they even come to pass at all.

 

Hope is not a granted wish or a favour performed; no, it is far greater than that. It is a zany, unpredictable dependence on a God who loves to surprise us out of our socks and be there in the flesh to see our reaction. (From God Came Near by Max Lucado)

 

If you're waiting right now for that breakthrough, that healing, that provision I want to challenge you. You may feel you're failing the test. You're not disciplined, your not an overcomer, you're down on the canvas, panting for breathe, maybe afraid to stand up and keep fighting.

 

You might feel your faith isn't the real deal. You doubt, you struggle, you get mad at God sometimes and instead of the finished article, you're full of cracks and defects, but today I tell you there's hope in God!

 

Have you heard the old story about the beautiful cathedral window that was vandalised? Some children threw pebbles at it and it was cracked all over. So the church elders sent for one of the finest artists in the land and asked, “What can you do?”

 

He said, “Leave it to me.” And he went to work with his fine chisels and began cutting the glass. He made artistic lines wherever there was a break, turning each crack into a beautiful thing. When it was all over, the sun shone in on one of the most beautiful pieces of art glass in the world.

 

That's you today. You might struggle, you might have hope and expectation and promises unrealised. You might feel down, feel cracked, feel less than you should be. You might feel impatient, and like you can't hang on much longer.

 

TOZER said this…

“The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things.”

 

Anytime God calls us to fulfil a certain responsibility, we enter a period of waiting. Abraham and Sarah took meters into their own hands and created centuries of conflict. Moses did the same, tried to take a shortcut but failed, and he spent forty years in the desert as a result. Yet in these times of waiting, God moulds and shapes us.

 

The only way to meet the challenge of responsibility is to be willing to wait on God’s timing in every situation.

 

Three words characterise a responsible person:

Confidence in God’s calling and ability; Courage to obey regardless of the cost; Commitment to Jesus Christ.

 

God gives us limitless opportunities, but we cannot just wander off and do our own thing. We must assume responsibility and obey His call. We must reach the point where, no matter how long, no matter how hard, no matter how impatient we feel, we will obey His call. Like Moses, we should be willing to obey regardless of the cost.

 

If you have a dream, a future, a promise, then today I'm going to ask you to commit wholeheartedly to that, regardless of the cost, and regardless of the time…

God's Promises

2 Corinthians 1:20

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

 

 

One of the great and unalterable truths in life is that God keeps His promises. This should build incredible faith in us, knowing that God is God, His promises never fail and that He loves us and wants the best for us. The Bible is full of God’s promises, right?

 

Yet so many Christians lack faith and are disillusioned, living powerless lives, being tossed around by every wind of teaching and every new fad that breezes through Christendom. Why? How can we be so faithless?

 

Part of the reason is experience… We don't understand God’s promises and  we view God as a celestial Santa Clause whose role is to bring us joy, comfort, peace and success. Many of us have experienced times we trusted God and His promises, and things didn't work out as we planned. So many have shared with me that they tried trusting God, and it didn't work out. This is not my experience, but it might be yours.

 

The root cause of disillusionment with God is simply this… we don't really know Him. We don't know who God is!

 

So today I want to look at God’s promises. What are they, are they for you, which ones are for you and how to see them manifest in your life.

 

 

A PROMISE IS A PROMISE!

 

Scripture lists some 8,000 promises, so what are these promises of God’s, and which ones apply to you? Are all God’s promises for all of us? No, many are, some are not. Some are conditional.

 

If God’s promises are yes and amen, man's are nothing like that. People break promises all the time. I have, and you have, so don't look “holier than thou” at me.

 

As humans, we easily break simple promises we make, to God and to each other. Often it's not even our fault. I remember one time promising Fiona I would be home from Sri Lanka on Tuesday morning. I awoke Monday to find the Tamil Tigers had bombed the airport and shut it down for a day. Not my fault, but the promise was broken.

 

Small promises are easily broken… I promise I'll be at the meeting. I promise I'll be there for you. I promise I'll change. I promise I'll be on time this time.  I promise this weekend we'll go camping.

 

We even break big promises. I once promised to love, honour and cherish Fiona, till death us do part. I haven't always cherished her, I haven't always treated her with honour.

 

But God, well He never breaks His promise.

 

So why are so many disillusioned or feeling let down by God? If He makes promises and He keeps them what's the problem?

 

Part of the reason is that we don't understand His promises, we claim ones we like that are not for us, we grow tired of waiting for the ones that are and we misappropriate them. And the other part of the equation is that we don't really know God..

 

 

WHAT GOES WRONG WHEN WE TRY AND STAND ON THE PROMISES OF GOD?

 

God does not lie, He doesn't change His mind and He doesn't break His promises.

 

Numbers 23:19

God is not man, that he should lie,

or a son of man, that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

 

Logically, if the problem is not with God, and not with His promises, the problem must lie with us!  So where do we go wrong when we try and appropriate God's promises? Bear in mind, I'm not trying to ruin your faith in the promises of God! Listen to the whole message before you crucify me…

 

1.     WE CONFUSE PRINCIPLES WITH PROMISES

 

One of the most oft-quoted Bible passages about child rearing is Proverbs 22:6: “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” How do we reconcile that verse with the many godly parents whose kids are not walking with God.

 

In many families, in fact, kids are reared the same way, and one embrace God's will for their life while the other rejects God all together!

 

Do such cases disprove the proverb? Of course not. Proverbs are principles, not promises. This means they mostly are true, sometimes are not. Once you have brought your child to a point of decision making, their personality, their obedience and their decision making comes into play. It's a principle, a good principle, but it's not a promise.

 

 

2.     WE THINK ANSWERED PRAYER IN THE BIBLE IS A PROMISE

 

Some Christians read prayers in the Bible, see them answered and say, Great, this must be for me.—

 

God promised Abraham,

Genesis 15:5

“Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

 

It was a promise, but to Abraham, not you. Do you really want 12 sons? Another example is the prayer of Jabez…

 

1 Chronicles 4:10

Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.

 

This was God's promise to Jabez, and you cannot simply steal it and say it applies to you! Could it be for you? Maybe, but its original intent was for Jabez, not you.

 

In fact, this is so common in churches that we've constructed an entire theology around it. Many people claim all the promises given to the Jews as being for the church, and we heard pastor Dahlia speak on that last week. It's called displacement theology, and I believe it is wrong and out of touch with God's intent for those promises.

 

3.     WE CONFUSE COLLECTIVE PROMISES WITH INDIVIDUAL ONES

 

Some promises intended for us are collective, not individual, for us as a people, not exclusively me!

 

2 Chronicles 7:14

if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

 

This is to us, if MY people. It's a promise for us and our people, not us personally.

 

 

4.     WE FAIL TO SEE CONDITIONS FOR PROMISES

 

Many of God’s promises are unconditional—meaning there are no conditions required for Him to do what He promises. An example is…

 

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

 

But many other promises are conditional and dependent on the choice or actions we make.

 

Most conditional promises take an “If . . . then . . .” form. “Promises that contain an ‘If’ require some form of obedience before we can expect them to come to pass in our lives,” says Jen Wilkin. “They are conditional. If we want to claim them, we had better be ready to act in obedience to what they require.”

 

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

You want to be pure, you want to be forgiven, you want to be set free from the power of sin? Then you need to confess your sin to the Lord and actively seek His forgiveness. He does not automatically forgive every sin you make. There's a condition. Here is another…

 

Proverbs 3:9-10

Honor the Lord with your wealth

and with the firstfruits of all your produce;

then your barns will be filled with plenty,

and your vats will be bursting with wine.

 

If you want to become prosperous, honour God with your wealth. If you choose to be stingy and not bless the Lord and others with the little you have, the promise does not stand for you.

 

5.     WE TWIST PROMISES TO SUIT OURSELVES

 

God’s promises mean only what God intended them to mean. When we subvert the meaning of a promise, when we try and twist it  into what we want it to be, or overlook bits we are not prepared to do, it ceases to be a promise at all.

 

Even when we rightly recognise a promise as intended for us, we often impose our own understanding of exactly how it will be fulfilled. I want it, I want it now and I want it my way. Or we are tempted to impose our own timeline on its fulfilment. Here's an example…

 

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

 

We all believe this, we all know God has a plan and purpose for us. But we conveniently forget the next few verses…

 

Jeremiah 29:12-13

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

 

We want the blessing, but we twist it so we don't have to give out on the conditions,  to pray, to seek Him with all your heart. If we don't seek Him we will likely miss the wonderful plan.

 

So Does this mean God’s promises are not for us? Absolutely not! Thousands of God’s promises are meant for us, but that doesn't give us carte Blanche to claim whatever we want on our terms for ourselves!

I CLAIMED IT… BUT GOD LET ME DOWN

 

Many times this is where we go wrong. We read something, or hear something in a sermon, and we claim it for ourselves. Was that promise for us? We don't want to be obedient, we just want to see the good things coming our way. We love to claim the blessing, ignore the conditions, ignore the intent of the promise, twist it to our own ends, then get mad at God when He doesn't do our bidding.

 

Many of us have been through this. We try and try, we manifest all the faith we have, we believe, but to no avail. What we wanted, what we asked for, fails to materialise.

 

My experience is that God is faithful, He never lets me down... but He does have alternative ways of doing things! The longer I live, the less I order God around and the more I trust that He has it all in hand, that He will take care of me. I can share my needs, even my wants, but I can leave it with Him instead of sitting in judgement as to how well he does in answering my requests. The closer I get to Him, the less I have to claim promises, because I'm sure in my heart of the promises He is giving to me.

 

So how can we figure out which promises are for us, which are collective, which are for the Bible characters themselves and which are general promises?

 

We need God's presence to show us… we need the Holy Spirit!

 

CLAIMING VERSES QUICKENING

 

Now before you get completely depressed and give up on God’s wonderful promises, I want you to understand that I'm not trying to discourage you but I'm trying to help you set up for life changing success in seeing God’s promises manifesting in your life!

 

Naming and claiming God’s promises is not only immature, but it's downright dangerous! When we think God’s greatest agenda is to give us what we want, we are not honouring God as God! So many people I have talked to have given up on God because they named and claimed a promises that did not come to pass, then got mad at God when it didn't.

 

That shallow, twisted theology fails to acknowledge the most important factor in standing on the promises of God… His Holy Spirit within you!

 

When you pick out a promise that you like, ignore any conditions and just start praying that, you can be assured of failure, disappointment and heartache at some point. Why? Because you're invested in a result, you're committed not to the Lord, but to seeing a particular blessing in your life.  You're not invested in the Lord. You're dictating terms and demands to the Creator of the universe, not trusting the One who saved your soul. You are seeking His hand, but not His face.

 

Seek His face, folks, and you get His hand as well, in all aspects of life. So how do we do this?

 

 

1.     PRAY AND HONESTLY SEEK HIS FACE, NOT HIS HAND

 

Psalms 9:10

And those who know your name put their trust in you,

for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

 

The word “name” means character, plus reputation. The more you know who He is, the more you will trust in Him.

 

You wonder why we don’t have faith; the answer is, faith is confidence in the character of God and if we don’t know what kind of God God is, we can’t have faith.

 

We can read books on faith, learn about great men of faith, watch movies about faith. But we forget that faith is confidence in God’s character. And because we are not aware of what kind of God God is, or what God is like, we cannot have real faith.

 

 And so we struggle and wait and hope against hope. We try and step out and believe God, we desperately claim the promises we want. But faith doesn’t come, because we do not know the character of God. “those who know your name put their trust in you.” It’s automatic—it comes naturally when we know what kind of God God is.

 

 

2.     READ HIS WORD

 

God reveals Himself through His Word. If you don't read the Bible you won't really know God. Seeking His face means reading the Bible. If you want to grow in Christ, if you want to see the promises of God come true in your life, you simply must read the Bible every day.

 

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

 

Reading the Word of God every day not only puts your spirit in touch with His, it not only allows you to see more of His character, but it is living and active, discerning the thoughts and intentions in your heart.

 

It's the missing link we talked about before, it's the way His Spirit speaks to you, guides you, teaches you, grows you and quickens promises to you. If you read the prayer of Jabez and say, “Oh, I like that, that ones for me,” it's different to when you are reading the Bible every day and suddenly that verse jumps out at you and God says, “This is my promise for you.”

 

But you will never experience this until you read His Word daily. That's why I am so committed to the Bible reading plan.

 

 

3.     LET THE HOLY SPIRIT REVEAL PROMISES

 

Galavanting randomly around bits of the Bible finding promises you want to apply to yourself for your own benefit is not way to grow in the things of God!

 

You need the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s promises to you, and then you can stand on those forever! His awesome promises will draw you nearer to Him, and cause you to trust Him more, but only if you let Him quicken the right promises to your spirit.

 

2 Peter 1:4

by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

 

There is a huge difference between finding a promise and claiming it, and having the Lord quicken it to your Spirit. We mentioned the prayer of Jabez before. Books have been written on it, people have thought, gosh that's a great promise, I'll take that one. I remember reading the book and thinking, “That's nice, I'd like that.” Bless me, enlarge my border, keep your hand on me and keep me from harm and pain. Who doesn't want that? Notice it's all ME, ME, ME? I read the book and nothing happened!

 

I'm telling you, while God wants to protect, bless and lead your life, I can also guarantee you'll find some pain, some tough times and some times when God seems distant. God’s not there to give you a nice, comfortable life.

 

At a later stage I read the passage in 1 Chronicles, when I was changing situations in my life, and the words jumped off the page, spoke to me heart and gave me confidence and joy going forward.

 

In the same way, I had always read and believed God’s promises to prosper me and not harm me. Then we lost everything in our mid 40s and had to start again. It was painful, it was way longer than I would have imagined. We could not overcome our debt, we could not even revisit our loans. We were trapped.

 

Then New Year 2 years ago, before we became pastors here, the Lord spoke to me of His promises to prosper us again. Clearly. Quickened it to my Spirit. I told Fiona that our finances were about to break through and turn around. She struggled to believe it after 6 years of agony. Within one month we received a cheque, out of the blue, for over $50,000 dollars, and this turned our finances around.

 

I didn't just make it up. I did not just claim a general promise. The Lord, the Holy Spirit, quickened it to my heart. When He does that, you can stand on the promises with confidence!

 

 

 

4.     TRUST HIM NO MATTER THE RESULT

 

We've spoken about this, and it's not easy to do. Do you trust God so emphatically that your faith will be unwavering even if the results are not what you want?

 

Sometimes we trust God for things, and things get worse. Sometimes we have desperate needs, and they remain unmet no matter how much we pray.

 

Can you say…

Job 13:15

Though he slay me, I will hope in him;

yet I will argue my ways to his face.

 

Want a healing? Will you still trust God even if you don't seem to be healed? Want financial provision? Will you still trust God even if more bills come and your bank account empties even further? Want to grow your ministry? Will you still trust God even if someone else gets the nod over you?

 

Can you truly trust the Lord no matter what? He's not out to hurt you, He's not trying to frustrate or anger you, but if He has a higher way, if He cares more about developing character instead of comfort in you, can you still trust Him? If it takes way longer than you envisage, can you still trust Him? Will you?

 

You cannot have this level of absolute trust in someone you don't really know.

 

You see, trust in God is not just getting what you want in life. Corrine Ten Boom was in Ravensbruk concentration camp, where her sister was murdered. Still she could say, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

 

But how can you if you don't even know God? Back to the previous point.

 

5.     LEARN TO WAIT IN FAITH

 

Gods timing is not yours, or mine. Abraham came off a huge victory yet was still down because He had no heir. THEN God gave Him the promise…

 

Genesis 15:6

And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

 

But it took over 20 years of waiting for the promise to be manifested. Yet Abraham waited, for the most part, in faith for the fulfilment of the promise. How long can you wait?

 

 

6.     SHARE THE LOAD… COME TO CHURCH

 

Hebrews 10:24-25

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

 

Church needs to be a place where we stir each other up to love and good works. Church must be where we are built up, and where we can learn to trust our Father together, where we can encourage one another and where we can share the loads and burdens of life with our spiritual families.

 

Church is not a religious duty, it's not a corporation, its not an organisation, it's an organism, it's a family!

 

By sharing your joys, your struggles, your dilemmas and your blessings with other believers, your faith is built up. You're not standing alone. Remember months ago we looked at the armour of God, and found that the shield of faith is less effective if you use it alone. And that a single soldier can be picked off by the devil. It is most effective when joined and interlocked with other shields,  with other believers. That's where the strength lies, and that's where God’s promises stand strong!

 

 

7.     SERVE, DON’T SNATCH

 

Our society is probably the most self centred generation in history. We have an inbuilt lust for things we haven't got, the new car, the new house, the new computer. “What's in it for me,” is the slogan of the age.

 

This spirit runs contrary to the Spirit of God. He is generous. He gives, He blesses, He gave His one and only Son, for your sin and mine, to open the way back to Him.

 

If you want to see God’s promises come true in your life, take your eyes off yourself, your needs, your pain, your desires and your agenda and fix your eyes on Jesus. Serve, don't snatch at things, fill you mind with the Word of God, fill your heart with the Holy Spirit and fill your life with blessing others.  Concentrate on the important things, the things that last forever… God, His Word, serving Him, serving others.

 

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

 

GOD’S PROMISES ARE HERE FOR YOU

 

It's been said that people with good intentions make promises, but people of good character keep them. God has the best character of all. He never breaks a promise He gives you, He never lets down those who love Him, serve Him and get to know Him.

 

God’s promises are yes and amen

 

Today I want to pray for…

 

People who believe God has given them a promise that has not happened yet, and you're tired of waiting.

 

People who are discouraged, feel let down by God and perhaps realise that they have been holding God to promises He never even made to them.

Israel and the Church- The One New Man

Israel and the church is a topic that should be very important to all of us in the 21st century. And it is my very great pleasure to welcome Pastor Dalia Dery, herself a Messianic Jew, to share an important and pivotal message concerning Israel and the church.

As you listen to this message, remember that Pastor Dalia's heart is the manifestation of one new man, where Israel and the church can stand together as brothers sharing in the goodness of God.

And if you take a few moments to read the new, you will recognise that Israel is under an incredible attack at this moment what an amazing time to have this amazing woman come and share in our service.

And Pastor Dalia is not just talking in generalisations, she is sharing a specific vision that the Lord gave her concerning the future of her nation Israel and the church.

So buckle up, settle back and listen to this pivotal message on the one new man… Israel and the church, standing together seeing in the glories of God and the return of Jesus Christ.

Peace on Earth- Christmas Day 2016

Luke 2:8-14

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

 

Peace… that illusive state that the whole world is yearning for, but never obtains. When I read verse 14, I sometimes wonder if the angels made a mistake. Not with the glory to God bit, but with the peace on earth bit.

 

This Christmas is no exception. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the refugee who drove a truck into a packed Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 and injuring 48. It was the same terror technique employed just a few months ago in France. Peace on earth? You're kidding aren't you?

 

One of the most famous examples of peace on earth occurred during one of the most bloodthirsty, horrifying events in modern history. The Christmas truce of 1914 was a unique event…

 

The Germans placed candles on their trenches and on Christmas trees, then continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols. The British responded by singing carols of their own. The two sides continued by shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon thereafter, there were excursions across No Man's Land, where small gifts were exchanged, such as food, tobacco and alcohol, and souvenirs such as buttons and hats. The artillery in the region fell silent. The truce also allowed a breathing spell where recently killed soldiers could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties. Joint services were held. In many sectors, the truce lasted through Christmas night, continuing until New Year's Day in others.[6]

 

During the time of the truce, men sang carols together, showed photos of their loved ones back home, shared cigarettes and chocolate and even had a couple of impromptu football matches, where reports are that The Scottish beat the Prussians and Hanovans 4-1, while elsewhere the Germans beat the English 3-2… some things never change!

In the middle of the mud, artillery, bullets and corpses, at Christmas time men yearned for peace.

 

PEACE ON EARTH FOR ALL MEN?

 

If you look at the passage in Luke, that first Christmas the angels didn't proclaim peace on earth for all men… They proclaimed peace on earth to those with whom He is well pleased. This proclamation of peace was never intended for all mankind, but for those who love and serve the Lord.

What the angel proclaimed that first Christmas was a message of peace to a world that had known much war. The famous “Pax Romana” (Roman Peace) had been in effect since 27 BC, some 30 years earlier, but the absence of war doesn’t guarantee the presence of peace.

 

The Stoic philosopher Epictetus said, “While the emperor may give peace from war on land and sea, he is unable to give peace from passion, grief, and envy. He cannot give peace of heart for which man yearns more than even for outward peace.”

 

The angels predicted this peace will come when we give glory to God in the highest. The peace does not come when the arms race ends. Peace will not come with arms limitations treaties. Peace does not come when ISIS or Al Qaeda is destroyed. Peace does not come when a general glow of good will wells up and we all feel magnanimous about our neighbours. The angels give us the precondition for peace—that we give glory to God in the highest. That has nothing to do with whether or not we win the arms race.

 

Isaiah 48:22

“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

 

And if we don't know Jesus as Lord and Saviour, were among the wicked. We may not be axe murderers, or thieves, or criminals, but we all sin, we all say things that hurt others, think the worst of people and we all are selfish and want to do things our way. And the more we fight for our rights, the less peace we know!

 

TRUE PEACE

 

True peace depends on our relationship with Jesus Christ, that very same baby who grew to become the Prince of Peace, and laid His life down for us.

 

When these words were spoken to the Shepherds, Life was difficult just as it is today. Taxes were high, unemployment was high, morals were slipping lower, and the military state of Rome occupied the land and was in control. Roman law, Greek philosophy, and even Jewish religion could not meet the needs of men’s hearts.

 

Peace depends on the same thing now as it did then. When you give your life to Jesus, you give glory to God, and His pleasure rest upon you.

 

And the very word peace, which in Hebrew is shallom, means much more than a truce in the battles of life. It means well-being, health, prosperity, security, soundness, and completeness. It has to do more with character than circumstances.

 

So this Christmas, let me highlight the peace the angels were proclaiming, and let me reveal to you how you can get it right now, this very day, whatever happens in the rest of the world.

 

1.     PEACE WITH GOD

 

The lesson God has for us here is that we need to make peace, first of all, with God. That’s where peace begins. We may be running because we are afraid of God. “Fear not,” the angel says.

 

Jesus said this…

 

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

 

We no longer need to rage against God. We no longer have to worry about going to hell. We don't have to be separated from God, we can be at peace with Him, we can be one with Him. If you are not at peace with God right now, even if you've made a commitment to Christ, you are missing the point. God has dealt with our sin and His grace is sufficient. We can come home. We belong to Him. Whatever we have done, we can come home and be reconciled. We can be at peace with God!

 

2.     PEACE WITH THOSE AROUND US

Have you ever noticed how stressed people are these days. Shopkeepers constantly complain about angry, unreasonable customers, people get angry at the shops, in their homes and on the road. How on earth can Christmas be a time of peace when it is a time of stress, traffic, financial suicide and family tensions?

 

Isaiah 26:3

You keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.

 

We have so much in our country, but we don't have true peace. We need peace and reconciliation between the haves and the have-nots in our prosperous nation. How can we begin to be peacemakers with all those who are less fortunate than us? What about other less fortunate countries? We are called to reconciliation in families, between husbands and wives, between parents and children. We are called to effect political reconciliation between right and left, labour and liberal, the minority and the majority, gay and straight.

 

Peace does not mean we have to agree, but at least we can be agreeable, right?

 

At Christmas, a time with tremendous financial pressure, with family pressure, with traffic and tension and everybody wanting more for themselves, we can choose to live in peace with others people around us. When we honour, love and serve God, His peace on earth can become a beacon to the rest of the world that's stressed, rushed, pressured and self centred!

 

3.     PEACE WITHIN

Inner peace doesn't come from chanting and studying your navel. At Christmas we are reminded that the angels proclaimed peace on earth, and it can be ours this Christmas. But you will never find true inner peace until you find the Prince of Peace!

 

We need to find the inner peace that comes from being in harmony with ourselves and with God. So many of us are taunted by the various voices in our heads that compete for favour. So many of us are conflicted and confused, divided between what we want, what we see others have or what we think we do or don't deserve. Most of us spend Christmas reacting to what goes on around us, reacting to the traffic, the car parking, the shopping, the family tension, the snide remark, and so on, rather than offering a measured, godly response.

 

Philippians 4:6-7

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

This Christmas, why not ask Him for that peace, the peace that passes all understanding? The peace to live your life as a shining beacon of peace in a world gone mad. The peace to face any crisis, any heartache, and pain and any fear. The peace that only comes from knowing God intimately.

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

 

Is God well please with you this Christmas? Are you giving glory to God right now?