He Has Done Great Things 2

OPENING

He did it again!

God has done great things and He will continue to do so

But it all begins in a PRAYER

Kelly prayed and God did a miracle in her life

If it did not start in a prayer, it will only be treated as a coincidence, it just so happens, it’s just pure luck

King David prayed and he too receives many wondrous things in his life

Part of David’s prayers went like this

Psalm 86:10 ESV

For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

Psalm

First you have to recognize His greatness

Then wondrous things you will witness

And there’s only one God that can do all these

And His name is Jesus

He Has Done Great Things

TO THOSE WHO GOD USES FOR HIS PURPOSE

God uses all kinds of vessels. Big vessels, medium vessels, small vessels even defective vessels

Abraham lied, but after he repented from his failure, God used him mightily

Moses murdered an Egyptian, but when He turned to God, he was used powerfully

David murdered Uriah and stole his wife Bathsheba, but God used Him after he repented and cried out to the Lord saying

Psalm 51:10–13 TEV

Create a pure heart in me, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me. Do not banish me from your presence; do not take your holy spirit away from me. Give me again the joy that comes from your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Then I will teach sinners your commands, and they will turn back to you.

Psalm 51:10 TEV

Create a pure heart in me, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me.

Brent & Dayon was also used by God to respond to Kelly’s prayer

But God will not use a dirty vessel

God uses these vessels, BUT God will not use a dirty vessel

Before God uses you, you need to be ready

One of the great examples that God used for His purpose was Joshua

Joshua 1:2 TEV

He said, “My servant Moses is dead. Get ready now, you and all the people of Israel, and cross the River Jordan into the land that I am giving them.

Before God can use you, you must be ready

When Jesus Christ encourages His disciples to remain faithful to Him and be ready for His return , He said..

Luke 12:

Luke 12:35 TEV

“Be ready for whatever comes, dressed for action and with your lamps lit,

Ask the person next to you, “ARE YOU READY?”

We are 6 weeks out to our 39th Year ANNIVERSARY

Through these weeks leading to our celebration, we will PRAY, PLAN, PROMOTE AND PERFORM

I heard some of the experiences from the same campaign last year saying, nobody showed up, not even one of the people whose doors they knocked on appeared during the anniversary.

But let me tell you these....let us not usurp the power that is vested only to God

While we are commissioned as ambassador’s of the Lord, still it is the Lord that brings and takes away people from the church… listen in

Acts 2:47 TEV

praising God, and enjoying the good will of all the people. And every day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.

My elementary garden story

We used Mattocks to break the soil, to soften the surface

My plot has to be ready before we were allowed to plant the seed

So what we did last year is not even planting the seeds, it was just breaking the soil

We use mattocks to break and soften the soil, we use the cross to soften the heart

We

But before we can even do that, we must BE READY

Just like Joshua, he was told by God to be ready before they cross the Jordan River

After crossing Jordan river, the first city Joshua conquered was Jericho

God instructed Joshua to lead His people to march around the walls of Jericho (Joshua 6)

And on the 7th day, after marching around the city 7 times, the 7 priests sounded the trumpet and then Joshua gave command and the whole army shouted all at the same time, then the walls of Jericho collapsed and they charge straight in and took over the city and dedicated it to God

And that is what we intend to do again around the neighborhood of our place of worship, and you can do it too around your own neighborhood.

To continue what we have started last year. we will do another Jericho march.

We will go on knocking on peoples houses just to tell them that we are going around to meet people and to pray for them if they’re willing to be prayed for

See it has to always BEGIN with a prayer

Do not jump right on them and say, we are inviting them to our church anniversary, but instead, simply OFFER A WORD OF PRAYER

Do not make it about us, or about you, because what we are doing is about “them”

It’s easy for us to say that they are not ready, but did we ever asked ourselves if we are ready?

The question we should ask ourselves is “Are we ready? “

God uses small, medium, big or even defective vessels, but God will not use a dirty vessel

Let me share with you 4 things that we must do to be ready for this Jericho march around our communities

1. I Must Purify My Heart

2 Timothy 2:21 NCV

All who make themselves clean from evil will be used for special purposes. They will be made holy, useful to the Master, ready to do any good work.

Job 11:13 ESV

“If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him.

Before they entered the promise land

Joshua 3:5 NLT

Then Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you.”

Purify simply means, CONFESS to God the sins in your life

Confess to God the sin in your life

What’s piled up in your life that you need to be cleansed from? Make an inventory. Write them down.

2. I Must Sanctify My Body

Sanctify means, “to dedicate for a purpose”

Body and spirit are always together

The heart and body are always together

You can only be where you body is

Romans 6:13 NLT

Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 6:19 NLT

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,

Body and spirit are always together

Honor God with your body

By taking care of it

Did you know that roughly $5 Trillion spent on health, 90% are intended for lifestyle induced diseases.

Not enough sleep, not enough exercise.

Too much to eat, to much stress

Get enough sleep

Psalm 127:2 NLT

It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.

In other words, learn how to take a nap!

Do not eat food with too much sugar

Proverbs 25:27 NLT

It’s not good to eat too much honey, and it’s not good to seek honors for yourself.

Don’t be drunk

Ephesians 5:18 NLT

Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,

Ear or Drink for the glory of God

1 Corinthians 10:31 NLT

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:

Get enough exercise

1 Corinthians 9:27 NLT

I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Follow God’s commands

Psalm 119:73 NLT

You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands.

Don’t neglect

Don’t Reject

Don’t Perfect you body

Protect it!

3. I Must Simplify My Schedule

Now we move to the issue of time

You don’t have time to do everything

God did not meant it for you to do everything

I just have enough time to do God’s will

God will not give you more than what you can do with the time you have

Teach us to number our days/Fill out your calendar

Psalm 90:12 NIV

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

This past week I’ve been telling my viewers some principles on how we can get the most of our time

We must be responsible for our time

Galatians 6:5 The Living Bible

Each of us must bear some faults and burdens of his own. For none of us is perfect!

Galatians 6:5 NLT

For we are each responsible for our own conduct.

Believe and trust that God will help us

Philippians 4:13 ESV

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Stop waiting for things to settle down

Ecclesiastes 11:4 NCV

Those who wait for perfect weather will never plant seeds; those who look at every cloud will never harvest crops.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 The Living Bible

If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.

Clarify what is important

Job 34:3–4 The Living Bible

We can choose the sounds we want to listen to; we can choose the taste we want in food, and we should choose to follow what is right. But first of all we must define among ourselves what is good.

Enlist a Partner

Ecclesiastes 4:9 MSG

It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth.

Make the Most of Every Opportunity

Galatians 5:16 NLT

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

Ephesians 5:16 NIV

making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Psalm 90:12 NIV

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

If the devil cannot make you bad, he will just make you busy

And finally…

4. I Must Fortify My Faith

Get into the Word

Faith is like a muscle

Take Class 101-401

Be a part of a Life Group

Be faithful with your quiet time

Start your Bible reading plans

Attend seminars and conferences

Join some worship concerts

Get a spiritual / accountability partner

1 Peter 4:1–2 NCV

Since Christ suffered while he was in his body, strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking Christ had. The person who has suffered in the body is finished with sin. Strengthen yourselves so that you will live here on earth doing what God wants, not the evil things people want.

Jude 20 NCV

But dear friends, use your most holy faith to build yourselves up, praying in the Holy Spirit.

1 Timothy 4:7 NCV

But do not follow foolish stories that disagree with God’s truth, but train yourself to serve God.

1 timothy 4:7

CLOSING

Let us PURIFY our hearts

Let us SANCTIFY our bodies

Let us SIMPLIFY our schedule

Let us FORTIFY our faith

PRAY - PLAN - PROMOTE - PERFORM