Maximize Your Potential

Sermon/Message

Text: Psalm 146:1-10

1Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul.

2While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

3Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

4His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

5Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:

6Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:

7Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners:

8The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous:

9The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

10The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord.

Date: December 27,2020

Place: ALIBC

Occasion: 4th Sunday

Title: “Maximizing Your Potential”

Into:

This year is coming to a rapid close and what are we going to do next? After so much turmoil and chaos, what’s next ?

I believe everything has got to shift. We have to walk by faith and trust God like never ever before. Our government has shown us that we cannot depend on it to see us through and it’s only God‘s word that will take us to the next level and the next dimension that we need to go.

2020 has been a mess but we have learned a great deal about life as a result of 2020. 2020 brought us many trials and tribulations to include the pandemic, social injustice, political upheaval, economic chaos and many other catastrophes. It has been a season of utter chaos on at the leader ship i’ll probably the most incompetent administration that has ever occurred throughout the history of the United States. But one thing all of us want to know now who believe in the power of God and in the word of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is then we can only depend upon his word to see us through. We cannot idolize a man and put him up on a pedestal and make him more than what he really is. We cannot put all of our trust in a government and a political system that is subject to crumble at any moment. We have to go back to the word. Jesus is the word of God and Jesus is that solid rock. He said to his disciples upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. One thing I have found out that is true that I can always depend upon God and His Word no matter what the situation and He will see us through.That’s what He’s doing right now even as I’m preaching this word and to you. He is seeing us through. Glory hallelujah!

It is absolutely important that as we move forward, especially into this new year that we learn to trust in the word of God. Our deliverance is in the Word of God and our future is in the Word of God.

We can never be intimidated again by bullies who are afraid to trust in God‘s Word and who will try to keep us from trusting in God‘s Word as we should. We have to step out in faith and practice everything that’s in the Word of God so that we can move forward as a Church.

I am excited to still be alive and so therefore I’m going to live to my maximum potential therefore this messages about maximizing my potential.

Body:

A. I Will Maximize My Potential By Fully Trusting in God and Not In Man Psalm 146:1-10

1Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul.

2While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

3Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

4His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

5Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:

6Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:

7Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners:

8The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous:

9The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

10The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord.

The very first thing that I noticed in our text is that the Psalmist tells us that he will praise the Lord. We are to praise the Lord and give Him all of the glory that he deserves. Because if it had not been for the Lord who was on our side, where would we be in 2020. I say that the Lord has been on our side I because over and over again we see that those whom we have put in power have failed to deliver. As a matter of fact rather than delivering us they have participated in oppressing us and keeping us in poverty and sickness. And so this morning on this last Sunday morning before New Years I am going to take the time to give God all the glory and all of the praise for nobody but Him has brought us this far. And I would encourage you to do the same thing this morning. Pause right now and take about 60 seconds and have a praise break and say Lord I thank you.

Contrary to what a lot of people may think we have never been totally and solely dependent upon the government to take care of us. If the truth would be told there are many other people who have benefited from the government more than we ever have. Many other people have gotten loans and grants and other government funds to benefit their lives and their businesses long before African Americans ever received a dime from the government. As African-American we have been demonize to be people who are dependent upon welfare and the government to take care of us. When I look at the 12 million people this morning who are unemployed and waiting for the president and the government to come on one accord to get them unemployment checks, It is not just African-Americans and people of color but they are people of all colors including white people who needs the government to help them to move to the next level.

The Bible says that God himself executes judgment for the oppress and he gives food to those who are hungry and the Lord looses the prisoners. I know a lot of people over this past year have been dependent upon the executive branch of our government to work on our behalf but it has failed to deliver. As a matter of fact it has been the executive branch of our government who has participated and facilitated us being oppressed. And we have not been given food during the time of our hunger but we have had to depend upon the generosity of the churches and other nonprofit organizations. The food lines have been long and thousands upon thousands of people I’ve gone without food over this past year. In the greatest nation on the planet, millions of people are now living on the poverty level because no one has executed judgment on their behalf. The Bible also says that he would loose the prisoners from the prison, but all I have seen over the past few days is the President of the United States pardoning his friends and allies who have been proven to be criminals, but now they go free while thousands of innocent people remain in jail and cannot get anyone to give them pardon.

My Bible also tells me that God is also in the healing business. We have needed healing this year more than ever before. This pandemic continues to ravage our nation and millions and millions of people have been infected with the virus and over 330,000 of our citizens have died from the coronavirus. While our executive branch of the government continues to play golf in Florida on its resort. If the truth would be told, from the very beginning of the pandemic, the executive branch of a government ignore the very existence of the coronavirus and its potential. It was called the China flu. It was never taken as seriously as it should have been taken. As a result we have not been healed by our government, but it is only by the grace of God that some of us are still here . It has only been the grace of God that we have received instruction from the scientist and the physicians on how we are to deal with this pandemic. It has only been the grace of God that now we have a vaccine that could potentially help us to turn the corner and to get back to living normal lives on this planet. God is a healer and a deliverer. And let us keep on fasting and praying allowing Him to lead our paths.

Yes indeed the only way to maximize our potential is to put our trust in God and not man. I don’t like saying it but its’ true. Too many of our evangelical brothers Idolize #45 and God has not been please with that. God tells us to have no other God’s before Him. The answer for the world today has never been in but one man, and that man is the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The evangelicals should have spoken truth to power and held the president accountable and probably would have never lost the election. No man is above the law and the Word of God. Pride always goes before the fall.

It is only Jesus who shall reign forever and forever onto all generations and therefore it is only him that we should get the priest the glory and the honor.

God has been blessing abundant life international Baptist Cathedral not because we have so much money but because we are a giving church. We have not made the excuse that because of the pandemic that we will not sell into the lives of people who are going through but we have continue to give each and every month feeding hundreds of families and taking care of our own members as well whenever the need would arise.

Exercise the Law of Reciprocity Luke 6:38

38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. Luke 6:38

Take No Thought But Do Declare The Word - Matthew 6:24:34

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:24-34

All People will Praise God Because of Our Giving - 2 Corinthians 9:5-15

5Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

6But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

7Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

8And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

9(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.

10Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

11Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

12For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;

13Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;

14And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

15Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. 2 Corinthians 9:5-15

Closing:

The Best is Yet to Come

Our best days are not behind us but our best days are still before us. 2020 has taught all of us to be thankful and grateful. 2020 has taught us to love all of God’s people. We should love the Jew as well as the Gentile. We should love the black as well as the white. We should love the rich as well as the poor. Everybody is somebody in god’s eye sight.

2020 will soon be behind us but the best is yet to come. God always saves the best for last. 2020 was just to prepare us for the many breakthroughs that are coming in 2020.

Story:

1And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:2And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.3And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.4Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.5His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.6And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.7Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.8And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.9When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;)the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,10And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.11This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.Many of us in 2020, thought we had seen our best daysBut I come to tell you that the best is yet to come.Therefore Maximize your Potential By Do Whatever He Tells YouThe Hour has comeGet something God can useGet something God can fillHe wants to bless youPour whatever you have into God’s water potsGive whatever you canPut it all in the Master’s handAnd watch God work. He’s changing the natural and making it supernatural.What was water is about to be wine.What was poverty is about to be prosperity.What was debt is about to be paid off.What was sick is about to be healWhat was death is about to be Life.If you believe me this morning, say yes Lord.He the Lord and He can do all things but fail.

Maximize your potential in 2021…