A Year of Fullness - How are You Doing?

We opened up this year with the theme of FULLNESS!!!

We talked about making 2022 a year where we would be:

Faith full!

Spirit full!

Fruit full!

We are 2/3rds of the way through the year now.

Maybe the theme was not one that mattered to you - but it matters to God!

This morning, as we have just 4 months left in 2022 I want us to revisit these thoughts ---

Faithfulness, Fruitfulness and being Spirit FULL is vital to spiritual maturity and growth - not just in the church, but in our own lives!

AND - there is no time like the present to come before the Lord and ask for it to happen!

2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT

2 For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

Philippians 3:12–14 NLT

12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

I still believe that the Lord wants to restore fullness to His church!!! To His people! in 2022!!!

He is calling us to fullness!

There were three specific things the Lord placed on my heart last fall of 2021 regarding fullness here at Destiny -

To not wait until the rows of chairs are full or the offering plates are full, but for us as HIs people and church ...To be full

Faithful

Spirit Full

Fruitful

1. Faith Full

Remember, there is a connection between the word faithful and being full of Faith.

FAITHFUL is when our trust in what the Lord is doing in our lives plays out in our actions!

James 2:18 NLT

18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

What does this mean - it means to have faith acts upon that faith in the HERE AND NOW!!!

It is not waiting to be obedient in our actions!

Faithfulness is living an obedient life before CHRIST while awaiting the fulfillment of promise in our life!

It is being diligent in the mundane with the expectation of the glorious!

Take a moment and examine your life today....

Are you seeing faithfulness in your life?

In what areas are you more committed to Jesus, His Kingdom, and living out HIs Word in your life right now than at the start of 2022?

It is important for us to examine right where are lives are at...

Matthew 25:23 NLT

23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

The servant who awaited His master to return and was found busy investing the talents his master gave him while he awaited - was found faithful.

He didn’t just sit and do nothing!

Maybe you are awaiting God to heal your marriage or bring promotion, or provide different employment, or save a loved one — that does not mean the Lord wants you idle in your talents while you wait.

Maybe you are waiting for the Lord to end COVID, or come again - but He wants you to be actively obedient and serving while you wait!

Are you be ing faithful in the small things and in your actions - not just your waiting, so the Lord can trust you with the greater things?

How can He bring the victories if we are not faithful while we wait for the answers?

To be faithfully obedient is to demonstrate the FAITH OR HOPE we have in CHRIST!!!

Remember, there was one servant who hid his talent in the ground. He still feared, respected the master, but did nothing for the master!

He was found unfaithful.

2. Spirit Full

The Lord wants to empower you and fill you with His presence!

To be FULL OF THE SPIRIT is to be ready when the time comes for Him to engage you in KINGDOM WORK.

IN 2022 have you grown in this area of your life? Are you allowing the SPIRIT TO MOVE IN AND THROUGH YOU???

IF you were a reservoir, are your levels full and flowing???

This year Lake Powell has been on the forefront of the news - it is so low and drying up they are discovering dead bodies in cans, treasurers, and fearing the ability to create hydro power and provide for irrigation across the southwest. Emergency actions are coming into place because of the drought.

Ask yourself today if your Spiritual man looks like Lake Powell?

Jesus told His disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until they had received the PROMISE OF HIS SPIRIT....

To be FULL of HIS PRESENCE!!! To be full of HIS POWER in your life.

There is not greater thing you can pursue in 2022 than to have ALL OF JESUS you can - to have the promise and fulness of HIS SPIRIT in your life.

Maybe you have not taken the spiritual drought seriously, but it is never to late to seek HIS RAIN!!!

Acts 2:4 NLT

4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

Acts 1:8 NLT

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Our faithfulness to the Lord is made possible by the empowering of the SPIRIT in our lives.

THIS IS VICTORY! TO have the HOLY SPIRIT overflowing your very being in power.

The Spirit gives us power to pray, overcome sin and be a witness of Christ in this world - how much more do we need the fulness of the SPIRIT this year!

The Lord still wants to make it a year of experiencing HIM PERSONALLY in the greatest way you have ever known. Will you press in to know Him? Will you open up to be full of His Spirit in your life?

3. Fruit Full

We do not have to wait for the miracles, answers to prayers or big victories in our lives to experience FRUITFULNESS!

There is both a level of spiritual fruitfulness that is produced in our lives as we draw closer to the Lord as is a fruitfulness for the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:22–23 NLT

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Tells us of those things God desires to produce in us through His Holy Spirit, and when we are found faithful in serving and investing ourselves there is the fruit of new life in Christ reproduced in other lives.

Jesus longs to see our lives to be productive for the Kingdom of God...

We can gain the whole world but remain unfruitful for the Kingdom of God...

Mark 11:21 NLT

21 Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!”

Jesus had cursed a fig tree with leaves but no fruit - the Lord desires our productivity

John 15:1–4 NLT

1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

Are you bearing fruit? in your spiritual life and in the lives of others...

Jesus wants our Christian lives to be productive.

Without fruit what purpose are we serving?

We can examine the FRUIT of the SPIRIT in our lives by how we live and what we see happening through us in others!

ON the other side, there are many things that the Lord wants to bring BOUNTY INTO OUR LIVES if we would be willing to allow Him to do so...

Conclusion

What have you been doing with 2022?

THERE IS STILL TIME

Will you allow God to bring you to a new level of being

FAITH FULL

SPIRIT FULL

and

FRUIT FULL

Will you allow Him to accomplish His plans in your life?

Matthew 6:33 NLT

33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

May the Lord FILL US with HIS AWESOMENESS and HIS CHARACTER