A Life Unleashed - Part 5

I believe it is no accident that you're tuned in for today's episode of Equip and Empower. I truly believe this is a timely word that God has given me to encourage you, to strengthen you, and to help you give birth to the dreams God has placed on the inside of your heart. So let's not wait another moment. I can't wait to get started and share this message with you. Hey, everyone. I am so grateful that you've joined me today. I believe that God has a word for you. I'm so fired up about this series about a life unleashed, unleashing the God given purpose and the God given potential that's on the inside of every single one of us. I want to remind you today, right from the outset of this program that you were created on purpose for a purpose. You were created in the image of God. It is Jesus that connects us to God and it's Jesus that connects us to the grace of God. You are not a mistake. You are not an accident. You are not a result of your failures. You are not a result of your past. You are who God says you are, and you can do what God says you can do. And it is to our Father's great glory you and I bear much fruit. And so this whole series is a series that is designed to help you become all that God's created you to become and to do all that God's created you to do. We talked about what it is to develop a God dream, to fulfill the purpose for which God has called you on this planet. First and foremost, you gotta conceive that dream. All God dreams come out of a place of intimacy with God. All conception happens out of a place of intimacy. And you gotta believe God is who he says he is and that God can do all that he says he can do, that your God is exceedingly abundantly above and beyond anything. That's what he can do. Anything above, anything that you and I can ever ask or imagine. He's a big God. Not only that, we've got to envision. We've got to see beyond the temporal present into our eternal future. We envision the future. We see things through an eternal lens, and then of course we position ourselves. We position ourselves in the center of the will of God and we position around us people that are going to take us to our purpose, not people that are going to keep us from our purpose. So once we've done all of those things, the 5th thing we need to do is we have to learn to endure the inevitable challenges, the obstacles, and the delays that are going to come along the way. Well listen, if we've learned anything in the last couple of years, we've learned to expect the unexpected. Nobody was expecting a global pandemic. Nobody was expecting the disruption that has caused to our lives, the interruption that it's caused to our plans and purposes and our dreams, but I want you to know even though there has been so much chaos, so much division and upheaval in the world over the last few years, and every realm of society has been impacted politically and economically and socially and environmentally and relationally and physically and in every realm of life with a global pandemic thrown in the midst of it, a lot of us have lost hope. A lot of people somehow think the plan and the purpose and the call of God has changed because of the all the chaos in the world, but I'm here to tell you your call is an eternal call. What has happened in our world over all of these years it's not taken God by surprise. It's not like God thought I didn't know this was going to happen. I would have given you some other plan if I knew this was going to happen. No. God's plan and purpose and call it still prevails in the midst of all that's going on. But if you and I are going to give birth to our God given dreams, then we are going to have to understand that endurance is part of this. That's what we've learned over the last few years. We've learned we're going to have need of endurance. You know, you cannot and I cannot short circuits the process. As the writer in the book of Hebrews wrote, he says we will have need of endurance. That word endurance in the Greek is to bear up under. And if that's not something we've learned in the last few years, we've got to bear up under. You know, in the same way that I could not just fast track the process of having a baby, it was going to take nine months no matter how I felt. So the fact is to see our dreams realized that we're going to have to endure, we're going to have to learn to endure. Inevitably there's going to be frustration and challenges and obstacles along the way. There's going to be delays. I can promise you this much, it's never going to happen as fast or as easy as you want, but it's during the actual preparation process that God is making us to be who we need to be so that by the time the dream is realized, we can carry the weight of that dream and bring it to maturity. You see, God is a process oriented God and you and I are living in an instant culture. And those 2 things often don't go together. We don't want to wait specially in our world. But if we understand what's happening in the waiting, I think then we'd be more willing to wait. If we understand God is building us, that we're developing the muscle we need during the waiting process, then I think we would give ourselves more to that process instead of being frustrated by that process. You and I we just want everything yesterday, but God works in times and God works in seasons. You know, during this global pandemic, I took up hiking with the goal of hiking all the big mountains in southern California and then climbing mount Whitney which is the tallest mountain in the continental us, and it was quite a trip. 14 and a half thousand feet, 6.000 feet of elevation, and over 20, and I mean 20 miles uPhill, it is a lot. But although I was fit when I started, I wasn't fit for the kind of fitness that you need to climb a mountain. I needed to build different muscles. I needed to build different muscles in my quads. I needed to build different muscles in my hamstring. I needed to build different muscles right here in my back because I had to carry a backpack that's of so different. I had to build different muscles even in my wrists for the poles that I can going to need to carry. And the fact is I could have thought well look, I'm fit enough to climb mount Whitney right from the beginning, but I wasn't. I had to build and start on smaller mountains. Let's just say I started on hills. And the hills then moved to the little small mountains, and the small mountains moved to higher mountains, and the then the higher mountains to higher mountains so I could continue to build endurance, continue to build the muscles that I needed to fulfill the dream that I had. I didn't start there. I had to build my muscle capacity. I had to build my endurance. I often was in the gym having to work on different weights for different muscle groups that nobody could even see. I was saying to my trainer, all I want to do is build my biceps so I could show them off, but the fact of the matter is that's not all I needed in order to be able to climb up mount Whitney. I needed to develop muscles that nobody could see that could carry the weight of what I needed to carry that would have the endurance for me to walk for 18 hours which is what I would need to walk and do 99 switchbacks coming down mount Whitney. I would need that strength and I would need that endurance. And you know, it wasn't all pleasant. I didn't love it. Sometimes I had to go hiking in 91 degree heat in southern California which is a desert in case you're wondering. I had to go through so many different dry places and we were in the middle of a drought, so I would just have to do it whether I felt like it or not because I had to build my endurance. So for you and I in our life, there will be trials. There will be temptations. There is going to be disappointments along the way. So often I think many of us think if we are in the will of God then we're going to be exempt from any kind of opposition or trials. I think a lot of people got disappointed and disillusioned during the pandemic and maybe some of the things surrounding that season because they thought well look, I'm a believer. I shouldn't have any of these things impacting me, but I don't know what Bible you're reading because in John 16:33, Jesus himself said, these things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. You know, James, he wrote in James 1: 2 my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. So Jesus and James both said you will have trials. We will. It's a reality. Every single one of us in our lives is going to come up against things that are going to make us want to quit but we have to learn to endure. And you know, the fact is sometimes at the very first sign of discomfort or trial, people think I'm out of here. I'm out of this marriage. It's just too hard. I'm out of this friendship because, you know, I don't like what you just said. I'm leaving this job because I don't like the task I have to do. Just first sign of trial just go I'm out. But the fact is we have to learn to get strong. I would never have climbed the higher mountains if I didn't learn to overcome the challenges on the smaller hills. I can't count the times in over 30 years of serving Jesus in full time ministry that I could have given up because of trials and disappointments and betrayal and mistakes and hurt, but I've had to learn to stand firm in the face of adversity. You know, I love Proverbs chapter 24: 10 says, "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small". I remember when I first started in ministry over 30 years ago that scripture was one of the scriptures that I put up on my wall. Christine, if you faint in the day of adversity, then your strength is small. And I didn't want to have small strength. I wanted to be spiritually strong. In Jesus name, I wanted to be a spiritual giant for the glory of God. So that meant that I couldn't faint in the day of adversity, that I had to rely on the Holy Spirit of God to build the strength and courage on the inside of me to keep going. Now, we've been through a lot of adversity in the last few years, but I'm here to say to you you're stronger than you think. There's more in you than you know. The same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives on the inside of you. We don't need to faint in the day of adversity. Yes, we will have adversity. Yes, we will have trials. Yes, we will have suffering. Yes, we will have tribulation. And while this is going on I want to remind you simultaneously, greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives on the inside of you and me. You know, so many of us have felt so much resistance in this last season, and it's interesting to me that an eagle when there is a lot of wind resistance and when there is a storm and when there is really bad weather the eagle doesn't fly away from it. The eagle flies straight into it and then uses the wind to elevate it up, and it gets up above the storm and it just soars. You don't see an eagle flapping its wing. An eagle soars above the storm, and see, I believe that in the trials and adversity and challenges that are happening in our world that we're not called to run from it. We're called to run to it, and the Holy Spirit of God elevates us. The wind of God takes us above it. We don't have to flap around and flail in the midst of it. We just ride the wind of the spirit. He says those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength will mount up on wings like eagles. We will run and not grow weary. We will walk and not faint. I want to remind you in the days in which we live in, we don't have to faint. We don't have to grow weary. That's why the writer says to us, Paul says do not grow weary in doing good for in due season you will reap if you faint not. So the fact we're saying do not grow weary, Paul writes do not grow weary in the book of Galatians, the fact that Isaiah the prophet says those that wait upon the Lord shall run and not grow weary, it means that even in the midst of the world in which we live if we trust God and if we ride on the strength of the Holy Spirit of God, then you and I can get through this season. Yes, there will be trials and troubles and yes there is suffering, yes, there are all, none of us are exempt from it, but the Holy Spirit can carry us through it. And we cannot grow weary in it. And we can build endurance through this whole thing. You know, in 1941, Winston Churchill said this words in a speech to the students at harrow's school. He said, never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never in nothing, great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. Never give up. I want to encourage someone today on the other side of that screen to never say die to your God given dream. No matter how hard it gets, push past the pain. If you need to, do it afraid. Don't give in to the lies of the enemy who would say you are not good enough, who would say you are not talented enough. Don't give in to the lies of the enemy that wants to remind you of your failures or wants to remind you of your mistakes or just wants to just remind you of your inadequacies or limitations. Don't allow the enemy to have the final word on your life. Allow God and his word to have the final word on your life. The Bible says give the enemy no ground. I'm speaking to someone today. It's time to shut the door on the enemy. Give the enemy no ground. He is called the accuser of the brethren because that's what he does best. He accuses the brethren. He is liar. When he lies, he's speaking his native tongue, the Bible says. He lies to you. He tells you you're worthless, you're useless, he tells us it's over, he tells you, you can never get back up. You have failed. You have made the ultimate mistake. He'll tell you nobody could ever love you. He'll tell you God doesn't care about you. He'll tell you God has forgotten or forsaken you. The devil is a liar I'm here to remind you of that. What he does morning, noon and night is accuse you before the Lord. But I want you to know that Jesus is making intercession for you and I day in and day out. I want to remind you that you are who God says you are. We are a royal priesthood. We are a chosen nation. You and I are sons and daughters of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We can be what God has called us to be. We can do what God has called us to do. We are not what we have done. We are not our past. Behold, we are a brand-new creation in Christ Jesus. The old has passed away and are the new has come. We are sons and daughters of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We are God's children. We are in Christ Jesus. We are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. We have access to every spiritual blessing that is ours in Christ Jesus. We have been sent to earth by God as ambassadors for the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We are called to go into all the world and to make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are filled with the Spirit of God. We are not who the enemy says we are. We are who God says that we are. And we are on this earth to bring great glory to our King of kings and our Lords of Lords. It is to our father's great glory that we bear much fruit. It's time for some of you to stop thinking small. It's time for some of you to stop believing the lies of the enemy and to stop listening to the lies in your own head. You've been talking to yourself too much. You've been reminding yourself of your mistakes too much. You've been reminding yourself of your failures too much. You've been reminding yourself of your past too much. It's time to remind yourself that you are who God says you are. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You are not your mistakes. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We are who God says we are. There is an assault on the earth from the enemy in this hour to try to make us as sons of daughters of King of kings shrink back, to be embarrassed about our faith, to forget what we have in Christ, to make us feel like what we have is not enough, but I'm here to tell you in Christ it's more than enough. In Christ you have more than what you need to do what God has called you to do. And to be who God's called you to be. Don't shrink back. Don't faint back. Don't be full of fear and doubt and insecurity. The Lord said to Joshua before he went in to possess the Promise Land, he said only be strong and very courageous and be careful to do all that God has told you to do according to his word. This is not a time for us to shrink back as the people of God. This is the time for us to be strong in Jesus' name, to be very courageous in Jesus' name. To be full of love and to be full of mercy and to be full of compassion and to be full of goodness and kindness and grace and mercy, but not to shrink back, not to think that somehow we're anything less than anybody else. We are who God says we are. We're children of the king. We're sons daughters of the king. We've been filled with every spiritual blessing that is ours in Christ Jesus. We're seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. That's who we are. This is not our home. I'm here to remind someone. We are Pilgrims on a journey. We are sojourners. We are just passing through. We are citizens of heaven and we are residents of earth. We are ambassadors just sent through to be the light of Christ, to be the hope of Christ, to bring his kingdom to come here on earth as it is in heaven. But I want to remind you this isn't our final destination. This isn't where we're staying. We're not building for the here and now and for temporal things. We have a home. We have a home, and we're on our way home, and it's glorious and it's awesome. I don't want you to forget who you are. I don't want you to forget what you've been called to do. I want you to run your race and finish your course. The writer to the Hebrews says you will have need of endurance. As I'm speaking to you, there is such upheaval in so many regions of the world. I received a letter from a friend who deals with the underground church in Afghanistan, and she's telling me about brothers and sisters in Christ who one line she wrote to me was Christine, all of them know they will be seeing Jesus face-to-face within the next two weeks. I remember reading that e-mail and I just started to weep, and I thought they are believers and brothers and sisters in Christ that understand what endurance is. They're staying faithful to the end. They haven't forgotten who they are. They haven't forgotten who they're running for. They've set their eyes on Jesus and in the midst of one of the most tragic situations in my lifetime, they're expecting to stand before Jesus in two weeks. And they're not flinching and they're not afraid because they know they're running for something bigger than them. They know they're not just stuck in the temporal but they're doing something that has eternal ramifications, and they've built their endurance. As the underground church has in so many regions of the world. Things that you and I call trials are not even trials. Oh, they've built endurance so when the moment came they didn't flinch and they stayed faithful to Jesus. My prayer is that you and I in order to do what God has called us to do and to be what God has called us to be that we will be faithful to the end, that we will develop those muscles that we will build the endurance we need to both run or race and to finish our course in Jesus' name.