Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Welcome to church this morning, Limitless! It is so glad to see each and every one of you. This idea, God says that there is a new thing. He says, "Will you not perceive it? Do you see what I am doing?"
And it's up to us to open our eyes and say, "Yes, God, I see what you're doing." Even though I may not feel it, even though it may not be right in front of me right now, I see what's happening.
It looks like revival. It looks like healing. It looks like peace. It looks like joy. It looks like restoration. It looks like my family coming back together. It looks like my marriage coming back together. It looks like my community coming back together for Jesus.
And I choose to see it. I choose to perceive it. And I choose to be a part of it. It's coming my way. There's a new thing coming. I refuse to walk in the old things. There's a new thing that God is doing, and we're choosing to be a part of it. Amen!
Well, good morning, everybody! If this is your very first time here, welcome to Limitless Church! This is how we get down every Sunday morning. Our vision here at Limitless is to take the limits off of the way that people see Jesus, the way that people see faith, and the way that they see the church.
And we do that in the way that we live our lives for Jesus. So if this is your first time, thank you for joining us. You could have been anywhere on a Sunday morning, but you chose to be here with us, and honestly, I can't tell you how excited we are about that!
Come on, can we make some noise for our visitors this morning? Yeah! Visitors, let me put you in on a little secret. I know you came this morning and you were like, "Oh, I'm coming to church this morning. This is the Sunday I'm gonna go. I'm visiting Limitless this morning because, you know, I just made a decision."
You know, I'm just gonna be there. I hate to break it to you, but you were set up! You've been set up! The Lord has been setting you up this entire week. The Lord has been talking to you in your heart. He's been having conversations with you. He's even gone so far as to rearrange your schedule to make sure that you made it here this morning.
There is something that He wants to do in your life, and guess what? We are just here excited to be a part of the process, and we cannot wait to see what God is going to do in your life as a result of you being here today.
Let's make some noise for our visitors this morning! And right now, if you are watching us online, we are so glad that you decided to tune in and join us. We hope to see you in person one day, but we are glad that you are here. You are at home, you are wherever you are receiving the word of God, and we pray that the same presence of God that is evident in this room will be evident right where you are.
I want to read a quick scripture to you as I'm hearing this song. It's Psalms chapter 34, and it starts at verse 1. The thing about this is David was going through some stuff when this scripture came up. David was in a pickle. He was in a moment that seemed insurmountable. The enemy was attacking him like never before. He was in the lowest of the low moments, and he writes this in Psalms 34, verse 1.
He says, "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; the humble and the downtrodden will hear it and rejoice."
Verse 3, he says, "Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us lift up His name together."
Here's verse 4: "I sought the Lord on the authority of His word, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears."
I don't know what situation you're in. I don't know what your week has been like. Maybe the enemy has been on your tail just like he was on David's tail. But I encourage you, and I dare you to declare that "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will continually be in my mouth."
I dare you to have the testimony of "I sought the Lord on His word, and He answered me." I dare you! Because no matter what is going on, no matter what the situation is, if God is for you, who can be against you?
And although you may not feel it, although you may not see it, let me tell you something: it doesn't matter. Because we don't serve a God that moves based on what you see or what you feel. We serve a God that is with us, that said He will never leave us, He will never forsake us, and He is for us.
And so today, in the midst of your situation, in the midst of the muck, in the midst of the thing that you're pressing through, I dare you to raise a hallelujah! I dare you to remind the enemy that he is defeated! I dare you to put your focus not on the situation but to turn and put your focus on the Most High God and declare His praise right in the middle of it.
Father, I thank you for this moment that we have. God, I pray that as we move into a deeper portion of worship, God, that you will continue to speak and move on the behalf of your people. This is the day that you have made, and we declare that it is good, and we will rejoice, and we will be glad. We declare that the enemy is a defeated foe, and we will walk in victory.
And so in the midst of it, we choose to raise a hallelujah. We choose to declare your name in the midst of it all. I thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Hey, Limitless! I am so excited to have this opportunity to bring to you the Limitless Missionaries. These are the missionaries that we support here at Limitless Church. I think it is important for you to have an opportunity to know them, to hear their story, and what God has called them to do all over the city of Woodland and the surrounding cities and even around the world.
And as always, if you would like to support a missionary, you can do so by simply speaking to them or during your giving time. You'll see on the drop-down in our Tithely that there's tithes, offering, and missions at the bottom, and you can give from there.
Here are your Limitless Missionaries. Hi! Amen! Amen! Ms. Jane, would you stand please? I know you're here somewhere. Would you stand? There she is! Wave your hands so everybody can see you.
All right! So everybody, Ms. Jane is right here. Because she was like, "Find her." So there she is, so you know where she is. We are excited to partner with Ms. Jane, and all leaders must serve this year. To have an opportunity to minister to high schoolers and young adults is a blessing in and of itself.
I don't think that you can complain about what's happening with our youth if you choose to do nothing about it. But we have a unique opportunity through ALMS and through Ms. Jane to be a part of changing the trajectory of the lives of some of these people that she comes in contact with.
And it is amazing how you can mentor and provide life skills and be the light in the midst of the darkness of a child's life. Our high schools and our young adults are going through some real situations, and you can have an opportunity to just, "Hey, let's walk through some mentorship. Let's walk through some discipleship."
You know, I can cook some mean fettuccine, so let me show you how I get in here and work this thing out. But having an opportunity to do that and a place to do that is important.
And so as Ms. Jane is looking for financial support, she's also looking for people who are willing to dedicate some of their time to go and be the light in the midst of darkness. And please go to her, find out more information, go to allleadersmustserve.com and get in there.
I told her, "Hey, I am going to promote this, and our people will be there because each time a kid turns around, I want them to run into somebody from Limitless. And I want them to get this Jesus like they ain't never got this Jesus before. Every time I go to somebody, they talk about the Lord."
Yeah, we set it up that way, right? So please do what you can, and please find Ms. Jane and consider being a part of ALMS and serving there.
Very quickly, I wanted to make an announcement for something that's coming up very quickly. We've talked to our board, our leaders, and our visionaries, and I want to make this announcement to you.
As you can see, and some of you from trying to get in here this morning, it continues. Y'all keep bringing people, and that is a good thing. And Easter is coming. A couple of months back, I said, "We're not going to be able to fit all these people in here for Easter, so we need to prepare for Easter and the growth that's coming as a part of our church."
And so we are going to be starting a third service on Palm Sunday! Yes! We are super excited about this. Our team, our church, we are excited to launch this service because what does it do?
First, it gives us more opportunities to reach people in the city of Woodland and surrounding cities. People come from places and they're like, "Oh, you know, I want to come to church," but they come to the second service, and they're like, "It's so crowded." And the first service is too early. And now it's like, "Guess what? We got another one right there for you!"
So if you want to sleep in, and what it's also saying is our church is saying that God is entrusting us with more. We believe that every person that walks through this door is a gift from God, no matter what they're going through, no matter what their struggle, no matter what situation of life they may be in.
The fact that God allows them to come through this door is a symbol of His trust in us and sending them. So we need to make room. And in November, I asked you guys to stretch with us. Well, one of the things that happens after you stretch is you continue to grow.
And that is what we're seeing happening here at our church. And trust me, it's not about just adding services and adding services so our church can be bigger. Let me tell you, that is the least of the things that we want to do. It is a lot to run our services, but we are believing God that He is going to give us everything we need to continue growing from Easter on.
And when we move next door to our main building that we're looking forward to be in in December. And so what's happening as a result of this? First, our times. Our times are 8:30, 10, and 11:45.
I need you to say this, and please be reminded I can see your lips when they are not moving, all right? Well, y'all pay attention now. 8:30, 10, 11:45. 8:30, 10, 11:45. Okay, again, 8:30, 10, 11:45, okay?
Because I don't want y'all coming in here, "What time was the services? Do you remember what he said when the services were? I don't know." And you show up in the middle of the service and you can't find out. 8:30, 10, and 11. Praise God, you got it!
All right, 8:30, 10, and 11:45. And here's a couple of things that we want to address. First, we're not going to be rushing people in and rushing people out. This is not going to be a church where we just are herding people in and herding people out.
We want to make sure that we maintain the family atmosphere that's here, and we're going to do things to make sure that we cater to that. We want to encourage you to get connected.
We want to encourage you to get connected in a team, okay? Whether that is serving, whether that is coming to one of our groups on Monday through Saturday or our summer classes, we want to begin to promote more of these opportunities for you to feel that family atmosphere, not just on Sunday, but throughout the week.
The second thing we're going to do is we're going to be talking about having connection areas. So when you come out of service, because we don't have a foyer, but we got this big old property, and we had the idea, "What if we made some areas in our property where after service, people can just go and connect?"
Maybe they're in the courtyard by the fountains. Maybe they're in the rose garden. We have these places. Why not utilize them? And so we'll have those available. We'll be telling you more about that.
The second thing we want to do is we want to take care of our visioneers. Visioneers, make some noise!
No, no, no, no, no. Y'all not working with me. I need y'all to work with me. I'm trying to set up something. Y'all are killing it. All right. Visioneers, can you make some noise? There we go!
We want to take care of our visioneers. And what that means is we don't want our people serving every single Sunday, three services back to back to back to back to back. We don't want that because that grows the potential for something called burnout.
And we do not want to have burnout here at Limitless Church. And one of the ways that we're trying to combat that is I am stretching by faith, and I'm believing God in this month for 35 people to join our teams.
What does that mean? That means 35 people who are not currently serving in an area getting activated and saying, "Hey, I want to serve at Limitless Church." What that will do is that will enable our third service and that will enable our people to rest.
Somebody say rest! Somebody say rest! Rest is a core value of our church. And we want our visioneers to come. We want them to serve, but we also want them to be seated and to get poured into. And that happens when we have people joining the teams.
So maybe you want to serve in kids ministry and you've been waiting for the invitation. This is it! Hallelujah! Maybe it's the tech. Maybe it's our worship. Maybe you say, "Hey, I want to serve on the connections team. I want to serve on the experience team with our ushers or our greeters."
Or maybe you say, "I don't even know where I want to serve." We got a place for you too, okay? And so after service outside, there will be a table, and you say, "Hey, I'm ready to get plugged in."
There will be a table out there with areas that you can serve. And again, I'm believing God for 35 people to get engaged to enable us to take care of our visioneers.
And the last thing that we want to do is service flexibility. I have our team and people who will be with me. You'll see them, and they're going to be telling me what's happening in service.
And the reason that is, is because we want to make sure that we are flexible. And so guess what? If the presence of God is really heavy here and people are getting ministered to, and a song goes a little bit long, that's fine. We'll make the adjustment right there in that moment.
And hey, if somebody needs to get prayer and prayer goes a little bit long, guess what? That's fine. We'll make the adjustment immediately in service. And I, as a pastor, will be flexible, and our team will be flexible.
Now, that doesn't mean we're going to start early and stay late. We're going to do it all in the timing, but we're going to be flexible with how it gets done. The great thing about this is, hey, if we got to cut the sermon short, guess what? Now you got to come back next week! So it works! It works! It works!
And so I want to encourage you to do two things. The first thing is pray for us. Pray for your church. Pray for your church. Actually, three things. That's usual. Pray for your church, okay?
Whenever you see the church, whenever you think about us, pray for us. Pray for our leaders, pray for our visionaries, pray for what God is doing here. We went from one service to Saturday and then back on Sunday and then immediately to two services, and now God is growing us to three services.
So pray for your church. The second thing I want you to pray for is how would God have you to move? Is there an area where God is like, "Hey, why don't you?"
Why don't you get in there? You be waving at people all day. Why don't you wave at people at the door, right? It don't take a special gift to smile. Just brush and wave. That's it! That's it! In that order, preferably! Hallelujah!
It doesn't take much, but choose to get engaged and choose to get activated. And the third thing I need you to do is invite somebody. We have invite cards outside.
We're getting some new invite cards for our three services. I want to encourage you to invite somebody. And here's the thing: if they're like, "Hey, you know, I can't deal with a lot of people," we got an extension of services that they now can come to.
If they're like shy, first of all, take them to the first service first, okay? Just get their feet wet, right? Get them in there, get their feet wet, and then you can bring them to where the party be happening, second and third service, okay?
But I want to encourage you to invite people. We have room, and we believe that God is doing something amazing in this church. And we got to tell this city about it, all right?
All right, thank you! I got a quick video for you for our announcements, and I'll be right back with the word.
Hey, Limitless! I'm excited that we have an opportunity for you to invite someone to church. Now, you should be inviting someone to church every Sunday, but the last Sunday of this month is our special invite service.
That's right! This is an opportunity for you to invite family, friends, unbelievers, coworkers, anyone to church. We are going to have an exciting time during service and after our last service.
I want to encourage you. We have invite cards, social media. Do what you can. Invite somebody to service. It is going to be amazing, and we can't wait to see you there, but we also can't wait to see who you invite. Come on, let's be limitless!
All right! Invite service last Sunday of the month. Invite somebody. Let's get this place packed out! I'm excited because our kids are actually going to be ministering during that service. They're not doing a song. I'm not going to tell you what they're doing, but I'm super excited that they will be here with us.
Our kids will be here. There'll be no kids ministry that day. It's a family service. And so this is where the family comes together. Every fifth Sunday, the family comes together, and we worship together. So I'm excited about that.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the opportunity to hear from you. God, we ask that you would open our ears to hear what you're saying and our hearts to receive the word that you're saying as well.
God, that this word would not fall on stony ground, but that our hearts would be fertile soil today to not just hear the words that you're saying, but do them as well. Move in this place in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right! If you were not here last week, we began a sermon series called "Mission Possible." First of all, if you missed last week, you better go watch it! All right?
I thought they were never going to let me go on vacation again after that message! Okay? So, and then I came back, and they were like, "No, Pastor, we need you to take another two weeks so you can come back with that."
But please go, you can go on YouTube to Limitless Woodland, excuse me, youtube.com/LimitlessLifeTV, or you can go to facebook.com/LimitlessWoodland, or wherever you get podcasts, you can type in Limitless Life TV, and you can hear all of the messages there.
But we began this series on mission, gifting, and activation. Okay? On mission, gifting, and activation. We completed two missions last week. The first thing we did is we recognized that we are assets. Okay? We are agents that have been activated for the kingdom of God.
We said we are the Tom Cruise in this Mission Impossible movie. Each one of us are. We are agents for the kingdom of God. And as an agent, there are missions that we have been activated for. That was the first thing.
The second thing, we saw through the word of God that we have been equipped and we have been given a special ability or empowerment to complete the mission that God has for us.
So not only are we agents, but we are agents that have been equipped with an ability or an empowerment that God has for us. And we ended the service saying, "Hey, no longer will we be sleeper agents. No longer will we be asleep on the mission that God has given us."
We said, "Hey, we are going to use those things and find out what those things are that God has given us."
So today, in part two, the mission that I have chosen to accept is number one, to show you what it means to activate your gift. Number two, to show you the giftings or giftings walked out in scripture.
Some of us, it's okay if we hear it, but it's better if we see it. So I want to show you gifting activated in scripture. And number three, I want to demonstrate straight to you through the word of God how vital it is to walk in our gifts and our purpose and how vital that is to the purpose of people who are around us and that we're in relationship with.
It's not just about us. It affects everybody around us. And I want to show you that in scripture. Are we ready?
All right! That was like two of y'all, but that's okay. We're going anyway. We are agents of the kingdom of God, and we have been activated. We have been given a mission, and we have been given the talents and the abilities to complete the mission.
I felt like last week we were excited, and we were just ready to go. We're like, "Yes, we have a mission! We have gifts and talents that we are given!" And we were excited about the fact that we have talents.
We were, we were, "Pastor, how do we find out what the talents are?" And some of us already knew what the talent is, but we can't settle at knowing what our gifting is. We cannot settle at knowing the gift, the talent, the ability that He has given us.
We cannot settle there. We have to activate those things. Our gifts, our talents, our abilities must be activated.
Okay, two weeks ago, I celebrated my birthday. I got an opportunity to go to Atlanta, where I was born and raised, and spent some time with my godparents and my god brother, my god sister. And it was an amazing time.
One of the things that I got the opportunity to do was participate in something called the Porsche experience. Okay? The Porsche experience is an experience. There's one in LA, and then there's one in Atlanta. It's where you go to a Porsche headquarters, and they have a racetrack there and a Porsche experience race car driver.
You get in the car with the driver, and they take this car to its limits. Okay? They take this car, they drive how we want to drive in real life. Okay? We want to do all of the things that they did that day. I was like, "Yes, those are the things that I wish that I could do."
And then they showed me why I could never do those things because I was scared in the car myself. I'm like, "Do you see these corners? Hey, you want to push the brakes on?" And they're just going, and they're talking calm. It's a hundred, 115 miles an hour.
If you notice, the frame of the car doesn't even come off as we make this corner. Okay? As we make this corner, do you feel that? You feel it's not even moving as we go over this. You feel the car doesn't even, it's just glued.
I'm like, "Sir, can you just drive? I don't want you to talk to me." Okay? We can get done, and then explain to me everything that happened.
Okay, so while this is happening, they have two tracks. One of the tracks is just this straightaway where they just gun it, and they do all of these curves. And there's another one where they do skid outs, and they do drifting, and they do on ice. They do all of these things. It's amazing.
But there was this one portion that I liked the most, and it was called launch mode. When they told me this when we signed up, I was like, "That sounds like something right there."
So we get in the car, and as we get in the car, the driver begins to adjust these buttons. And he says very quickly and quietly, might I add, I was upset about that. He says, "Put your head back." I was like, "For what?"
And he presses the button. Now, any of you who have ever watched any spy movie, or if you are a car fanatic, you know about the button. Okay? The button is usually a red button somewhere hidden in the car. And you know when they press that button, it's about to go down.
Okay? So we get in the car, and he says, "Put your head back." And I was like, "Okay." And then he presses the button, and the lady comes over on the speaker. She says, "Launch mode activated."
Where are you at, lady? I didn't even say "Launch mode activated." Three, two, one. Now, when he pressed that button, what he had done is he had activated a special feature or ability that that car had been created to do.
It had been activated, or it had been equipped. But the only way that it could be used is if it was activated. There's no reason to have a car equipped with the special ability if you never use the ability or if you never activate the ability that the car has.
This is what this car was meticulously designed for. It was built for the technology that was on the inside of it. The way the frame was designed, the gears, the pistons, the horsepower, all of it was designed and created in this car for this ability to be activated.
Press the button! Launch mode activated! Three, two, one! And that thing took off! And I was so happy he told me to put my head in the headrest because if I hadn't, then I might have broke my neck because it was in the headrest already.
It was in the headrest! I was like, "Oh, okay, we going somewhere." But that's what the car was created for. When they begin to think about the building of this car, when they begin to think about the things that it could do, they put special things inside of the car so that it could be used in the ability that it was created for.
I'm telling you, there is something that you were created for, and you have to activate that thing. There is a way that you move. There's a way that you talk. There's a way that you think about things. There's a way that you process things.
There's a way that you feel things a certain way, and there's a way that you communicate things. When you step on the scene, there's a calm that comes. When you step on a scene, you have a way to communicate understanding like nobody else.
When you come in the room, there's a presence that's there. What I'm telling you is that there is a gift that's on the inside of you that you have to activate. You have to activate the gift that is on the inside of you.
It makes no sense. It makes no sense for you to have something that you were created for, and then you never activate it. If the button's there, I'm pushing the button! Every single time, I'm pushing the button!
Some of y'all need to push the button in your life. God is making it clear and apparent what you were created to do. You have these special gifts, these talents, these abilities, but they have to be activated.
Romans 12 says, "God's marvelous grace imparts to each one of us." If you are under the sound of my voice right now or you are watching online, each one of us, each one of you, I don't care what the enemy has told you. I don't care what the lies you have begun to believe, but there is a gift, a talent, and an ability on the inside of you that is waiting to be used.
"Pastor, you don't understand my life. You don't understand my past. You don't understand what I'm going through." I may not understand that, but here's what I do understand. I understand that before the foundations of the earth, God created you, and He put things inside of you, and those things that He put inside of you are to be used and activated for the glory of God in the kingdom of God.
God's marvelous grace imparts to each one of us varying gifts. So if God has given you the grace gift of prophecy, activate your gift by using the proportion of faith you have to prophesy. If you have a gift of serving, then thrive in serving others well.
If you have the gift of teaching, then actively teach and train others. If you have the gift of encouragement, then use it to encourage others. If you have the gift to meet the needs of others, then may you prosper in your generosity without any fanfare.
Maybe you have the gift of leadership. Be passionate about your leadership. And if you have the gift of showing compassion, then flourish in your cheerful display of compassion. Whatever gift you have, whatever that thing is that makes you you, because only you can do it the way that you do it, because only you were created to do it that way.
So whatever it is that you do, you have to activate your gift. And you activate your gift by exercising your gifts. We like to make it difficult. We like to make it hard. "What do I do? What do I need to do? What school do I need to go to?"
Let me tell you something. You activate your gift by exercising your gift. If you have the gift of encouragement, first of all, encourage yourself, and then go to get out of here. Y'all don't do this!
Encourage yourself! Begin encouraging others around you. And as you begin to do that, that gift will grow. Gifts aren't complicated. They aren't. Gifts are a divine assignment waiting for your yes and your movement. That's it!
Gifts are a divine assignment that's waiting for your yes and waiting for your movement. We like to say yes, and then don't go nowhere. "Yes, God, I'll do it. God, I will go wherever you want me to go, Lord. Send me, Lord."
And the Lord be like, "Go!" And you're like, "Send me, Lord! Send me, Jesus!" He said, "I sent you!" Yes, God, send me! That's it, brother!
He needs your yes, and then He needs your movement. Both have to happen. Both have to happen. Because some of us, we want to say yes just to say we said yes. "Oh, I said yes to the Lord a long time ago." But you ain't did nothing!
I got to go. I can't do this. All right, listen. Okay, so I'm going to break this down very quickly, very quickly. I want to explain to you because I didn't do right in first service. I got to do right here.
Let me show you this, okay? How do, because the next question is how do I exercise my gift? Middle school, high school, college, young adults, they come to me all the time. "Pastor, how do I do it? How do I exercise my gift? What do I need to do?"
I'm going to break it down very quickly. Take a picture, write notes, write fast. Here we go. Are we ready? Let's put this up.
First thing you want to do is pray. Hallelujah! The first thing you need to do is pray. "God, show me how to activate the gift that you have given me."
Okay? First you pray. "Lord, what is the gift that you have given me? And how do I activate that gift?"
And so after you pray, you identify the gift. What is it, God? What is the thing that you've given me? Maybe I'm good with my hands. Maybe I'm good with music. Maybe I'm good with communication. Maybe I'm good with hospitality.
Maybe I have this gift, this thing that comes naturally to me. I can encourage people. I have a gift of prayer. Whatever that thing is, identify the gift.
Then next, look in the Bible to see how that gift is used. Look in the Bible. Don't try to create a system. Sometimes we try to create ways. "Oh, you know what? This is a special and unique gift, and it has never been used in the body of God before, so I'm going to create a way that this gift works."
No! Okay, I got to go. All right, next thing we need to do is seek mentorship and leadership from people already operating in the gift.
Do not try to go at it alone. You will be found foolish very fast. Seek mentorship and leadership from people already operating in the gift.
When you do that, there is a wisdom that you gain and knowledge that you gain on how to do what it is that you're called to do. My team will tell you every month, excuse me, every week, I'm looking at people who do what I do, but that are farther ahead of me.
And I'm asking questions. I'm learning what's happening. I'm learning what's going on. Why? I'm seeking mentorship and leadership from people who are already doing what I'm doing.
Why? Because there are some pitfalls that they have fallen in that if I get the knowledge ahead, I don't have to fall in the same pitfalls.
Let me tell you something. My dad had been preaching, what, 40 plus years he was leading the church. And when something happened, I'm like, "Dad, can you tell me what's going on?"
He's like, "Son, son, this is just how it is. You're just going to have to pray for him and keep going." I'm like, "But I have access to 40 plus years of wisdom so that I don't have to go through the same things."
Can you understand how far you would be ahead if you just chose not to just go out and run out on your own, but you found somebody who was ahead of you who could mentor?
I got to go. All right, let's put it back up. Put it back up. What's the next one? All right, Dan, next is use your gift to serve the kingdom.
This is where people get it twisted. They take that gift, and then the first thing they do is they say, "How can I get to this money, Jesus?"
All right, you done gave me this gift of singing. Maybe you gave me a gift of working with my hands. You gave me this gift. "All right, you know, how can I use it in the general market?"
And let me tell you, there is nothing wrong with you applying the gift that God has given you in the general market. Hear me and hear me well. There is nothing wrong with using your gift and applying it in the general market.
But I am telling you that there is a great advancement and there is a longevity that takes place when you first use your gift to serve the kingdom of God.
There is a covering that is available in the kingdom of God. There is wisdom that is available in the kingdom of God. There is discipleship that is available in the kingdom of God.
There's all these things that happen when you first use your gift in the kingdom. So when you get out there amongst the wolves and the thieves and the people who have no regard for your soul, there is a foundation that you already have so that you can begin to be the light in the midst of darkness and not try to get out of there and get swallowed up and be the dark in the midst of the darkness.
Use your gift first to serve it in the kingdom. All right, start small. Start small. They'll be like, "Pastor, I want to sing. I'm leading a song next Sunday." First of all, no!
Okay? No! Because a lot of people want pulpit ministry. They want stage ministry. I would see, "I want you to see me. I want you to see that I'm doing the thing that I'm doing."
But what that is is really immaturity. It's immaturity. Because I promise you, by the time you get up here, you'll be like, "Jesus, are you sure?"
Because I have people, I love being in the background. I love, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Start small. Start in the bathrooms.
Okay? Start! I'm trying to tell you there is an anointing and a blessing by being in the bathrooms. Okay? Why? Because you're in there, and you're serving the house of God, and it says, "God, no matter what, I am humble enough to get in here and make sure that when people walk in here, that they have an experience, and nobody will thank me, nobody is going to see this, but you see it, God."
Yeah! And then God begins to elevate you from a small place. Do not let your gift take you to a place where your character will not keep you.
Okay? Do not let your gifting, your talent, your ability take you to a place where your character will not keep you. Build your character as you start small. Stay faithful and remain humble.
Okay, listen, this is your gift. The enemy is going to do everything he can to get you to not activate and not operate in your gift.
Listen to me! The reason that the enemy might be whooping your tail, let me tell you, I'll take this, I gave this to the first service at the very end.
Listen, the reason that the enemy might be attacking you like you've never been attacked before is because he knows that if you dare operate in that thing that God gave you, if you make a decision to say, "You know what? I'm tired of this. I'm all in with the Lord, and I'm gonna do whatever it is He called me to do," he understands that that will be a headache for the kingdom of hell.
He understands how many people he will lose. He understands the influence that you will have and how many people you will bring to the kingdom of God. He understands the families that will change, the marriages that will change, the neighborhoods, the communities, the cities that will be changed simply by you making a decision to walk and activate in the gift that He's given you.
So what is his plan? I'm gonna do everything I can to distract you. I'm gonna do everything I can to get you sidetracked. I'm gonna do everything I can to attack you. I'm gonna do everything I can so that I can get you to give up, cave in, and quit.
See, it's not just about, it's not that he wants to use your gift on the other side. He don't care nothing about that. He just wants to make sure you don't use your gift for the kingdom.
And if he can get you to give up, if he can get you to cave in, if he can get you to quit, then he's got you. He's like, "That's all I need! That's all I wanted the whole time!"
And you're like, "I tried that Jesus thing. I tried that faith thing. I tried that prayer thing, and none of it worked." So you know what? Forget it! He's like, "Gotcha! Yeah, yeah! 10,000 people ain't gonna come to Jesus!"
Yes! And he's excited about that! So before you give up, you cave in, and you quit, you might want to check why you're being attacked.
What is it that's so important about you? What is it that's on the inside of you that the enemy has to keep attacking? What is it that, what is the gift that's on the inside of you that the enemy can't stand to see for it to be used?
He will do everything he can to stop us from activating and operating in our gift. Listen! Satan has no problem with us having a gift. He has no problem with us having a gift. He has a problem with us activating our gift and using it for the kingdom of God.
A specialist that never utilizes its specialties is not a threat. A specialist that never utilizes its specialties is not a threat. But the one who learns its specialties and utilizes those specialties for the kingdom of God is a threat to all of hell.
1 Peter 4, we read this last week: "As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's grace."
I cannot understand, I cannot understate the importance of you knowing who you are. I cannot understate the importance of you knowing how you do what you do, activating that ability or that empowerment that you've been given to walk out your mission.
We cannot continue to underestimate the role that we have through our obedience, not only in our mission but in the overall work that the Lord is doing in other people's lives and in the life of the kingdom of God.
When we choose to accept the mission and say yes, it's not just about what He's called us to do. It's not just about our activation, but it also is about us enabling others to walk in what He's called them to do as well.
Our gift, our ability as a specialist can be the key to someone else completing the mission, the mission that He's called them to do. You thinking it's just about you? Well, if I don't do, I'm fine. No, no, no, no, no! Your gift is the key to somebody else completing the mission that He's called them to do.
Even our gift is bigger than us! Let's look at Exodus 25. Exodus 25, and let's start at verse 8.
So the Lord is talking to Moses, and He says, "Have them build a sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them. You shall construct it in accordance with everything that I am going to show you as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all of its furniture."
So He is talking to Moses, and He begins to tell Moses everything for six whole chapters. Six whole chapters, He goes into direct detail on what it is that He wants them to do.
And I imagine Moses is like, "First of all, I told you I can't even talk. You talking about building something? I can't even talk! I don't even know what Topaz is! Is it in the ground? Do I call somebody? Do I get Topaz from a market? I don't even know! Cubic? Cubic what? Cubic zirconic? I don't understand!"
So I imagine that he's talking to Moses, and he's writing, and Moses is writing all of this stuff down. He's getting everything together, and he gets to the end. And I imagine that Moses thought, "How am I going to do this? How on earth am I going to do this?"
And we meet him back in verse 31, just as God has finished verse 1. The Lord says to Moses, "See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Udi and the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God in what? In wisdom, in skill, in understanding, intelligence, and in knowledge."
Look at this! "And in all kinds of craftsmanship to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver, and bronze. And in the cutting of stones for setting, and in the carving of wood to work in all kinds of craftsmanship."
And behold, I myself have appointed with him Aholiab, the son of Ishmael, of the tribe of Dan. "To all who are wise-hearted, I have given the skill and ability to make everything that I have commanded you."
Come on, come on, come on! Not only did the Lord tell him what He wanted, He sent him specialists! He sent him specialists!
See, we don't want to do it because we're like, "Lord, how am I going to do this? It's just little old me. It's just me, Lord. How am I going to do that?"
The Lord's like, "First of all, I got 20 people I done lined up from the creation of this earth to help you with this. I'm not just going to put you out there by yourself."
Here's the thing: it don't matter what the mission is the Lord giving you, you can't do it alone. You cannot do it alone because God forbid you try and succeed, then you're going to try to get all the glory. So no, that's already out.
So God, He didn't just give Moses a mission and empower him. He gave him specialists! Look at this! Specialists who had already activated their gift. They had already activated their gift, and the obedience and the ability of those specialists to walk in their gift literally brought the presence of God to the children of Israel.
Literally, they created something with their gift that brought the very presence of the living God to Israel.
Now, all right! Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18, verse 24. Because sometimes the ladies are like, "Oh, he's talking to the men."
So now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent and cultured man and well-versed in the Hebrew scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord.
And being spiritually impassioned, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things about Jesus, though he knew only of the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly and fearlessly in the synagogue.
But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and began to explain more accurately to him the way of God and the full story of the life of Christ.
Okay! So Apollos, this well-versed man, begins to preach. And he's preaching. But he don't know about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He didn't get to that part of the scripture yet.
So he's still talking about the prophecy, and Jesus is coming, and the kingdom of the Lord is at hand. He don't know that He came, and he's speaking boldly and passionately.
And Priscilla and Aquila come along, this husband and this wife. And you know us being, when we bold and we ready to go and we passionate, you know, sometimes it takes a woman to come along and be like, "Hey, how you doing? Baby, let me cook something for you. Let me bring you over here. Why don't you sit down and let me talk to you for a minute?"
So, Apollos is walking in his activation. And somebody else, a husband and wife, begin to see him in his activation and begin to approach him with their activation.
And what was the gift that she had? She had a gift of apologetics. And that word simply means a defense of the faith. Not only did she have a gift of apologetics, she had a gift of discipleship.
She had the ability to come along and say, "Hey, you know what? Let me show you. Let me break down these scriptures for you. Let me show you what this word means. Let me inform you about Jesus. Let me tell you how He came and how He died and what this scripture means."
And she had the ability to do that. And so, and as a result of her and her husband walking in that activation and ministering to Apollos, Apollos is accredited with starting the church in Ephesus.
The church in Ephesus, the church in Ephesus, and the church in Corinth. So, when we read about Corinthians and we read about Ephesians, this guy who activated his gift, who ran into Priscilla and Aquila, who activated their gift, started these churches.
Started these churches! There is something that happens when we as believers, not just receive our empowerment, but we actually begin to activate and walk in that gift.
Proverbs 18:16 says, "A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men or the great."
Worship team, where'd you go? Now, this is what we are meticulously designed and created for. No longer can we let indecisiveness, fear, and worry stop us from being activated in what we are created to do.
Walking in our gift is vital to our purpose and the purpose of those around us. When we get activated, it activates the gift in those around us, and everyone begins to receive the benefit.
Daniel chapter 1, verse 17, says, "As for these four men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all kinds of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood all kinds of visions and dreams."
And at the end of the time set to bring all the young men, none were found like Daniel, Hanaiah, Mishael, and Azariah. None were found!
So as a result of them walking in their gift, the scripture says they were selected and assigned to stand before the king and enter his personal service.
And so what happens in chapters 2, excuse me, the rest of chapter 1 and chapter 2, the king has a, King Nebi, I call him, King Nebi has a dream.
King Nebi has a dream, and he is upset because all of the wise men could not interpret the dream. And so King Nebi says, "Hey, since y'all can't interpret the dream, I'm killing all the wise men! Kill all of them now!"
Now Daniel is a part of this. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, they are all a part of this. And so we meet up in Daniel chapter 2 because the king was indignant, a decree went out for them to be killed.
And Daniel replied with wisdom to the God that they sent to kill him. He says, "Why is the decree from the king so harsh?" And he told him why.
And so Daniel goes to the king and asks the king to give him a date and time so that he might reveal to him the dream. Verse 46.
So what happens between this is Daniel interprets the dream, and he gives King Nebuchadnezzar everything that the dream talked about and gives him the accurate depiction and the breakdown of the dream.
And we meet King Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel in verse 46, and he says, "King Nebuchadnezzar fell face downward and paid respect to Daniel as a great prophet of the highest God."
So because he operated in a gift, now King Nebuchadnezzar recognizes God as God because he was serving everybody but God.
But because he operated in his gift, because those wise men operated in their gift, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, now King Nebuchadnezzar recognizes God as God.
And he gave orders for an offering and an instant to be presented to him in honor of his God. And then the king answered Daniel and said, "Most certainly your God is the God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries."
Why? Since you have been able to reveal this mystery. So because you chose to get activated and operate in your gift, I now see that God is God.
I now see that He is the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. Why? Because you chose to operate in your gift and do it effectively.
Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many gifts and made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief governor of all the wise men of Babylon.
And Daniel made a request and appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon.
So listen to what happened! Because Daniel chose to walk in activated gift, he not only saved his life, but he saved the lives of all the wise men in Babylon because he was killing everybody!
And those wise men in Babylon didn't even serve God! But because he chose to walk in his activated gift, he wound up saving his life and the lives of the people who didn't even serve him.
And our gift is not just for our empowerment, but when we activate that gift and walk in it effectively, it can literally save the life of people we don't even know.
Daniel's gift brought him before the king, but not just brought him before the king. It brought him to being promoted to second in command only to the king.
And because Daniel activated his gift, Shadrach operated his gift, Meshach operated his gift, Abednego operated their gift. And as a result, all four of them got promoted as well.
So here's the question: Whose destiny is tied to your obedience? Whose empowerment will be activated simply by you choosing to walk in your activation? Who is waiting for you to push the button?
The mission that the Lord has given us cannot be done alone. We need each and every specialist walking in their activated specialty so that we can turn this city and this region upside down for Jesus.
But you have to make a decision to get activated. How long will you sit on the thing that God has given you? Get activated!
What gift has God placed in you that you have yet to activate? If you are not dead, God is not done. So there is something that He's called you to do. Every day He wakes you up, He wakes you up for a purpose and with a purpose.
You can keep sitting on that thing if you want to, but somebody's destiny is tied to your obedience. Maybe fear, maybe indecisiveness has paralyzed you from moving forward.
But I want to admonish you to remember that your gifts aren't just for your benefit. They have the potential to unlock the potential in everyone around you.
When we operate our gift and flourish in our gift, we enable other people to flourish as well. The work that we are called to isn't just a task. It is a divine orchestration of lives interwoven for His glory and for His kingdom.
It is my desire for each and every one of you to be activated in what God has called you to do. The Bible talks about the work of a pastor and the work of a preacher is to equip the saints for the work of calling.
And I take that mission very seriously. Each one of you are special. Each one of you are unique. Each one of you have been meticulously crafted by God to do something.
Stop letting overthinking, fear, indecisiveness stop you from moving. Do something! Start small! Walk out what God has called you to do.
Because it's not just about you. You're looking for revival. It might be inside you. You're looking for this community to change. It might be inside you.
You're looking for this place to turn upside down. You're looking for people to come to know Jesus like never before. Or, yeah, that might be inside of you.
But until you choose to activate it, we will never see it. Push the button! And you'll hear the little lady on the inside, "Launch mode activated! Three, two, one!"
And you begin to do things that you never even imagined that you would do. The reason that I stand before you right now is very simple: a yes and movement. That's it! Yes and movement.
Father, I pray for each and every person under the sound of my voice. I thank you for speaking today. God, as a whole, we have heard you today.
And we make a decision not just to be hearers of the word, but to be doers of your word, God. God, activate your gift on the inside of us. Show us what that gift is, God.
Allow us to see and know what it is that you've called us to do so that we can say yes and get moving. Destiny is on the line. Purpose is on the line. Salvation is on the line. Legacy is on the line, God.
And we choose to say yes. Thank you, Lord, for your word. I thank you for moving. I thank you for speaking. Have your way in us. In Jesus' name, amen.
I'm going to have our offering team come forward at this time. And I said this last week, and I said this week, my goal is at the end of this series for you to know what it is that you've been called to do.
And for you to begin to take incremental steps in what that is. Some of you have been walking around, and you've been trying to figure it out for the longest, and you can't figure out why you can't pinpoint it.
Last week, I said this, and I hope it sets you free. It's not particularly what you do that is the thing. It's how you do what you do in every single area of your life.
You may be looking for a particular thing, this one thing. "Lord, just show me what the one thing is that you've called me to do." It's not about the one thing. A gift is an empowerment that operates in every area of your life.
Find that gift, walk in that gift, and see how God can change your whole situation simply by you giving Him a yes.
We're going to prepare to worship God in the area of our giving. At Limitless, we believe that God gives seed to the sower. And this is our opportunity to worship Him and to thank Him for all that He has done.
It is our opportunity to put seed in the ground. It is our opportunity to put our money where our faith is. And at Limitless, we continue to see harvest from the seeds that we sow.
And they may not all be financial harvest. They may be spiritual harvest. They may be salvational harvest. But we continue to see harvest, and we keep sowing because we keep seeing harvest.
So we honor God here at our tithe, which is our 10% of our income. We honor Him in our offering, which is over and above in our generosity.
And as we're doing Limitless Missionaries this month, I want to encourage you and appeal to you to please give to our missionaries. On our drop-down, if you use our QR code or even on the envelope, there's a checkbox there that says missions. Give to missions.
I encourage you, if you have a passion for missions, give to missions.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to worship you in the area of our giving. Lord, thank you for speaking to us today.
God, whatever it is that you would have us to do, allow us to do that. Show it to us, God. We believe that you give seed to the sower, and so we sow by faith.
I thank you for every person under the sound of my voice today. Those that are given out of their generosity, bless them. Those that are right where they need to be and may not have it to give, but are making a decision to give out of sacrifice, would you bless them?
Those that don't have it to give, but have a heart to give, God, would you bless them as well? Press down, shaken together, running over into their lap, God. That you will pour out a blessing that they wouldn't even have room enough to receive it, God.
Thank you for getting the seed to us so that you can get it through us, so that we can bless people, so that we can bless lives until all families of the earth are blessed.
We praise you, we thank you, in Jesus' name, amen. God bless you as you give. The offering buckets will go by, and once that offering bucket goes by, would you stand?
And our worship team is going to lead us in worship, and then I'll be right back to close. Hallelujah!
Very quickly, no moving, no walking at this time. If you are here today and you have never made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, I want to invite you with this opportunity.
The first step to getting activated is to make Jesus Lord of your life. That enablement, that empowerment comes with a relationship with Jesus.
God loves you so much that He sent His Son to die because He wanted to be in relationship with you. But sin separated us, and a price had to be paid.
And He sent His Son, and His Son says, "I will go." Oh, and He suffered the cross, death, so that you could get to know Jesus.
So that you could know how much God loves you. So that you could understand the path and the plan that He has for your life.
And He says that if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, you shall be saved. And it's this idea of starting this process of making Him the king and the ruler of your life.
A lot of times we want to make Jesus a confidant. Maybe we want to make Him a friend. We want to seek Jesus at funerals and at hospital visits or when we're laying on our back.
But God says, "No, I desire more. I desire a relationship. I desire to be Lord." That word Lord means ruler. It means king. It means final authority in every area.
He says, "Friend isn't good enough. Confidant isn't good enough. I desire to be Lord." And when I am where I need to be in your life, everything else aligns.
Will it be easier? No! But how much better is it when you have Him on your side? When you have the creator of heaven and earth on your side, fighting for you and fighting with you.
So if you've never made Jesus Christ Lord of your life, today is your day. Now is the time of salvation. Do not let another day go by. Do not let another moment go by. Make the decision now.
Time is out for playing. Time is out for games. Now is the moment.
So if you would like to make Jesus Lord of your life and begin this process, altar team is to my left, your right, along the black wall. We would love to pray with you and begin walking with you through this process.
This is the biggest decision you could ever make in your life. This decision changes everything. Today's the day.
And maybe you one day made Jesus Lord of your life. You gave Him your life. But somewhere along the line, you took it back.
And you started living your life the way that you wanted to live it. You started living it in a way that does not align with the Lord, that does not align with His word.
But today, you want to make a decision to come back home. You want to make a decision to come back to Jesus and put Him in the right place in your life.
If you're here today, you want to recommit your life to Jesus. To repent. And that word repent just means to turn away from sin and move towards Him.
And if you want to make that decision to recommit your life to Jesus, then we would love nothing more than to walk with you through that and to pray with you today.
Lastly, we're celebrating baptisms next week, and it's not too late to sign up. If you have never made a public declaration of your faith in Jesus, we would love nothing more than to celebrate with you.
To pray over you as you make this decision. To see God be God in your life in a public way.
And so if you're here today and you need prayer for anything, our team is here. We've been waiting on you since 8 o'clock this morning, praying for you since 8 this morning.
We lost an hour of sleep, and we're still here praying for you. Why? Because we believe in what God is doing in this house and what He's doing in the lives of people in this room.
You are not here by accident. You are here by divine purpose and divine appointment. I dare you! I dare you! I double dog dare you!
To make the decision that will change the very course of your life.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for those that are under the sound of my voice and those that are watching online right now. I pray that you would begin to speak to these.
God bless your sheep, your people. I pray that the word of God has been poured out on fertile ground. And that we will not just be hearers of your word. We will be doers of your word.
That we will get to the place, God, where we can't even get our mind off of what you've said to us today without activating the gift on the inside of us.
I pray that the word of God has been poured out on us today. That we can't even help but to walk in it, God.
I thank you for those that are making a decision for salvation right now. I thank you for those that are making a decision to recommit their lives to you. And those that are making a decision for baptism.
Your word says that all of heaven rejoices when one person makes a decision to come to you. We thank you that it is so, and it is happening right here in this place.
We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
We love you! If this is your first time here, please meet me outside at the connection table. I would love to talk to you and to welcome you.
You're going to have an amazing week, and I pray for visible victories in every area of your life. God bless you! And don't forget what?
on Mar 10, 2025
