One second. One second. Three times. My God. And two of those. In Jesus' name.
We may look at an opportunity of this. Be healed. He rancantly jueing today. 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, co-workers, 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.
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, offerings, and missions at the bottom, and you can give from there. Here are your Limitless.
Come on. Yes, yes, yes. Well, I am overwhelmingly excited about our trip to Zambia this year. I get to take three other gentlemen here in our church. Pastor Johnson is going with us. Jeffrey's going with us. Brother Joel, he's somewhere here. Joel's going with us. And we're excited to have the opportunity to go and just see what God is doing in Zambia.
Limitless Church is a part of the legacy of Operation iDream. We gave towards the library that is now there. We gave towards the Mercy House that has been completed. We sent a trailer there, a freight line trailer there, full of supplies and things to assist those kids, backpacks, school supplies. We gave towards solar panels that now give them the opportunity to have running water throughout Operation iDream and Zambia.
And so thank you, thank you, thank you. And we are believing God to go this year and see what the Lord would have us to do in an even greater capacity to continue taking the limits off of the way that Zambia sees Jesus' faith and the church.
And so if you would like to support us on our missions trip in your giving, there's tithes, offering, and missions. Please, please, please feel free to give there. We're excited about having the opportunity to go there and make a difference in the lives of those kids. And I'm excited to come back and share with you all that God is doing there. Amen?
All right. So I forgot to make this announcement at first service, but, you know, praise God. I want to refresh your memory because I know some of you have forgotten since last week.
Uh, in a couple of weeks, Palm Sunday, we are excited to launch our third service here at Limitless Church. Yes. So I know that you forgot the time, so I want to remind you this week what the times are. They are 8:30, 10, and 11:45. Right. Because I know some of y'all missed last week. So welcome back. We missed you. We're glad you're here.
Uh, 8:30, 10, and 11:45. So, um, what, why is this happening? And what's happening is, as you can see, um, we are growing as a church and the Lord is doing a dynamic work and y'all keep bringing people. So, uh, if you keep bringing them, we're going to keep seating them. Amen?
Um, there are over 40,000 people here in the city of Woodland Plus, and they need to hear the word of God. And when you come, when you come to a restaurant and that restaurant is good, you tell everybody you know that they got to come to the restaurant. You look for an excuse to invite them so they can participate in what you've experienced. Church should be the same way.
We have a great thing here at Limitless Church. We love God with all our hearts. We love God's people, and we just desire to see people come to the knowledge of Jesus like never before. We have a desire for them to encounter the presence of God and encounter people that love God. And so we want another opportunity to do that.
So as we're really at capacity right now, um, we want to offer a third service. And so I would encourage you if you say, "Hey, this is a little full for me. I'm tired of trying to get here early. And then I got to pray that I get there and get a seat because I can't seem to get here on time." Um, then we have another opportunity for you at 11:45.
And so invite everyone you know. Um, we have our flyers that are going to be going out. Our mailers, you will see them in the mail. Um, that next service is going to be Easter Sunday. Invite everyone you know. We are excited for what God is going to begin doing at 8:30, 10. Praise God. You got it. You got it. Don't worry. I'll be back next week to do the same thing.
All right. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to hear from you. We thank you for your word. God, even we thank you in advance for the opportunity to celebrate with those who are going public with their faith through baptism. This is a precious moment and we do not take it lightly. We do not take any opportunity lightly.
Lord, we declare that this is the day that you have made. And so we make a decision to rejoice and to be glad. Speak through my vocal cords, think through my mind. God, we need to hear from you. You know what our week has been like, Lord, you know what things we are facing. And it is only you that can speak directly to that situation. Open our ears so that we can hear you. Open our heart so that we can receive what's taking place. We honor you. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right. These past few weeks, we have been talking about what it means to be an agent or an asset of the kingdom of God. We said that we are Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. We are hanging onto planes. We're jumping off buildings. We're doing all the flips over the cars. We have all of the gadgets. This is our life. We have a mission that we have been given to by God.
And he has created us uniquely. He has shaped us. He has formed us. He has given us gifts, talents, and abilities to use. Week one, we learned that it's not what we do, but how we do what we do that is the key. A lot of us are trying to find the thing. We talked about trying to find the thing. What is the thing that I'm doing? What is the thing that you've called me to do?
And I remember in high school and all throughout my young adult mind, "Lord, what is the thing? I think I know the thing, but if you just tell me the thing, then I'll do the thing and then I won't have to worry about the thing anymore." But what we came to understand is that it is not that what we do, it is how we do what we do.
And when we learn how we do what we do, we're able to apply that in every area of our lives. If your gifting is teaching, it is not the fact that you are a teacher. It is the fact that you have a gift of teaching that you can apply in any area, in any situation of your life. So if it's a conversation with your kids, you have the ability to teach.
If it's a question someone has and they have a lack of understanding of something that you are able to pick up, you have a gift to communicate that thing in a way that people can understand it. It is not what you do, but how you do what you do. We learned that in week one.
Week two, we talked about push the button. We talked about launch mode and having this opportunity to push the button in our lives. That gift that God has given us that we will no longer sit on that gift. We won't let another day go by. We are making the decision to push the button and be activated in the gift that God has given us.
It's cool to be excited about the gift, but it means nothing if we don't activate that gift. And we said we activate that gift by walking or by using that gift. And we talked about different ways. We talked about starting small. We talked about remaining humble.
And so we've been walking through this process and if you haven't been here, I encourage you, please go to YouTube, Facebook, or wherever you get your podcasts from, and type in Limitless Life TV or Limitless Woodland, and go and watch the rest of this series.
Week three, I'd like to share, take some time, and look at what I feel could be things that are hindering us from pushing the button. Last week, we left. We're excited. We're push the button. Ha ha, launch mode. You know, pastor got to drive in the Porsche, and we're like, yes, you know what? I'm going to push the button in my life. God has given me this gift. I am going to push the button, and you walked out of here on fire. I saw some of y'all. Y'all were on cloud nine. Y'all were ready to go last week. Like, I wish the devil would, right?
But something happens Monday morning. For some of us, something happens Monday morning where the same passion that we had to push the button on Sunday isn't there. Something happens Wednesday for some of us who are a little more, you know, we got a little more off. It takes a little bit more. But by Wednesday, we're not as motivated and excited as we were, and we're making excuses, and we're thinking about different things. And by the time Friday hits for some of us, we're not even looking or thinking about the button at all.
We're not thinking about the gift that God has given us. Something has happened. Something has taken place. Today, I want to address what I am calling a failure to launch.
Now, I looked this up on Google, so I know that it's true. A failure to launch is defined as a procedure that occurs when a rocket or a spacecraft fails to achieve its intended mission. Fails to achieve its intended mission, its intended mission, due often to irreparable malfunctions during the launch process.
Somewhere where the button was supposed to be pushed, the button didn't get pushed, something's happening, and a malfunction has occurred, leading to the loss of the vehicle or the thing or the payload. Failure to launch. Failure to achieve its intended mission due to a malfunction during the launch process.
These past few weeks, we've been talking about the mission. We've been talking about who we are and what we're called to do and figuring out how we're called to do it as well. Well, we've left motivated. We've left inspired, full of optimism. Something happens as the days go by. Somewhere we get to this place. Some of us, it's the parking lot. Some of us, it's later in the week. But our optimism slowly fades. Our hope begins to diminish.
And we're left wondering if Sunday's message was nothing more than a pep rally for everybody else. We're left wondering if maybe it's a dream for later. We'll tuck away our notes. We're not looking at the sermon replay. When the podcast comes up, we skip past it. And we just trudge along trying to make it to the next Sunday. Just trying to push.
Now, we leave Sunday ready to push the button. Three, two, one, lift off. We are ready to pursue and execute our God-given mission. But somewhere along the way, a malfunction occurs. And we're left with a failure to launch. Things happen. Things occur. Before we know it, we have failed to achieve our intended mission.
The scripture puts it like this in Luke chapter 8. It says, "A sower went out to sow a seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path, and it was trampled underfoot. And the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock. And as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture. And some fell among the thorns. And the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell on the good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold."
He said these things. He called out, "He who has an ear, let him hear." When the disciples asked him what the parable meant, he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. But for others they are in parables, so seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand."
Now, the parable is this. He said, "I wasn't going to let you know that everybody else, they don't get this opportunity, but I'm going to break it down for you." He says, "The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who when they hear the word, they receive it with joy. But these have no root. They believe for a while, and in time of testing, they fall away.
And as for those that fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go their way, they are choked by the cares, the riches, and the pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that and the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience."
So everybody got the word, but along the way, something happened. The word of God is called incorruptible seed, okay? That means that it is a seed that will produce a harvest no matter what. Incorruptible seed. The difference in the harvest that is produced is dependent upon the soil that is sown in.
The parable talks about three things or three things that cause a failure to launch. The first thing we see in verse 12, it says the word is sown, and immediately the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart. The devil comes and takes away the word from their heart. The enemy knows the value of your gift. The enemy knows the value of your mission, and the enemy most certainly knows the value of the word of God.
And so because he understands these values, his first maneuver is to take the word that has been sown into your heart. So the first malfunction Satan tries to use to call a failure to launch is unbelief. First thing that sparks up immediately, the word is hitting on our hearts. He's like, nah, let me get that. How can I get it? I'm going to get them to a place of unbelief.
We say, "That sounds good, but I just, I don't know, you know, pastor was preaching it, but I, that wasn't, it wasn't hitting it for me. I just don't know if that's true, unbelief." Maybe that's for people who, who've been, you know, following the Lord for a while, and they've got their walk with Jesus perfect. And, and that's why it's going to work for them, but, but not me. I got a lot of work to do, so, so, so maybe that's for later for me. Unbelief.
Or, or, or, you know what? You know, I, I, I, I've been struggling with this fill in the blank. And, and I, you know what? Maybe when I get that together, then, then the Lord can use me. And, but maybe when I get, when I get right, then, then it's going to be an opportunity. Then I can receive that word. And I'm going to come back to this message then. Unbelief.
The enemy will use any lie available to get you to believe that there is no hope for you, to get you to believe that there is no purpose for you, to get you to believe the lie that you cannot be used for the mission. That somehow the Lord was unaware of what was happening in your life, and you have been discredited, so you cannot be used for the kingdom of God.
Jesus tells us to believe the lie. Jesus tells us the play here. He says the first malfunction, the first attack that the enemy will throw for you is unbelief or taking the word from your heart. So if we know the play, then how do we defeat it? How do we defeat the lies of the enemy that tells us these things? How do we defeat these moments where we're unsure if it was for me, if I can do it, if it will work, if the word is true?
We defeat it, but we dismiss the lies of the enemy by reminding and reaffirming ourselves with the truth of the word of God. We dismiss the lies by reaffirming ourselves with the truth. Hebrews 4 verse 12 says, "For the word of God is living, it is active, and it is full of power. Living, active, and full of power. Making it operative, energizing, and effective."
Okay? It is sharper than a two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and the spirit, the whole completeness of a person. And both the joints and the marrows, the deepest part of our nature, exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. Living, active, and powerful. It is operative. It is energizing. It is effective. For whatever it is you are going through, for whatever a problem seems to be arising, for whatever is happening, the word of God is living. It is powerful, and it is effective.
Hebrews, excuse me, Psalms 119, David says, "Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven. It is standing firm, and it is unchangeable." See, a lot of us believe that our situation is brand new, and it has never been seen in the history of the world. And so, because of that, the word of God must somehow be altered because of our lives.
There's no way that the Lord saw this coming. There's no way that God knew that this was going to happen. There's no way that the new Bible must have to come out to address this situation that I'm dealing with. Bless your heart. Each and everything that you battle, each and every attack, each and everything, the word of God is living, it is active, and it is full of power.
2 Timothy 3 says this, "All scripture is breathed out by God, and it is profitable." That word means it works. It works for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man or woman of God may be complete and equipped for what? Every good work.
So, Pastor, are you telling me that I am equipped, that I am complete for whatever it is that God has called me to do? Remind yourself, when you try to disqualify yourself, when you want to get in the pity party, when you can't figure out, oh, Jesus. Complete and equipped.
Because we'll get in a, "I just don't know if I'm ready. I just, I don't know if this is, you know, maybe there's more that I need to do. Maybe, you know, I just need to complete, equipped."
Lord, why are you sending me? Because you are complete and you are equipped. We got baptism, y'all. Don't do this. Unbelief seeds at the heart level because our heart is fertile ground. And we must plant the seeds of truth and remind ourselves and Satan that the word of God that is planted in our heart is incorruptible seed.
And under no circumstances will we allow the enemy to rob us of that seed. When unbelief comes, we go and we put the word of God on it.
Okay. Next, the word says, it says, the second one, he said, "There are those who believe for a while, but in a time of testing, they fall away." Another version says, "They believe in a while, but in a time of temptation, they fall away."
The second malfunction the enemy uses to try to cause a failure to launch is overwhelming pressure. This is an attack. Overwhelming pressure. The enemy is, if nothing, he is consistent.
Okay. When the word can't just be snatched from your heart, the second thing that he will try is an all-out attack. An all-out attack. We talked about this last week. It's not just one thing, not just one area. He is coming for every area. You're like, "It is my job, my kids, my wife, and my finance. Jesus, I need to pick a struggle, Lord. I need one struggle, Jesus. Can we go through one at a time?"
And even if you could space him out a little bit, Lord, I would appreciate that. But the enemy is an all-out attack. Why? Because his thing is, if I could just get you to give up, if I could just get you to cave in, if I could just get you to quit, if I could just get you to, I don't need to kill you.
See, a lot of y'all think that he's just trying to kill you. No, no, no. He just needs you to quit. You can live as long as you want to, as long as you are not a threat to the kingdom of Satan. He says, "I just need you." So what am I going to do? I am going to bombard you and overwhelm you just to get you to give up.
Overwhelming pressure. The enemy is doing everything he can. Doing everything he can. He desires you to be overwhelmed. And here's the thing. You know why? Because if we're honest, right, most of us, when the attacks start getting heavy, the first thing we give up is church.
The first thing we step back on is our faith. You know, Pastor, you know, I know I haven't been to church. I'm just going through it right now. And, you know, I'm just, you know, but when I get through this, I'll be back.
The math ain't mathing. You said what now? You say you're going through so you're not coming to church? So you're going to be at the house. Where the problem is.
We step back. We're like, "Oh, I can't come to church. I can't serve. I can't go to the Bible study. I can't go to the women's group. I can't go to the men's group. I can't be in community." And you're doing exactly what the enemy would have you to do. That's the play. That is the play.
I've heard this. "You know, Pastor, you know, when I get my life back together, I'll be back." When you do what? "Yeah, Pastor, you know, I just got to get my life together, and then I'm going to be back. I'm going to be serving. I'm going to be right there full time."
We pray less, we worry more. And all the time, the enemy is just pouring on more and more and more and more. Why? Because it was never about the attack. It was never about the things. It was never about that. It was about getting you to do what the Scripture calls falling away.
Your mission, your gift, your talent, your ability is such a threat to the kingdom of darkness that the enemy will do everything he can to get you more worried about your problems so there's no chance that you will go to the problem solver.
If I could just get you overwhelmed, if I could just get you to quit, if I could just, I just want to overwhelm you. So that you'll go anywhere but where the answer is.
I, my wife, her, she, I drive her car because we married. And, y'all pray for me. But I service the cars, all of them. And, and I will take them to the place to get them serviced. So me, I'm going down the street. I'm like, "It's good. I know the homies down there."
I've known them. She's like, "No, you better take my car to the dealer." I said, "They good." "No, no, no. Take my car to the dealer." Because they manufactured the car. And so if there's any problems or issues that arise, I know they know how to deal with it because they made the car.
Oh, y'all going to get that at the light. Y'all going to get that at the light. I promise you, you're going to get that at the light. Because for too long, we've tried to go to these bootleg places and try to get fixed. We tried to go everywhere else, but we would go to relationships. We would go to sex. We would go to drugs. We would go to alcohol. We would go to all of these other places to fix the problem instead of going back.
All right, I got to go. So the enemy wants to overwhelm us, but we defeat the attack by going to the one who's already overcome him. It's like the enemy is attacking you. You're like, "Didn't my daddy beat you up? Didn't my daddy whoop your tail already? And you want some? Let me go get my daddy. It's fine. Don't even worry about it. Stay right there. Don't move. Stay right there. I'm going to be back. I'm going to be right back."
John 16, verse 33 says, "I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart." He said, "Don't even worry about it. Get yourself together because I have overcome the world."
Second Corinthians 10 says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh. They have divine power to do what? To destroy strongholds." What stronghold are you dealing with? What stronghold are you trying to overcome? What stronghold is it? Is wreaking havoc on your marriage? Is wreaking havoc on your family? Is wreaking havoc on your community? What stronghold is it?
Because he says that the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. But though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war in the flesh. No more will we sit by and let the enemy bombard us with attack after attack. No, we will declare our victory through Christ.
You ain't overwhelming me. I'm not finna be overtaken by all this mess you trying to throw at me. We said this last, listen, the enemy, what did I say? I said, robbers don't break into empty houses. If you're breaking in, it's because there's something in there.
If the enemy is trying to attack you, it's because there's something in there. And how is it that he understands what's on the inside of you, but you can't seem to figure it out?
And perhaps that it is such a threat to him. Perhaps it is so detrimental to the kingdom of Satan that he will do everything he can to get you to give up, to cave in, to quit. Overwhelming attack, but we defeat that attack by the word of God.
Lastly, Scripture says, "What fell among the thorn, they are those who hear. But as they go on the way, they are choked by the cares and the riches and the pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature." Man.
This is far too often the story of a lot of believers who were once on their mission. Using their tithe, their, excuse me, using their talent, their gift, and their ability for God. Going strong. But at some point, they began to lose sight of the mission.
Their eyes shifting from the kingdom of God to the kingdom of this world. From a life of sacrifice and selflessness to a life of self-fulfillment and comfortability and excess. The last malfunction the enemy uses to try to call a failure to launch is simply distraction. Distraction.
Too many of us are easily distracted and the enemy knows it. Whether we're distracted by the latest news cycle, the latest gossip column, the latest release, or the latest trend, the Scripture shows us two things that happen when we fall victim to the attack of distractions.
First, he says, it chokes off, meaning it cuts off light. It cuts off life. It chokes it. So it's cutting off life from the word that we've received. It's cutting it off by overwhelming us with the things of this world.
Second, it says, and their fruit does not mature. This is big. Because it means at some point, the fruit begin to grow. At some point, the fruit begin to grow. Because some seeds have taken root in our heart, but it never grows to anything fruitful because of all of the life-giving source has been cut off.
That is what distraction does to us. The main agenda of the enemy is to get us to not walk in our gifts, our talents, or our abilities. He does not want us to make it to the finish. He does not want us to get to the place where we have completed the mission. He wants us to push the button and then have a failure to launch.
He does not want to see the kingdom of heaven prevail. He wants us to give up the eternal mission that we've been equipped for, that we've been called to. He wants us to give up on our calling. He wants us to be overwhelmed and enamored with the temporary things of this world.
His desire is to get us distracted long enough that we forget who we are and whose we are and why we're here. Distraction, distraction, distraction. Deflect, deflect, deflect. Distraction, distraction, distraction.
We get so overwhelmed with what's going on around us that we forget we're not of this world. The things that we have been called to do are greater than what's going on in the news cycle and what's going on around us. We have a higher priority.
But if he gets us to worry and overwhelm ourselves with these things, then we never reach the mission. The word tells us in Proverbs 4:25, he says, "Let your eyes look directly ahead toward the path of moral courage and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you towards the path of integrity. Consider well and watch carefully the path of your feet and all your ways will be steadfast and sure. Do not turn away to the right nor to the left where the evil may lurk. Do not turn away to the right nor to the left."
Turn your foot from the path of evil. Let me read this passion paraphrase. He says, "Set your gaze on the path before you with fixed purpose, looking straight ahead. Ignore life's distractions."
No, no, no, no, no. Don't clap now. Clap when it's happening. Ignore life's distractions. I know that it is hard because we live in this world. But we have to remain focused. We have to refuse to be distracted. We got to catch ourselves, okay?
Because sometimes we take a couple minutes and we move to the side. We go off on a tangent. We need, hey, you know what? Let me not put too much energy in this. Because there's something that I'm called to do. Ask yourself, is this a distraction?
This is a big question. I have to deal with this. As a leader, I have to ask myself, the situation that I'm dealing with, is this something that I have to put energy, time, and effort into and that I need to seek the Lord about? Or is this just a distraction?
And you know what I find out? A lot of times, it's just a distraction. But you know, here's the part. And can I be real with you? A lot of times I find that out after I've put my energy efforts into, oh, that's just me.
You get in there. You get in there. You in there. You deep in it. And you're like, you know what? Actually, this is nothing. But the enemy is doing everything he can to delay, to take time away from us focusing on what God has called us to do.
There is an all-out attack on us every day as agents of the kingdom of God. But we have the victory. Every week, we recognize more and more the weight of the mission that we have been called to, and that is so much bigger than us.
There are families. There are communities. There are cities that will come to know Jesus. There are communities that will take the limits off of the way that they see Jesus, off of the way that they see faith, off of the way that they see the church, simply by you operating in the gift and the ability that has been given to you.
Whole families and legacies will encounter the love of God and forever be altered because you held strong in the face of unbelief. Because you refused to be distracted when distractions were all around you. You chose to remain focused. You did not bend at the enemy's attempt to overwhelm you.
The enemy, even today, will continue to try to throw attacks. But let me encourage you that God is for you, that he has called you, that he has equipped you. For a time such as this. You are uniquely placed where you are right now in this time, in this season, because you are the one. Neo, that's you.
Okay? You are the one. That God has called. That in the creating of who you are, the way he shaped you, the way he molded you, the way that you're able to do things, the way that you perceive things, the way that things are easy for you, the gifts, the talents, the abilities that he's called you to, he puts you right here, right now to use those things.
And each day that goes by that you sit on that gift is a day where eternity is on the line for someone. Like, "God, I just want to reach this person. Could you send somebody?" He's like, "Yeah, I sent you."
He sent you. Push the button. Walk out on the gift and the calling that God has for you. The last verse, Luke 8, verse 15, he says, "As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience."
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is waiting for your yes. Your gift, your talent, your ability is waiting for you to walk in it. The thing that you have been called to do to most may seem impossible, but when you've been called, when you've been equipped, when you are the specialist that he has sent, the mission is more than possible.
Question is, what will you do? Next week is our last week in this series. Worship team, if you will come. And I'm excited because I want to equip you on how to discover what your gifting is. A lot of the questions and the things that I've had has been, "I don't know what my gift is. How do I find out what my gift is?"
And let me tell you the reason that I've done it like this. If I start you knowing what your gift is, but you have no idea how to walk in it, how to defeat the enemy, you have no idea what to do, then you just got information that is of no use to you.
So what I wanted to do is I wanted to walk you through every single thing. I want to show you what the enemy will try to do. I want to show you how the Lord can equip you. I want to show you why it's important. I want to show you what it is, then I want to point you in the direction of what your gift is.
So next week, we're going to use some scripture, and I have a tool for each and every one of you. Next week, I got a little name tag for you. I'm excited. Come in on Tuesday. I can't wait. It's the little things. It don't take much.
But I got these stickers, and it says, "Hello, I am." When I give you this tool, I'm going to give you that name tag, and I want you to write on it what you believe you are. So if you was planning on skipping next week, go ahead and rearrange that thing on around.
The thing that God has given you is so precious. Can't nobody do it like you. You're waiting for somebody else, and it's you. The reason that you can't seem to let that thing go is because you have been equipped to deal with it. You have been equipped to handle it.
There's a uniqueness that has been given to you, a gift, a talent, and an ability to change people's lives and allow them to encounter the love of God, the gifts of God, and the grace of God. It's simply by you walking in your gift, you will take the limits off of the way that people see Jesus, faith, and the church, causing them to live a life that's truly limitless.
I'm excited because in the next few moments, we get an opportunity to celebrate with some people who are choosing to accept their mission and let the whole world know about it. Celebrating baptisms.
At this time, I would have our ushers to come forward, and we're going to transition to a time of giving, and if you are getting baptized, go ahead and prepare yourselves and get ready.
But I'm always excited about the opportunity to give because it's another chance to say, "God, thank you. Thank you for providing for me. Thank you for giving me the seed. Thank you for even the word that I've received today, God. You made sure that I was here of all places because there was something that you needed me to hear, that you would change my schedule, that you would protect me, that you would make sure that I made it."
So I take this opportunity to sow and say thank you. We believe that our finances are a seed, and we get an opportunity to sow that seed into good ground, that it will produce a hundredfold harvest.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the opportunity to sow. I pray over those who are giving today, God. Those that are giving out of their generosity, I thank you for the overflow in their life. Those that are giving and don't have it to give but are choosing to give, I thank you for their sacrifice today that you would bless them.
Those today that don't have it to give but have a desire to give, God, I thank you. I thank you for their heart and that you would bless them as well, that all of the gifts today would be blessed, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, that you would open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that they wouldn't even have room to receive it.
We thank you for this opportunity to sow. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. God bless you. As you give, the offering buckets will go by. Would you stand and worship with us as we prepare for baptisms?
on Mar 16, 2025
