What God can do with little.

We will never miss what we invest in eternity. 

2 Corinthians 9:6-11  (NLT)

6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 

7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”  

8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 

9 As the Scriptures say,

“They share freely and give generously to the poor.
    Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”

10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.

1. We must put God first.  

2. We must be a good manager of God's money.  

3.  We must not underestimate what God can do with what He has given us.

4.  We must live to give.  

There is more to this life than this life.   We live to give when Jesus is Lord of our lives.  

Dino Rizzo,  Church of the Highlands 
https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/increase

For such a time as this...

Esther 4:14 (NLT)

14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

1. You have a purpose.  

Important days are the day you were born.  The day you were born again, and the day you realize what you were born to do.  We are born by God and for God.

  

To know what you are to do, you must talk to the designer of you.  We don't determine our purpose, but discover it.   

Your purpose is not a place.  If you focus on being the right person, God will put you in the right place. 

  

As a young person, you learn it.  As an adult you earn it.  As a mature adult you return it.  

Esther 4:14 (NLT)

14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

Don't ask God to bless what you're doing.  Why not do what God is blessing?

2.  You don't have to be perfect.  

We are not perfect, but we serve the one who is. 

To deliver a vision, you must first carry it. 

Esther married a pagan king.  She hid her nationality.   She messed up. 

The grace of God will meet you right where you are.  It never leaves you where it finds you.  

Grace is the kiss of heaven.   The grace that saves us is the grace that changes us.  It empowers us to please God. 

Religion is all about appearances.  Relationship is all about authenticity.   

Just because we mess up does not mean that we are eliminated from the purposes of God.  God gets glory in our brokenness.

3.  Use your platform to make a difference.  

Esther 4:15-16 (NLT)

15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 

16 “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. 

And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”

It's not about me.  It's about what will happen to others if I don't.  

God used Esther to save her people from certain destruction.   Say Holy Spirit what are you saying to me in the message? 

Mike Haman, Church of the Highlands

Enough is enough!

Luke 9:2-5 The Message (MSG)

Jesus now called the Twelve and gave them authority and power to deal with all the demons and cure diseases. He commissioned them to preach the news of God’s kingdom and heal the sick.

The devil responds to a higher authority.  Prayer includes confronting the devil.   The devil knows that we have authority over him; however, he trembles when we know it. 

 

Luke 10:17 (NLT)

17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NLT)

3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 

4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 

5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

A stronghold is a lie that gains momentum.  There has to be a group of believers who tell the devil enough is enough.  We must release the name of Jesus.  

Philippians 2:9-10 (NLT)

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
    and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

Brandon Isbell, Church of the Highlands  

How to be free!

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

A masterpiece is the artist's  greatest work.  

Galatians 5:1 (NLT)

So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

Religion is about self effort.   

2 Corinthians (NLT)

17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

We don't fight for freedom, but from it.  

Freedom and Lordship is always connected.   

Like a fish is free from death within a fish bowl.  We are free within God's boundaries.   

We don't pay for our freedom, but Jesus paid for it.  

Freedom is not living within our own boundaries, but through the boundaries laid out in God's Word, the Bible.    

When we put boundaries between us and God.  That's called a stronghold.  

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NLT)

3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 

4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 

5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

Freedom is living within God's boundaries.  His boundaries do not restrict us, but release us.  

1 Corinthians 6:12  (NLT)

12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.

We must be P.U.R.  

Freedom Filters. 

Ask...

1.  Is it pleasing to God?

John 8:31-32 NLT)

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

2.  Does it uphold my convictions?   

Romans 14:23 (NLT)

23 But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.

3.  Does it represent God's love?

1 Corinthians 9:19 (NLT)

19 Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ.

John 8:36  (NLT)

36 So if the Son (Jesus) sets you free, you are truly free.

Romans 10:8-10 (NLT)

8 In fact, it says,

“The message is very close at hand;
    it is on your lips and in your heart.”

And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: 

9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

Mark Pettis, Church of the Highlands
https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/freedom1

The Price of Failure

Resistance is a sign that you're going somewhere.   Hell will fight you where God has called you. 

God likes to stack things against you, so that when He delivers you, He will get credit.  

You are in a conflict whether you like it or not.  When you follow Christ, you are picking a fight with the devil.

1 Samuel 14:1 (NLT)

One day Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come on, let’s go over to where the Philistines have their outpost.” But Jonathan did not tell his father what he was doing.

1. We are to take the initiative. 

It's about doing something you've never done.   We must do something.  

The tragedy is not what we suffer, but what we miss.  We can't do everything, but we can do something. 

1 Samuel 14:2 (NLT)

2 Meanwhile, Saul and his 600 men were camped on the outskirts of Gibeah, around the pomegranate tree at Migron.

2. We are to embrace discomfort. 

Sometimes God will move us from where we are comfortable to where we need to be. 

Saul was doing nothing in his comfort under a tree, but Jonathan was venturing out into conflict.

  

Matthew 16:18 (NLT)

18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

The gates of hell are defensive. There is a difference in playing not to lose, and playing to win. We are to plan to win the lost. God is not intimated by overwhelming resistance.    

1 Samuel 14:6 (NLT)

6 “Let’s go across to the outpost of those pagans,” Jonathan said to his armor bearer. “Perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!”

3. We must embrace risk.  

You will never know until you go. Why avoid the context of where a miracle can take place?  Unless you step into the impossible, you will never see the power of God.

If we are too careful, we will never be unstoppable. We are afraid to try because we are afraid to fail.  I would rather fail trying than fail by doing nothing.

Let's try and fail. So what?  Each of us have failed at something.  When we fail, we learn something that we didn't know before.  When we learn, we grow. If you embrace this process, you will grow as a person of faith.

1 Samuel 14:7 (NLT)

7 “Do what you think is best,” the armor bearer replied. “I’m with you completely, whatever you decide.”

Where vision meets commitment that's where the miracles of God take place. The supernatural is waiting for you!

1 Samuel 14:8-16 (NLT)

8 “All right, then,” Jonathan told him. “We will cross over and let them see us. 

9 If they say to us, ‘Stay where you are or we’ll kill you,’ then we will stop and not go up to them. 

10 But if they say, ‘Come on up and fight,’ then we will go up. That will be the Lord’s sign that he will help us defeat them.”

11 When the Philistines saw them coming, they shouted, “Look! The Hebrews are crawling out of their holes!” 

12 Then the men from the outpost shouted to Jonathan, “Come on up here, and we’ll teach you a lesson!”

“Come on, climb right behind me,” Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “for the Lord will help us defeat them!”

13 So they climbed up using both hands and feet, and the Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearer killed those who came behind them. 

14 They killed some twenty men in all, and their bodies were scattered over about half an acre.

15 Suddenly, panic broke out in the Philistine army, both in the camp and in the field, including even the outposts and raiding parties. And just then an earthquake struck, and everyone was terrified.

16 Saul’s lookouts in Gibeah of Benjamin saw a strange sight—the vast army of Philistines began to melt away in every direction.

God sent the earthquake because He didn't want Saul to miss it.  God doesn't want you to miss the miracle that He wants to do through you.  

You can be near it, and still miss it.  Don't miss what God wants to do in this moment. Heaven is tapping it's foot waiting for you. 

Romans 10:8-10 (NLT)

8 In fact, it says,

“The message is very close at hand;
    it is on your lips and in your heart.”

And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: 

9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

Mike Haman, Healing Place Church