Thanks for checking out the Anchor Faith Message podcast
from St. Augustine, FL.
Now enjoy this message. This is one of our Saints at
Anchor Faith Church always advancing.
So one of the sayings we have in Anchor Faith Church is we're
always advancing. You know, God is a God of
increase. We serve a great God who wants
to do great things through his great people.
We serve a great God who desires to do great things through his
great redeemed people. We serve a great, large,
magnificent God who wants to do great things or great works
through his great people. That's you.
Say, that's me. Say I'm a child of God.
Say I'm in the Kingdom and the Kingdom's in me and God wants to
do great things through me. That's going to take increase
though, and advancement. And God, you know, God is not
stationary, He's not static. We serve a dynamic God with a
song we sung. He's always working, He's always
moving, He's always advancing. We could say it that way.
Now, advancing means this. It means to accelerate, to make
progress, to grow, and to move forward and rise.
And when we say always, that means you're perpetually an
ongoing advancing. So advance means to accelerate,
make progress, to grow, to move forward, and to rise.
And this is the will of the Father in your life.
He wants to see acceleration in your life.
He wants to see progress in your life.
He wants to see you grow. He wants to see you move
forward, and he wants to see you rise.
This is the will of God for you is to always advance.
Now there is a hindrance to advancement.
Matter of fact, the greatest hindrance to advancement is a
thing called pride. The greatest hindrance to
advancement is pride. And I'll say this, don't take
credit for advancement. All the glory goes to God.
We never take credit for advancement.
It's God's will, but ultimately all the glory goes to God.
Deuteronomy chapter 8 is a delicious chapter.
I want to take one verse, but if you read that one of the themes
in Deuteronomy 8 is don't forget, don't forget, don't
forget. We could say this way in the
positive, remember, recall, bring to mind what God has done
for you. I can, I can think back to when
my journey started in 1997 when I gave my life to the Lord of
many great things that God has done.
I can recall to remembrance a testimony.
Testimony is what God has done in my life, and we want to
remember those things. God has done some great things
in my life personally, but it's not me.
It's Him and His Word and His anointing working through me.
It's me working out the principles and the keys to the
Kingdom consistently that manifests results.
But it's all the glory to God. And pride will keep you from
advancing. So the opposite of pride is
humility. Matter of fact, the Bible gives
a promise. It says if you humble yourself,
and there's two ways you can have humility.
One, you can humble yourself, or secondly, God can humble you.
Either way you're going to be humbled.
But it says that before a fall is pride, but before it a
promotion or increase is humility.
So we need to remain teachable. We need to remain teachable.
Isaiah the prophet said it this way.
He said that God is the Potter and we are the clay and an
unteachable person, and we are called to be disciples, which
means we need instruction. A disciple desires to be taught.
And Isaiah said this. He's the Potter.
We're the clay, which means we need to have humility in order
for God to shape us and instruct us.
I'll say this way, you can't mold dry clay.
And a proud person thinks they know it all and therefore God
can't shape or mold their life 'cause there's no water, there's
no humility in their life to be shaped, to be molded by God.
Learning is a lifelong process. We are enrolled in the Kingdom
educational system. It didn't say you're going to be
a disciple for one year, five years, 10 years.
You were called to be a disciple for life.
So we're in a if you always want to advance, then you always need
to want to be taught. Matter of fact, the Holy Spirit
is called the one of his characteristics is called the
teacher. He brings to remembrance the
word of God to us. And why 'cause God so loves you
that He's got a great life for you and wants great things for
you, but you have to follow His instructions in His plan.
If you don't follow his instructions in His plan, you're
going to have an unblessed, we'll say this way, cursed life
outside of the purpose, plan and pursuit of God, what He has for
you. So I'll say this, it's what you
learn after you know everything that counts.
And to learn you must want to be taught.
Do you want to be taught tonight?
I'll say some scriptures that you may have heard several
times, but are you listening like it's the first time?
Are you hungry? Are you ready to receive and get
everything that God has for you in this service?
It's not up to me. It's up to you to draw on and
receive from the Word of God tonight and the anointing of God
tonight. God will meet every need in your
life if you listen and obey. And God has some things to
instruct us in tonight. So to learn you must want to be
taught. And to be taught you have to
admit that you don't know it all and everything you know you've
been taught, but you've not been taught everything.
So we're in a perpetual state of always learning and growing.
If we're always going to be advancing in the Kingdom of God
and God wants to increase us. God desires to take us like it
says in Romans 117, from faith to faith.
In in 2nd Corinthians 3, it says He wants to take us from glory
to glory. So God has great things in store
for us, but we need to make sure we strip away pride, stay humble
and hungry and say, God, I'm a clean slate today.
Download, impart, instruct. I will listen, I will obey
because I know your plan is the best plan.
Your commandments are the best way, the best life.
And I want to, I want to do what this vision says, ignite this
city, impact the nation and influence the world.
And in order to do that, I need some instruction.
Father, I need your word in my life.
So I'm hungry to learn. And the other thing, don't let
let the past hinder your advancement.
Any failures, any disappointments, any setbacks,
any circumstances, Don't let that.
Don't let that dictate or dominate.
Right now. It's in your power of choice to
say, listen, maybe you blew it, maybe you messed up.
There's a there's a word in the Kingdom though.
It's called repentance, and thank God, a real man and a real
woman of God is going to take personal responsibility if they
miss the mark. God has a solution.
It's called repentance and a real man, a real woman is going
to respond to that truth and say, Father, I missed it.
I ask for your forgiveness. And I want to move forward.
I want to grow, I want to make progress.
So forgive me of that. Unforgiveness will hinder your
advancement if you choose not to forgive.
And there's 3 dimensions of forgiveness.
Number one, you need to ask God to forgive you.
You know there's sins of Commission, meaning sins that
you commit. Easy, right?
Adultery could be a sin of Commission, murder, right?
Theft. But then there's sins of
omission. You know what to do, but you
don't do it like worry. Hello, that's a sin.
Are you with me? Anxiety that can hinder
advancement. And you got to look at that as a
sin just as much as you would murder or adultery and say,
Lord, you don't want that in my life.
Isaiah 26 three says perfect peace will he give whose mind is
stayed on him. Philippians chapter 4 verse #6
says be anxious about some things.
I'm just seeing if you're paying attention.
It says be anxious about nothing.
I like the amplified says don't worry, don't fret, right?
I can meddle in the marriage covenant right now on the sins
of omission. Like men doing the dishes,
Hallelujah, you can say Amen O me.
Vacuum in a rug, men. Hallelujah, folding the laundry.
How sexy is that? Hallelujah.
Well, I'm not committing adultery on my wife yet, but
what are you omitting if he wants your marriage to increase
and progress and grow? So repentance is pivotal in the
Kingdom of God. The Bible's a wonderful book, 66
books of just Power Pack truth that'll transform a life and
hook you up with your destiny and always keep you advancing.
I love Genesis 'cause it shows the birth of a nation.
Exodus shows the deliverance of a nation.
Leviticus shows the sanctification of a nation.
Number shows the journeys and we're on a journey.
He that began a good work in you once to complete it.
There's a purpose and an assignment and number shows us
the journeys of the nation. Deuteronomy, which I quoted
chapter 8. I want to give you one verse out
of that in just a second, but that's a retelling of the law.
That's instructions. If you read Deuteronomy, do the
book of Deuteronomy, it's a retelling because we don't get
everything the first time. We do not get everything the
first time. That's why you taking notes and
reviewing is so pivotal to your growth and advancement because
it'll help you retain and remember what was instructed.
But then I love the book of Joshua 'cause that's the
possession of a promised life. So the Bible was wonderful.
We see the children of God in Exodus in a land called Egypt.
Now, Egypt is a typology for us today, which means this.
It's a land of bondage where Pharaoh was king and the
children of Israel were in bondage.
And you realize there's some believers that have made
covenant with God, but the devil still has rule in their life.
Whether it's sins of Commission or omission, there's still some
kind of bondage. And I got good news for you
tonight. God wants to set you free.
God wants you delivered. God doesn't want you in a vice
grip, or in shackles or in chains.
God's will is for you to be free, unhindered, unfettered,
Unchained, to run with the purpose.
Hebrews chapter 12 says it this way.
Let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
stripping off any weight or sin that so easily besets us.
And you know what? In Egypt, that's a land of not
enough, and that's not advancement.
When you don't have enough, guess what?
You can't do anything. You may want to give, but you
can't give. You may want to pray for healing
for somebody, but you may not feel worthy because you're
barely healed. God does not want you there.
So what's he do? He takes him out of Egypt
through the man Moses who brings deliverance.
He said, I'm taking you out to bring you into a land.
So he takes him out of Egypt. And they go through a place
called the wilderness. So they get delivered from
Pharaoh and his rule from the House of bondage, but they're in
the wilderness. And Deuteronomy 8 talks about
the wilderness. He said, I LED you through the
wilderness to test you read the whole chapter, Deuteronomy
chapter 8. I'll give you verse 18 right now
because I want to key in on that with what God has assigned for
us tonight. Deuteronomy 818 says this.
And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives
you the power to get wealth. Hallelujah that He may establish
His covenant, which He swore to your Father's.
As it is this day. Now, I got downright ticked off
yesterday. I did 'cause I believe the
Bible. Do you believe the Word?
So I'm read in Deuteronomy 28. First of all, I don't.
The curses outweigh the blessing.
That bugs me, but I'm reading things in Deuteronomy chapter 28
and talking with people and counseling with people.
I thought, Lord, there's more, there's more.
I read this verse. It said that the children of
Israel shall be the lender and not the borrower.
I said, Lord, why are Christians?
Why are we not there? Your word says it.
What are we not connecting? What are we ignorant of?
What are we too prideful about? What are we too worldly minded
in that we're not functioning in this.
There's many other things in there I thought, and some of
these things I I could say, Lord, this is in my life.
Glory to God, your word is true. And some things I'm like, OK,
I'm not there yet, but I want to advance to that Lord, I want to
be in a place in a position that I could lend and I want to do it
your way. I was reading last week that the
children of Israel, they, they had a, a borrowing law or a
lending law which says you could borrow to, you could lend to
fellow Israelites and not charge them interest.
Now, if it's a foreigner, guess what?
Those outside of covenant, go ahead and make some money off
that. Charge him 8%.
God's got a wonderful economic plan.
Hallelujah. So in Deuteronomy though, he
says, I brought you through the wilderness.
The wilderness has landed just enough.
You are barely getting by. Listen, this life is a journey.
I I guarantee you this cause the word of God does not fail, it
does not return void. It always accomplishes what he,
he said. Now we live in a microwave
society. We live in A10 items or less
matter of fact, it's worse than 10 items or less.
Now it's Instacart, it's Grubhub, it's DoorDash, right?
Don't let the world intermix with the culture of the Kingdom.
There's a thing called faith and patience in the Bible.
I remember when Angie and I had our two sons in the house.
We were in the wilderness financially.
Lord, I've repented of this, 'cause this was a, you know,
ignorance will kill you. But I remember going to
McDonald's. Now, those that are still eating
there, I'm not judging you. I just have a conviction if a
fry has a shelf life of 15 years because it's under your seat
that you dropped, It's been sitting there and it still looks
golden brown. I remember they used to, they
probably don't have this anymore.
We used to go through. Then they had the dollar menu.
Do you remember that? So we tell Mike and Jacob guests
we were so tight. We said you guys get four things
off of that dollar menu. So it's usually like an apple
pie, 2 cheeseburgers and a fry. Hallelujah that that was just
enough. For $8 we could feed those boys,
but it was just enough. I mean, we weren't going to
Longhorns and we surely weren't going to Ruth's Chris 'cause we
had just enough. But guess what?
We keep working the principles which I'm going to give you.
We kept on applying it, and God has brought us into a land of
more than enough. So the wilderness is just
enough. But God wants to bring every
believer to the land called Canaan land.
Canaan land is still a reality in the New Testament.
You can read 1st Corinthians 10. It says everything in the Old
Testament was an end sample or an example for us.
So they literally live this out. But there's also things we can
learn from their journey there. Listen, I said pride will get in
the way of advancement and we want to be taught.
There are things that we can learn from them so we can
continue to advance. And God, God said, I want to
bring you out to bring you in. Well, here's the sad indictment.
Do you realize that even though God wanted to do that, many of
them died in the wilderness. And I, I know this God's heart
tonight for you as I'm instructing you is not for you
to die in the wilderness. God has greater things in store
for you than that. But even though God has that in
store, guess what? People are still going to make
choices, and those choices are going to have consequences
whether you're going to have God's best or whether you're
going to be mediocre or whether you live in failure.
God's no respecter of persons. He's got great, great store,
great things in store for everybody in this sanctuary
tonight, but it's up for you to submit and commit to him and
continue to grow and take this journey seriously.
The Canaan land is a land of more than enough.
John 1010 really is the reality of Canaan land as Jesus quotes
it. He said I came to give you life
and to give it to you more abundantly.
I came to give you life and to give it to you more abundantly.
One translation says I came to give you a rich and a satisfying
life. Now I had the media team put
this up. There's a thread what I mean
scriptures that you can track of this land that God started
talking about. So Genesis 12 chapter one, you
can write this down. I'm not going to read everyone,
but God starts talking about Abraham, about the land in
Genesis chapter 12. You'll see it in Genesis 1315.
You'll see it in Genesis 15, seven.
You'll see it in Genesis 5024, you'll see it in Exodus 68.
And then you'll I like Leviticus chapter 2024 because God goes
into more description about this land and I'll read Leviticus
2024. It says this, but I have said to
you, you shall not inherit the land.
You shout in here at the land. I will give it to you to
possess. Now listen to what God says
about this land. It's a land flowing with milk
and honey. This is Canaan land.
He said, I'm taking you out of Egypt.
I'm going to take you through the wilderness.
Listen, this journey is a process.
All of us go through the wilderness.
You going to shout in the wilderness?
You going to be grateful in the wilderness?
You going to be thankful in the wilderness?
You going to remind, remind God of his promises in the
wilderness. Murmuring and complaining will
hinder advancement. If you start griping, you start
complaining. What you need to do is Lord, you
said this, I have faith, I have love, I have hope and things are
going to change. Things are going to get better.
I know that because I'm lining up with your instruction.
So he said it's a land flowing with milk and honey.
Now the amplified as a footnote says this about milk and honey.
I'll say this right now since I have the podium and pastor can
correct me Sunday and y'all can tell him because we have our
differences when it comes to how to drink coffee.
He says you should drink it black.
That's God's original intent. I go to Leviticus 2024 and I
said it's coffee with milk and honey.
Matter of fact, I'll give let everything be confirmed by two
or three. He made darkness into light.
OK, we'll see what his rebuttal is and I will humble myself.
But the amplified says this. This phrase referred to the
abundant. Think about your life right now,
not just a lamb, but you. You know, we are the temple of
God right now. We are his territory right now.
So he said this phrase. Milk and hunt referred to the
abundant fertility of the land of Canaan.
Milk, typically that of goats and sheep, was associated with
abundance. Honey referred mainly to syrups
made from dates or grapes and was the epitome of sweetness.
We could say the sweet abundant life, the sweet abundant life.
Who wants that? Who wants a sweet abundant life?
Got about 5 people. This is exciting.
I see some hands raised. Now the book of Joshua is
actually the book where the children of Israel finally, you
know, they, they, they wandered for 40 years.
I don't have 40 years. I don't have 40 years to waste.
I want to learn the you are the sum total of everything that you
learned. I want to learn the lessons
quickly. Lord, what do you need to teach
me out of this? And then I need to get quiet
enough to listen what the Holy Ghost is saying and make the
internal adjustments and course correction to make sure I stay
on the pathway in the plan of God.
Man, you got the greatest counselor on the inside of you.
He is the Tor conductor who will the whole reason listen.
Jesus was given to the world, but the Holy Ghost was given to
the church and, and the Bible says about the Holy Spirit that
he is the counselor, the helper, the comforter, the intercessor,
the advocate, the strengthener, the standby.
But he's just like the tour conductor.
When you take the trolley tour downtown, guess what, there is a
conductor that knows each stop where you're going, how much
more the Holy Spirit is going to help instruct you.
So when you're, when you're going through things, some
things are self-inflicted and proverbs that a man may ruin his
chances and then blame it on God.
Some people ruin their life by dumb things.
The great thing though is God loves you so much he's giving
you a thing called repentance that you can turn around out of
that thing and not be in in a in a muck or in a downcast or in a
discouraged state. Back to forgiveness, forgiveness
before God. I told you 3 dimensions,
forgiveness towards others. And if you do blow it, you need
to forgive yourself. You could release things before
God. You could have released things
before others. But are you carrying guilt?
Romans 81 says there's no guilt or condemnation.
That could be a way. Let it go.
If God Forgives you, forgive yourself.
If you don't forgive yourself after God Forgives you, you're
making yourself greater than God.
And if God says in Psalms one O 3, I'll remove your sins as far
as the east is from the West, which means they'll never meet
again. If you've put that thing under
the blood and been a real man or woman repented of it, then let
it go. Let it go.
I didn't even know that was a song, Christopher, but frozen.
There we go. I did know that's a song.
What a great example. Listen, you need to sing frozen
every night. Let it go.
Good job, Christopher, let it go.
So God wants to bring you into the land, but you want to learn
every lesson quickly and other things are just you're walking
through. Some things are self-imposed,
some things listen. The apostle Paul in second
Corinthians chapter 12, he said, Lord, remove this thing from me.
And God said, no, he said, my grace is sufficient for you.
And I love what Apostle Paul says.
He says, then bring it Lord, that that was my that's when I
read. That's what I see.
Bring it on. May I have another please.
He said, I'll, I'll joy in this thing.
Then just like James once says, count all joy.
So he realized he wasn't in sin. He was now the will of God, but
there were people coming along persecuting him, putting
pressure on him, and he wanted to be delivered from people,
Judaizers that were coming alongside undoing the work that
he was doing. It said it was like a thorn in
his side and he said, Lord, I want them out of my life.
And God said I ain't removing them.
They're going to help perfect you.
You realize people are going to help perfect you.
Lord, I want to be around somebody that loves me all the
time. It's not going to happen.
There's going to be people that celebrate you, people that
tolerate you and people that hate you.
And you got to realize in all those I want to handle it right,
because if I handle it right, I'm going to come through the
the furnace of affliction and come out a more refined,
stronger vessel and have more advancement in my life.
So Joshua is a a fascinating book, 24 chapters of of the
children of Israel, children of Israel going in to possess this
sweet land and it's example for us.
But here's a sad indictment in Joshua chapter 18.
It's 24 chapter. So we're 18 chapters in how many
tribes are there? How many tribes?
So he says this in in Joshua chapter 18 verses one through
three, It says this is from the amplified says then the whole
congregation of the Israelites assembled at Shiloh in the
tribal tribal territory of Ephraim.
They set up the tent of meeting there.
The land was subdued before them.
There remained among the Israelites 7 tribes who had not
yet divided their inheritance. So Joshua asked them, how long
will you put off entering to take possession of the land
which the Lord, the God of your Father's has given you?
Wow, how long will you put off this sweet life?
Let me read it from the message. It says the entire congregation
of the people of Israel got together at Shiloh.
They put up the tent of meeting. The land was under their
control, but there were still yet 7 Israelite tribes who had
yet to receive their inheritance.
John Joshua addressed the people of Israel said how long are you
going to sit around on your hands putting off taking
possession of the land that the God of your ancestors has given
you? How long are you going to sit on
your hands? God, why are you not moving in
my life? Let me put it this way, God,
you're not waiting on God. God is waiting on you.
Matthew 16 is is awesome. Verse 18, it starts in verse
1415161718 says I'm going to give you the keys of the
Kingdom. It says whatever you bound on
earth will be bound in heaven. What do you loose on earth will
be loose on in heaven? He gave you the authority, He
gave you the the instruction, the commandment and he said
guess what, it's in your power of choice.
Joshua 24 says the same thing. He says choose this day.
Whom you going to serve? As for me and my household, we
choose to serve the Lord. I'm going to get up every day
and tackle it with an enthusia enthusiasm unknown to most
mankind. Every day is a gift from God.
Are you maximizing every day? Canaan Land is a maximized life
where you're living life to the fullest.
It's filled up, it's complete, it's satisfying, It's more than
enough. You're living life so well in
Canaan land that your life is flowing over into the lives of
others. God just doesn't want things to
go well for you. He wants your life to be lived
so well that actually impacts and influences other people's
life. People should see you.
I'm going back to the marriage covenant, your marriage
operating so well, they're like, tell me, what do I need to do to
attain to that? Or your parenting's so great you
could sit at a restaurant without your kids hanging from
the chandelier or giving them a phone to pacify them and babysit
them. You compare so well that your
kids actually learn how to look in your eyes and have adult
conversations. You compare so well, you just
give the look and they respond. But you're doing these things so
well, your business could be so successful.
Others are like, what are you doing?
And guess what, all the glory goes to God.
I'm just lining up. I'm just lining up everyday.
Instruction, download. Following his command, following
his voice, being obedient to what He says, and bit by bit,
little by little, you're going to get out of McDonald's.
Hallelujah. Canaan Land is the maximized
life. It's where you make the most of
every day. You could have a Canaan Land
marriage. You can have Canaan Land
parenting. But I want to go over 7 areas of
evaluation. Then I'm going to highlight one
that's important not just for you, but because of the vision
that God placed at Anchor Faith Church.
And I come with great seriousness, great soberness,
and great joy. Tonight though, you are vital.
You are vital. You are vital to what God wants
to do in this vision. Without you.
This isn't Pastor or Marcy by themselves.
This is another leadership. It takes all of us.
It takes all of us and I am just challenging you.
If you're in a bad position, get to a good position.
If you're doing good, then get to great.
But I, I'm talking about next level tonight.
I'm talking about increase. I'm talking about advancement.
If we are going to do what God has called us to do, then it's
going to be vital that everybody is connected and doing their
part. If we're going to ignite this
city, impact this nation, and influence this world, we need to
live the sweet, abundant life in Canaanland.
We don't want God looking at US 20 years from now and say, how
long you going to put off? And if you're not going to do
your assignment, guess what? God is faithful to raise
somebody else up to fulfill what He called you to do.
And it's not that He didn't want you to do it.
It's that you chose not to line up with and submit to you
settled. Maybe you got complacent and I
just want to shake you up tonight.
I don't want to slap you. I just want to shake you.
I want to stir you like a good glass of chocolate milk.
Sometimes all that syrup goes to the bottom and what do you got
to do? You got to get that spoon in
there. And like Paul said, I want to or
Peter said, I want to stir you up by way of remembrance.
So these are 7 areas, though I look at this on a, on an annual
basis. I think everybody as you're
grown with God should look at these areas #1 spiritually.
Are you in a Canaan land spiritually?
And what does that mean? Are you connected with intimate
and in communion with God every day?
The word says draw near to me and I will draw near to you.
I don't feel the presence of God while you're taking time to read
the word of God. Are you taking time to pray?
Are you taking time to meditate and reflect on His Word?
This is a spiritual scalpel right now.
Some of you could stand to cut off some TV.
I'm going to step on some people's toes.
Social media right now, is there a thing is anything wrong with
this? No, but if you're giving more
time to that than you are to God, then how are you really
living a Canaan land, maximize existence spiritually and that's
the first and foremost. You're never going to get to
everything else if you're not growing in this and advancing in
this first and foremost. Proverbs 4, chapter 20 says
Proverbs chapter 4, verse #20 says guard your heart with all
diligence, for all of it flows. The issues of life, everything,
the issues of the flesh are the result of issues of the spirit.
And if you're not living a Canaan land, existing
spiritually, you can get there. Well, how do I keep on?
How do I get there? Keep on growing.
I remember when I was at Raymond Christiansen in 1997.
Actually, he's 96. No, I went to Raymond 98.
Yeah, 97. And I was sitting in the pews.
Well, not in theater seats. You are sitting in theater
seats. It was pews back then.
No, it's actually cheers. Sorry.
It was cheers and I was taking notes.
I got so frustrated taking notes.
I was like, where has this been my whole life?
I wanted everything. I wanted it now.
I was like a sponge and I'm still like a sponge.
I love to learn the Word of God. I love to be in the Word of God.
There is nothing greater than I'd rather do to them.
Be in the Word of God. It fuels me, it feeds me, it
revised me, it gives me clarity of thought.
It relieves all, all all of my worries, concerns.
It puts me in His pathway, His promises and His greatness.
But I'm saying that why? Because it's a process you just
continue. I didn't know as I didn't know
as much in 1997 as I know now. But guess what?
I still don't know it. I'm still growing and going.
But the point is, don't stop. Secondly, your soul realm, your
soul, which is your mind, your will and your emotions.
How are you doing with the Canaan Land soul realm?
How is your mind? How is your will, the choices
that you make? How are your emotions?
Are you ruled by your emotions? God made you with the emotions,
but are they supposed to sit on the throne of all your
decisions? I'll give you one verse in
Ephesians chapter 4 verse #26 it says.
Be angry in emotion, but don't sin.
Don't let the anger make you make a decision.
You control it, it doesn't control you.
How you doing with your body? What I mean this, this has to
carry you around for your purpose.
Now I have a tendency to like sweet things but I realize this
it needs to be in moderation. I remember getting my blood work
done last December coming off of Christmas which was bad because
I always get chocolate covered cherries along with your
peppermint patties along with all the other sweets that go
around at Christmas time and my glucose is one O 6.
It was in the yellow marker and my doctor said what happened.
I don't know lie. I know exactly what happened.
I told the truth. I took responsibility.
Well, I pounded sugars for about 14 days before the blood work a
lot good because I've never seen that from you before.
Guess what next time I got it back normal like where it's
supposed to be right, but your body what are you living a
Canaan land existence. I believe when we're, I believe
like Caleb in the book of Joshua at 80, I am stillwell able, but
you realize that doesn't fall on you like ripe cherries off of a
tree. You can't sit on your backside
eating bonbons. Somebody didn't know what
bonbons was that Twinkies, ice cream, cookies and all this
other stuff. And expect to have a great body
or be physically fit at 80. Hallelujah.
See ignorance or kill you. And now that you know you got to
do something with it, you're responsible for what's
ministered at this platform. So what are you doing though?
Just everybody's goals are not the same.
Some people love to run marathons.
I don't like doing that. You know, some people may like
to do racquetball. That's awesome.
Whatever your flavor, whatever you like, I would just say move,
be active, do something. Whether you just want to walk
and enjoy the scenery, you could do two things at once.
Pray in the Holy Ghost and go walk around your neighborhood
for 30 minutes, whatever the case is, but do something.
You know that Jesus walked up mountains and prayed.
We just think about the spiritual side.
But you know what he was doing? He was creating some stamina in
his body by doing that. Hallelujah.
Another area is family. Are you having a Canaan land
family experience in your manhood, your womanhood,
relationships, finances? Are you having a Canaan Land
time in your finances? Are you having a Canaan Land
time socially? And I, I think a social in this
aspect. Do you have good godly friends
around you and are you evangelizing the world?
To me it goes with both. Are you winning the lost and are
you connecting with other godly people?
That's what I call the social goals.
And the last thing is ministry. When I say ministry, I'm not
talking about just full time ministry.
I'm talking about your gifting and your and your talents that
God has put in your life. Every one of you is unique.
Every one of you has something special on the inside of you.
I'll put it this way. Every one of you has something
that can serve humanity. All right.
I want to highlight, though, on finances when it comes to Canaan
Land, because if we're going to advance this vision, guess what
it's going to take? If we're going to advance this
vision to ignite this city, impact the nation and influence
the world, guess what? It's going to take all of us.
But it's going to take finances. It's going to take money, Moola
Dinero money. Our youth group had a train of
minivans, nine of them that went to East Coast camp.
You know, Enterprise didn't give those to us for free.
Guess what somebody had in their heart to actually.
So we we were trying to keep the cost at a minimal for the
students so we get maximum participant participation and
not put such a burden on the students.
You know, they stay at a hotel. They did the Cracker Barrel
which was $759. Praise the Lord on Sunday night.
I saw that already entered that transaction in the general
Ledger and Pastor Earl on the thread when Pastor Brandon sent
them at Cracker Barrel, he said breakfast only.
It was that night. So Pastor Earl's philosophy as
you always get breakfast at Cracker Barrel, but we're trying
to keep them. So there's, there's a camp cost.
You know, they did obviously lunch for them on Monday and
then camp obviously when they get there, they're doing lunch
for them on Friday on the way back.
So it takes money to get them there, right?
And you know, the, the vans themselves, we took that out.
That was $5000. Now, thank God, guess what,
somebody had that and it moved on their heart to give.
Think about that in the Kingdom of God, what if three lives get
changed out of that? That's better than the stock
market, right? We support an orphanage in India
that went from 2000 last year to 3000 this year.
Guess what? That takes?
Money. Hallelujah, I can right now.
Thank God we're in an air conditioned facility.
We could choose not to play the electric bill, which is more
than I think probably everybody's mortgage, possibly
in this room. It takes money.
So let me say this. If the church is going to
advance, guess what happened? The people in the church need to
advance. If you don't advance, the church
isn't going to advance. That goes spiritually, soul,
body, family. We have 318 on Monday night, but
it doesn't matter if you hear those principles, you don't go
live it out in the house. But guess what?
Finance is another thing. It takes finances to run the
ministry. So I'm going to give you 3
things to prosper, to advance, to have a Canaan Land finances.
I'm going to run pretty quick 'cause it is 843.
That was a long introduction. I was trying to get to 35,000
feet and level off. I just took us to the moon.
So #1 if you're going to advance and this church isn't going to
advance unless you're going to advance, there's, there's gifts
in all of us. God wants you to be wealthy.
He said, I give you the power to get wealth.
Now listen, rich people are not always wealthy, but wealthy
people are always rich. Rich people are not always
wealthy, but wealthy people are always rich.
And God said, I'm going to give you the power to get wealth.
Wealth is at its etymology means well-being Third John two says
it this way. Third, John two, beloved, I wish
above all things you'd prosper and be in health even as your
soul prospers. He's saying, what good is it if
you have riches but you're broken your mind?
A rich person could have a great house but a terrible marriage,
kids that are heathens. And God said, I'm going to give
you a wealth. And wealth is established #1
through work. Work is not a dirty word in the
Kingdom of God. Grace does not alleviate work.
Work was in the earth before the fall.
Work is the God ordained way for you to establish dominion in the
earth. I don't I'm going to go quick,
but He said to go in all the world.
The world is a sectors of society.
When we get to #7 what I said, what is your minister, your gift
in your service, your talent. God said I'm going to give you a
talent. You need to go work that talent,
you need to go into one of those sectors of society.
I I remember them from ABCDEFG, which is arts and entertainment,
business, congregations, education, direct media,
government, family and education.
I know that was real fast, but God has assigned all of us to go
into an an area whether it's and most of us are going to be in
this in the in the secular field, not the sacred
assignment. Think about the tribes of
Israel. Most of them were what going out
to get the the provision to bring back to the the they were
going out to get the provision to bring for the vision to build
a Tabernacle. Are you with me?
So work is one of the ways that God has given you to establish
dominion on the earth and you're never going to advance if you
don't know how to work. You need to learn learn how to
work hard and how to work smart. We live in a generation that's
an entitlement generation that thinks they can sit on their
hand. The government's going to pay
them money. Not in our Kingdom, not in our
Kingdom. He said to work at your
salvation. He said he began a good work in
you and he wants you to complete it.
In Genesis chapter 25215, he says he put God, he put Adam in
the garden to tend it and to keep it, to work it, to
cultivate it, to bring fruitfulness to it.
I'm telling you right now, you want to be a great
representation of the Lord Jesus Christ when you go to work.
Be a person that can have wisdom, understanding and
knowledge that you're doing your job so well they can't replace
you. You are such a benefit and a
blessing to that organization, that man, they don't want to
lose you. Some people may try to recruit
you out because you're doing so well.
Listen, we want the anointing to come upon us in our work.
We are ordinary, but God puts his extraordinary on us.
He puts his supernatural on our natural in our work to for it to
be blessed so we could have wealth.
Deuteronomy 28, eight says this. The Lord will command the
blessing on you in your storehouses and in all what you
set your hand to do. Notice whatever you put your
hand to, you're not sitting on your hands doing nothing.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna correct something.
Some of you may have heard this. There was a time in the body of
Christ where some people are saying money comes to me.
Now money don't come to somebody sitting on their hands.
I don't care how much you confess it now is confession
right? Yes, I believe we should
confess. It is a key in the Kingdom.
But these are multiple things coming together to create the
flow. Proverbs 12/4 says the hand of
the diligent will rule. So many examples in the in the
Bible of people that worked hard.
I remember when I was at Enterprise Rent a car as a
branch manager. I worked hard and I worked
smart. So did Pastor Marcus and we rose
through the ranks. He became the manager of 4321
Palm Coast. I became the manager of 4313
here in Saint Augustine. And they, they were amazed at
us. We were there at the same time.
We were a great blessing and benefit.
We just kept going. We started off as in their in
their management program and we went to assistant managers and
we became branch managers. But God didn't want us there.
Ultimately both of us came into full time ministry because that
was the the goal that God had for us.
But while we were there, listen, we made them money and we made
ourselves money because he worked hard and we worked smart.
But I never forget when I was at Enterprise, there was a guy
named Bob who actually retired from UPS.
He was retired 80 year old man. And I had an intern from Florida
State and I'm not bashing Florida State, but he's probably
21. But the difference in work ethic
was amazing. Bob, my 8 year old, I never had
to go behind him and look and see if a car was clean before I
delivered to a customer. Now Tim, the guy that was at
Florida State, I always had to double check his work.
Just difference in in generations.
Bob knew how to work. Listen, I could go to Jacob in
the Old Testament. He worked hard for Laban, served
him and brought Prosperity Joseph anywhere he went.
Didn't matter if he was in Potiphar's house, the prison or
with Pharaoh. He worked hard and he worked
smart and he always rose to the top.
So guess what? If Anchor Faith Church is going
to advance and excel, then you need to be a person that's going
to increase financially by working hard.
Don't show up Tim mates Tim minutes late with a bad
attitude. Don't act like your employer
owes you something. Matter of fact, when we say work
hard and work smart, I want to challenge you with this.
Some people put themselves to work, that's called employment.
Some people put other people to work, that's called being an
employer. Some people put money to work,
that's called an investment. Somebody, Some people put their
knowledge to work, and that's called consulting.
Some people put an idea to work, an idea or a concept and that's
called a business. So we want to work hard and we
want to work smart. Secondly, to prosper financially
so that the church prospers, you need to be a good manager, a
good manager. First Corinthians chapter 4
verse #2 says this. Moreover, it's required in
stewards that one be found faithful.
The word stewards in in the Bible means a manager.
We don't own what we possess. It's gods.
We're only the stewards or the manager of it.
So you need to be a good manager in Matthew chapter 25, the
parable of talents just forsake of time.
I'm not going to read this. He gave 151211 and what he see
what he say. He said do business till I come.
He said manage this till I come. Guess what they did, They
managed well and they increased what God had given them.
So my question is, what has God-given you that you need to
increase in advance in Now the five, what gained 5 the two
gained 2. The one mismanaged and he lost
everything that he had. So there's this.
This is a principle we can extract from that.
Good management attracts resources.
Bad management puts at Bay resources.
Are you with me? Good management means you keep
records. Proverbs 27 says be diligent to
know the condition or the state of your flock.
Do you know what's in your checking account right now?
Hallelujah. Do you have a check register?
I remember listening to the story one time of an individual
that was trying to help some other people and they were
looking at their Ledger and they noticed ESP every once in a
while. So they're trying to reconcile
their debits and their credits. You know your debits and your
credits is what credits is. Money coming in, Debits is money
going out. If your outgo exceeds your
income, then your upkeep becomes your downfall.
So he said what does ESP mean? And they just put error
someplace they weren't keeping accurate records.
What's a good manager do? They are a good administrator
and they maximize through administration what's in their
assignment, what's in their stewardship and what's been
given to them on on just a real practical level.
This year I was looking at our finances and we have a, you
know, a budget. We're not eating at McDonald's
anymore. But you know what, as a good
manager, I said we don't need to eat out every night.
So our goal in our household is not to eat out anymore.
And twice a week, that's us personally.
That's how we're unified about that.
My wife and I, we could go out, but I thought, man, we, you
could actually save money by not going out every night and
eating. And you, you realize you could
save money by actually, this is going to shock some of you going
to the restaurant you want to go to and not door dash it.
Hallelujah. On a practical side though, like
this year with our mortgage, I'm looking at, you know, there's
ways to increase, you can either decrease your overhead or
increase your revenue. So I was looking at our, all of
our outlay of our finances as I do 'cause I want to manage it
well. I realize if I bring order and
organization, God could bring increase.
If I'm disordered, disordered disorganization, there's going
to be no increase. It's mismanagement.
So I, I got to look in and I said, you know what, we could
drop our PMI, Angie, at $67 a month.
What's PMI? Private mortgage insurance.
And once you hit that 80% mark, you can drop that.
So I had to pay $190.00 for them to come out, put a value in our
house, and guess what? We qualified and I shaved off
$67. Would you do the math on that,
right? That adds up.
Over the course of a year, I realized we were paying 499 for
Discover Channel that we never watch.
It adds up. That's good management, right?
Are you with me? Last thing I want to hit 'cause
it is 856. These three have to all work
together. Being in ministry now since
2004, we've done premarital counseling, we've done marital
counseling, individual counseling, and I've just
learned this over the years, and I believe this to be true with
all my heart. All three of these have to be in
operation as a Kingdom citizen in order to prosper and have
advancement in this area and have Canaan land, which is work
hard, good management and then giving.
I have seen people tithe and give offerings, work hard and be
horrible managers and they don't have God's Canaan land.
They mismanage. I've seen people manage well,
tithe, not work hard and not have Canaan land.
I've seen people work hard, manage and not tithe and not
have Canaan land. So listen, are you with me?
It takes all three of these for you to advance.
And if you here's the here's the thing.
If you don't advance an increase, Anchor Faith Church
doesn't advance an increase. So all three of these have to be
in alignment. If you ever had a hose, you
know, in your water and something or like I'm washing my
car, sometimes there's a kink in the hose and it's really
frustrating. And there's many times I just
try to pop it. You know, you do that for a
minute and you finally just give up and you walk over there and
you unkink it right on God's end, He is the faucet it his
supply never runs out. He is perpetual energy,
perpetual provision. But on our end, sometimes we get
kinks and I'm just trying to identify in these three things.
If you're not seeing increase, where's your kink?
And all you have to do is make that adjustment and guess what
the flow opens up. Thank you so much for listening
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