 Last week how many were here last week how many were blessed by last week's message Come on. It is important for us to manage our mind because if we want to live in victory if we want to live and If we want to live in God's promises in our life He will manifest and will come through first of all through our mind So it is important for us to manage our mind our mindsets manage our thinking Because it's through that means that God's gonna bring about the blessing and He will take us into that promise Land that he has for you and I amen. Do you believe a church? So if you've missed last last Sunday's message, I encourage you to go to YouTube Facebook To our social media listen to it and not just listen to it once listen until it gets into your spirit So that you can begin to make appropriate changes in your life So the Holy Spirit begins to scan your mind your mindsets your strongholds the things that you think about continuously And he begins to point out and uproot those Wrong kinds of strongholds and mindsets of thoughts and bring it change through his word in your mind. Amen church Amen, amen, amen today. I want to kind of continue in that direction, and I wanted to make it a little bit even more practical And I titled my my message is possessing your promised land or your promise or what God has given you And I want to take a read from Exodus chapter 23 verses 29 and 30 And it goes like this. I will not drive them out from before you in one year Last land becomes desolate and the beast of the field becomes too numerous for you Little by little I will drive them out from before you Until you have increased and you have inherited the land So God is speaking to Israelites That he has brought out of the land of slavery. He's brought them out out of Egypt And they are on the way to the promised land They're on the way to the land that flows with milk and milk and honey That's funny and He's taking them to a place. They've been dreaming on of the place They they've been longing for so long a place that was promised to their great grandfathers and Up to this point. It was only a dream. It was only Something they hoped for but right now they are on the way to that land they are they are in the casp of of possession of possession taking possession of their land and getting what they were dreaming about and God Kind of lays it out to them and he gives him a practical way of how it's gonna happen And he says that what I'm gonna bring you into the land and he promised them this big vast amount of land Not where Israel is occupying right now But the land where even Iran and Iraq and in other surrounding areas Acupinus was all supposed to be a land of Israel because it's God promised to them and God lays a plan out for them He says this is the way I'm gonna Bring about my promise into your life and this is the way I'm gonna fulfill my word that I've given to your father Abraham And he says the way I'm gonna do it is that as you increase I'm gonna begin to give you a new territories I'm gonna give you a new lands as you grow as you increase so that it doesn't get overrun by the wild bees And the land becomes desolate and useless as you increase you're gonna begin to possess That promise land as you grow today I want to take out of this principle and Take it into a personal life and a private life in the area of our marriages into any area of our promise in the area of our family and children in the area of our business in the area of our Calling in the area of our anointing in the area of our ministry any area in every area I believe that the same principle applies to us God unlocks He opens the way for us and He releases his grace and anointing his gift in our lives as we increase and As we become more able to sustain the grace in the anointing to sustain the gifting to Sustain that the pressures and open doors that he gives us He begins to open it up stage by stage because the further you go in life the higher you go Somebody said that the high places are slippery places So therefore in your life you have to be a person they're able to maintain yourself You have to be a person of character You have to be a person that is able to handle high pressure your person is able to handle high responsibilities in order to Get be in a place in a position where you have more responsibilities a man and so God has a big promise for us. He has a great destiny for us He has great things in store for us, but he will take us step by step toward it and today I want to just I want to discover and I want to kind of talk about Kind of my five major steps that I identified for myself That will help us to possess the promised land and and take over the promise and live in a destiny that God has in store for us I remember when My dad I was young I was teen younger Younger I'm still young And I was age of 14 15 and got My dad promised me that he was gonna get me a car when I turned 16 Occasionally here and there he would let me drive, you know Not legally but God forgives all sins and um But the fulfillment of his promise to get me a car was gonna come When I was gonna grow in size And in brains, okay, we all know teenagers are capable of many things and so The the fulfillment of that promise of having a car Was gonna come when I will mature in size when I'm gonna be old enough Mature in age and mature in wisdom when I'm gonna reach a certain age That was also be illegal for me to have my own car and drive and when I got to that stage He delivered on his promise and that's kind of how it goes in our In our in our walk with God, there are certain things that God has It's a promise to us There's certain things that God has spoken of our life over our marriage or or for us to be married But there are things there are steps that we must take There's growth that has to take place in our heart in our mind in our character for us For us to be able to step in into that place And take a possession of it in my church and so God comes to Adam and Eve or he He created them. He said be fruitful and multiply increase in numbers one person one translation says fill the earth And have dominion So dominion means having possession having ownership. So he gives The earth unto man But he says in order for you to take a complete dominion ownership in order for you to take a possession of it You have to increase you have to grow you have to multiply You have to fill the earth and then you will have a possession meaning dominion. Okay So I believe the first thing That we must grow in we must increase This Continuum from me from last sunday message is We have to grow in positive thinking we have to grow in our ability to think like god To think according to the word of god Because to the degree that we think the thoughts of god is to the same degree We will walk in promises of god. We will walk in the power of god We will walk in a in a manifestation of his glory and his power amen If we think negative thoughts negative thoughts are not thoughts of faith So if we don't have thoughts of faith bible says that without faith it is impossible to please god So the first thing the way we need to grow the first thing the way we need to increase is we must think like god We must think according to the statues and principles of god We must think according to the word of god. Are you with me church? We must think The way god thinks because if we want to operate the way god operates if we want to operate If we want to operate and and conquer and possess the promise of god We must align ourselves with the promise of god. We must think the thoughts of the promise of god We must think positive. We must think in the way of god Are you with me church? Our thoughts like we talked last sunday our thoughts like a magnet They either attract the good things of god into our life or They can attract the bad things into our life and our thoughts They create expectation and expectation It it attracts it brings into our life the things that we're expecting for and last sunday I brought multiple examples when expectation it draws into your life The very old the very thing that you expect the very thing if you are fearful if you have thoughts of fear For example, if you are if you're in in in business and you're constantly having these thoughts that Oh, um, I can't trust nobody. Uh, you know people will people will dupe me people will cut me out people will um People you know something bad will happen and you constantly work in that kind of mindset You constantly think that way it eventually will manifest in your life You will attract the kind of a people that will cut you out people that will cheat you the people that won't treat you fair If That's the same kind of mindset mentality you have in your in a relationship You will you will create an expectation A ground for that thing to grow and manifest itself If you if you constantly think that you're lonely you constantly think like oh nobody wants me That's constantly what's running through your mind. You're creating that kind of an expectation You push good people away from you that actually care for you The cons actually want to be involved in your life because you constantly expect them You can't expect to be lonely And and that creates a spirit of of rejection It breeds that expectation in the ground for rejection. So that's why it is important that we continuously to bible says that Let God change us transform us apostle Paul says into a new person by changing the way we think So we must grow in our in our mentality We must expand and push the boundaries of our mindsets of what's possible We must grow in in in a positive thinking so that we can attract the right kind of things in our life So we can get connected to the right kind of things in our life because what bible says What the mind thinks is so is he and so if you think negative You will have negative things in your life If but if you think according to the word of God as a apostle Paul says on the things that are good That are noble that are praise worthy We begin to attract those things into our lives. We begin to attract the blessing and favor of God into our life We begin to attract God's goodness into our life. We begin to attract Respect and honor into our life. We begin to attract noble things into our life The things that are praise worthy. Do you see what I'm talking about church? If we have if we're gonna step into the promise and the fullness of our promised land We must continuously grow mentally We must continuously to push the boundaries of of our mental state of what's possible Because if you don't think something is possible, you will never attempt of doing that thing If you never think it's it's it's possible for you to own a business You will never own one if you think that it's impossible for you to go into school and continue with your education To get a higher degree to get a better position to get a better influence in your society Then you will never go into that direction So it is important that we challenge our minds and our mindsets and a way of thinking if we want to possess the promise Land of God that he has for us The second thing we must increase and like I said today is going to be very practical um Well, I think it's practical it works for me um Is we must increase in knowledge and wisdom We have to continuously to work to expand our mind And it almost kind of flows with the first point But we uh first one is was more about Thinking and thoughts of faith mean positive. This one is increasing your knowledge and your wisdom. Listen to what bible says about it If anyone lacks wisdom um in james 1 5 bible says Let him ask god to give him generously without a reproach and it will be given to him but in proverbs uh Solomon says this Blessed proverbs 3 uh Proverbs chapter 4 verse 13 through 15 Blessed are those who find wisdom those who gain understanding for she is more profitable than silver And yields better return than gold She is more precious precious than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare to her After the proverbs Solomon refers to wisdom or understanding as her And he says that You must desire Knowledge You must desire wisdom you always what that means is you help you always have to be in a hunt for Learning new things expanding in the area of what whatever you uh Maybe in the area of expertise in the area of the business that you're pursuing in the area of Of marriage in the area of relationships that you continuously grow in those areas So that you can become knowledgeable because knowledge Bible says is better than any Profit that the gold silver on rubies or any precious stones can give to you In proverbs chapter 4 verse 6 through 10 it says do not forsake wisdom For she will protect you love her and she will watch over you the beginning of wisdom Is get wisdom Which is pretty straightforward. You want wisdom start getting it Though it costs you all you have Get understanding Wisdom is not cheap wisdom will require discipline and sacrifice and Wisdom to get wisdom and knowledge will require paying a price Uh, whether it's it's in books whether it's in materials whether it's going to some seminars Whether it's taking your time and setting aside to be around the people that can share some wisdom But it will cost you something to get wisdom and understanding Cherish her and she will exalt you embrace her and she will honor you She will give you a garland of grace a crown of grace Your head for your head and and present you with glorious crown Glorious crown so Get Wisdom and knowledge Whatever it is like I said whether it's in whether it's in your area of expertise Whether you want to acquire new expertise you need to increase in knowledge. That means practically Going to school Going to college Get an education That means reading materials. It's means, you know being curious finding out what's going on What's happening in the world? What's happening in the industry that I'm in? What's happening in in the area that I'm studying? It's it's constantly, you know, many people There's some stagnant statistics that we're saying that people stop learning stop reading When they get out of school Most people don't read a book a year And that's an alarming it's alarming statistic because how can you grow in knowledge? How can you grow in understanding? If you forsake reading if you forsake learning if you The last thing that you learned learned or last thing that when when you read was in school We need to Stop focusing on building man caves and stop building libraries in our homes We need to in we need to be a people that We need to be people that Don't only seek entertainment and relaxation But we pay the price to learn To acquire wisdom to acquire knowledge because like Solomon said it will protect you. It will guard you. It will guide you It will profit you more than silver and gold it will it it will Protect your life And so at any cost at any time whatever it means and however it means to you There are so many resources nowadays You know, there's things I remember you know 10 10 12 years ago 10 12 years ago. There's certain things that I was When I was pursuing and learning things about real estate land development and business and all this stuff Internet was not so developed at that point yet. There are some books and some things some some resources I paid three four thousand five thousand dollars just just for a particular set of knowledge You know books and things like that and nowadays that I go on the internet you can google and you get better stuff for free if you just take 15 20 30 minutes of your time to uh Just do some digging. Yes. There are there are things that you're gonna have to pay money for it That's why that's why Solomon says that get it at any cost. It's gonna cost you You're gonna have to pay for the book. You're gonna have to pay for the seminar Sometimes you're gonna have to pay for lunch to take somebody out to get the insight into a thing that you're looking into Whether it's whether it's a real estate deal, whether it's a business Whether it's uh, whether it's pursuing or changing your career Don't just jump into it because you thought of it or you woke up woke up one day You're like, you know, I think I'm gonna become a millionaire But I'm just gonna go and take whatever savings. I haven't dumped into this thing and it's gonna all work out That's that's not the way it worked. God will give you an idea But you're gonna have to do your due diligence But in order to do due diligence and to do it right you have to have knowledge and wisdom in that area and so Acquire knowledge at all costs Get wisdom get understanding You want to switch a career, you know a lot oftentimes I remember when I was in school You know people just jumping into a career going to four six-year college Without doing the proper research which are discovering themselves without talking to people that are in that industry And actually finding out what it takes to do it. I remember a good friend of mine You know, just literally jumped into a career of being a programmer And spent four years and 80 thousand dollars and in school fees and and Paying for schools and actually got a really good job at Hanford or one of the sub there in that area and was making really good money coding programming things and after six months you quit and I I asked him I was like why I mean You spent four years studying for it. You spent 80 thousand dollars that you're in debt that you must pay back To the government and you after six months you quit. He's like well It's either I'm gonna I was gonna kill myself because I can't handle for Working eight hours a day or 10 hours a day in a cubicle steering the screen Or I was just gonna Quit and do something else. I was like well, I guess yeah living is better than dead So that makes sense, but you probably should have Done some research prior to that Okay, you probably should have at least did some job shadowing Right, you probably should have done some volunteering before jumping into something for four years Wasting your life on that and money that's gonna take another four to ten years or even more to pay back Get wisdom and understanding. It will guard you. It will protect you and it will guide you So whatever the cost don't jump into things just because it seemed good Don't jump into things just because it seemed Fun at that time You know If it just if it sounds too good to be true, it's too good to be true. That's a golden rule of investment It's a golden rule of of doing things. It's just that's that's just how it is I have way too many stories on that one, but we just don't have time Increase increase in knowledge like james one chapter one verse five says You know start by asking God for wisdom start by asking God for knowledge Let God be involved in the air of your life, but it's not just going to be God God gave him his principles in the word of God and he expects you to follow them He's not going to override his principle Because you felt the Holy Spirit told you to do something Okay, he's not going to contradict himself You must get familiarized with the word of God with the principles of God You must surround yourself bible says in a in a console of many there is safety You must surround yourself with the people that are wise People that have expertise in the areas that you want to pursue Surround yourself with a good console and you will be guided you will be protected and you will be wise you will Save on time in your life. Imagine, you know The the biggest that one of the greatest assets that you have in your life is time And it's an asset that you can't get back once it's gone. It's gone. You can't replenish it And so by being by seeking wisdom by seeking knowledge What we're doing is we're buying time if I can say that You can't buy time obviously, but get me right is that you you you gain time because it will save you From the last time that you will waste on something It will save you from making wrong decisions and making wrong turns in life And that you will have to you lose time there and then time to get back onto the right path acquire knowledge acquire wisdom at all cost That's the part of possessing your promised land That's how you get to your promised land if you can if I'm making stupid choices stupid mistakes It will take you longer to get there Or might not even get that are all because you'll be discouraged along the way Of all the setbacks and failures and and all the other things that you will have to encounter now Don't get me wrong. There is there are plenty of setbacks and there are plenty things that you're gonna have to hardships That you're gonna have to encounter on your way to the promised land. There's no need to add more to it acquire knowledge And acquire wisdom third thing that we must increase we must increase in skills and abilities Like I said, we're talking about practical things today How to possess your promised land how to possess the things that goddess promised you You must increase and gifts And abilities bible says that a man's gift makes The man's gift makes room for him to bring him before the greats and other translation says man's gift brings him before the kings man's gift man's ability Your ability your gift will bring you Into your destiny will bring you in front of great people will open the doors that otherwise They will not be open to you You must prepare yourself for the opportunity and when opportunity comes you take up you take chance You seize the opportunity you can't prepare you can't prepare yourself an opportunity is there because when there when opportunity presents itself Especially a good one. There is a specific window time to the time frame And if you don't take that opportunity, it's gone. Somebody else will take it. Somebody else will seize it. It sees the moment so if you want to Get into the place where it got Once you to be you will have to seize those opportunities But in order to seize the opportunity you must be developed and you're gifted in your skill in your abilities To see the moment and seize it What does that mean? You must acquire a new skill For those of you that are young here. There maybe don't have many skills. You say, you know what? Well, I don't have skills acquire it How do you acquire it? volunteer job shadow That's I That's just as basic and simple as it gets one time. I remember this one particular person comes to me and says You know, I I'd like to get into I would like to get into construction But I think I kind of like to have a little pulled towards it I you know, I'm good with my hands and and I said, well, what can you do? And you know, he's at this and this and this and I was like, well, you know, that's that's a good start But it's not gonna be enough for you to start your own your own construction business You must know my you have to know a little bit more than that And and so a little like a week later. I got an opportunity that I needed some help Over at my place when I was building My house and I said, hey, why don't you come over and help and we'll do it together. I'll show you how certain things get done Well, uh, you know, I got uh Jim to go to work out I got some friends to hang out with I was like, okay, cool. I'll call them next day and say, hey Uh, I still need help Yeah, I got a coffee date and uh I'm not exaggerating. I'm I'm changing a few details so that I don't you know, obviously expose the people But there's not one person here But I'm I'm I'm speaking from real practical Way of possessing your promised land You can't have a construction business Only up on wishful thinking and hoping that somebody's gonna hire you and pay you For a subpar skills and pay your premium price And that's not the way it works. That's not the way you that's not the way you possess a promised land Okay So then we had a talk again and I said, hey, bro, you know, it's good handy and then you want to pursue this New idea that you got but you do not absolutely nothing To get there. I was like, well, what do you mean? You know, I was like, well, I mean I gave you opportunities There are other things, you know You could have ceased on it, you know those opportunities but but instead you did useless things You went with entertainment and fun and all this stuff. That's not the way things will work out You gotta grow in this skill if you want to be paid for it Amen Come on. Let me hear from all the construction workers I feel like I'm alone here. I'm just giving one example, but it applies into every area of your life it applies into Computer computer and science engineering you applies in in real estate. It applies in Any business you want to be in it get in it But don't expect to be paid for it until your skills are Good enough to be paid and compensated for it And just because you work two days in it, it doesn't mean you're ready to be compensated for Take a chill pill working it a little bit. Okay grind and and and kind of I'm speaking from experience because this is the this is the kind of the mindsets that New people have and they come to me. Oh, I got this idea You know start business. Let's partner up you and me Right, let's do it. So what are you bringing to the table? Um, I got a good idea. I was like, you want to know how many good ideas I have That's not that's not the way it works You either bring bunch money Okay, or you bring bunch experience and abilities and giftings and talents to it that's Don't approach me again unless you have something something good to bring to the table. I'll be nice. I'll be I'll talk to you, but You know, come on. Let's be real and so that's You know job sharing. I remember this this one particular lady from our church um, and uh, she gave me said, you know, I feel like pursuing a A career in in nursing or something in the hospital. I'll say that's awesome I said, what are you gonna do about it? Well, I'm gonna go to school and stuff. I was like, well, that's awesome That's good. But why don't you just start, you know, I know because I have few people that close to me that work in a hospital I know there's job shadow opportunities and volunteering opportunities And I said, you know, why don't that's awesome pursue the education Obviously you have to have education certification For nursing to to get in there to work in that I feel but why don't you start now And go volunteer at least once a week Go with job shadow get get in the system there because when the time comes to hire They usually hire from within that's how companies work, right? And so again guys, I'm we're talking about practical real stuff of possessing your land, right? And so and that's exactly what she did She started volunteering once and then she started volunteering twice a week And then she shortly like after I think less than three months ago Three months into she got a job in there While while volunteering while she was going to school then the hospital paid for her Or at least certain portion for her to get certification and eventually in some short period of time She was practicing in the area that she wanted to practice with Short amount of time Shorter amount of time and short amount of Money less amount of money that's been spent So get abilities Get develop new giftings develop new new new new skills By volunteering by job shadowing by being with people that work in that area and be a person that can bring something Practical to the table and until you get good at it. Don't expect a compensation so Practice your skill to perfection Whatever that skill is Whether maybe you're pursuing a you know a basketball career you want to you know, you you want to be a pro athlete practice practice practice And you if you want to be In the air whatever if you want to be if you feel like God is calling you to be in the area of of speaking in the area of of ministry Ministry is not all anointing. That's only 10 percent The other part is preparation. It's a mental preparation It's it's it's it's a preparation its ability to speak and to communicate. Holy spirit is not going to speak for you It's not going to open your mouth and then all of a sudden, you know You can't put two words together and then all of a sudden you become this eloquent Speaker that communicates the depth the the truth in the depths of God's heart and then everybody gets touched and Standing in the Holy Spirit and then life to change that that's that's not the way it works Okay An ability to take correction once you speak as a matter of fact today, you know, I've a couple people that were participating I said, hey, you know, uh, there's certain things I do this and this next time when you come out and speak Hey, this actually Jesus actually didn't say that it was Joshua that said that so just the next time You know keep in mind and so, um, just you know, but that's what it takes to grow in it You come out and you practice it you get correction. You practice practice practice and next thing, you know Two three five ten years down the road. There are mighty men of God They're moving a powerful grace and anointing people's lives getting changed people getting impacted And all over the world People know who they are and people listen to them in a podcast on youtube and social media Because they're practicing their skill and they're growing in it You're not gonna wake up one morning Come and feel anointed. You know comes it. Oh I see somebody's here hurting there and God is healing you right now and then all the stuff and and and you know I see this and that it takes years of development of your spirit of your character of your mental state Of your discipline and speaking and and other things and then when you step into that And god begins to open layer by layer God begins to open the grace in your life and you step into the fullness of the calling that god has for you I mean don't get me wrong is that we constantly improve and grow as we want to And god opens a new territory because the promise that god has for you is literally unlimited It will grow it will you will go as far as you increase You will possess as much as you grow God will give you as many people in your church as much as your heart is stretched and ready to love on them And ready to have mercy and compassion on them That's why you see some people are gifted and talented by they only go so far But they're that's the next point, but their heart is too small They're they're not a leader on inside. They don't they can't love and have any compassion in our people They can't be vulnerable and honest with people and therefore they got limited abilities in their life Limited abilities in their ministry limited abilities in their business because as you grow on inside God begins to open new doors in your life God begins to give you more people god begins to trust you with more anointing and more power He begins to open new doors for you And that's how you step into the fullness of the calling of god that has for you Is somebody with me? I mean again, we're talking very practically today About possessing your promised land Next thing that we're talking about is increasing in your character. That's what's leading to you Is that character is a foundation of your life? Character is what everything sits upon we build on character And the stronger that our character is The higher we can build Because it's it's disaster When somebody's character is flawed. There's no integrity There's no honesty There is no love compassion. There is no mercy for people They don't there is no hard work in ethics There is no, you know sacrifice and love Then even if god blesses them with this big massive ministry with this big massive business Their character will destroy it. I know how many people that How many people that I've met in business, you know with it had a great Great potential great business and and But they just not a good leader They they're insecure So the moment a talent in the company rises And instead of recognizing and give him a go ahead to run with it Because they're battering your business They were insecure And they put them down or fired them Because they were insecure about they needed to be the the wisest person in the room They need to be more skilled person in the room And they they cut their business short and their their Their bottom line short because they were insecure and that's where the character was flawed And they're staying at this level where god has this for them God even sent people their way, but they sabotage their own future because their character is not developing strong Is somebody with me today? I know it's not an easy pill to swallow But this is this is the truth Your character determines how far you can go How far you can conquer? Let me bring you moses into examples. He's he's a leader of a nation of over three million people and And he's leading them into the promised land and moses is like everybody else expecting to be in Expecting himself to be in a promised land, but there are certain things in his in his his character. He has anger issues That he doesn't deal with They are no into in the leadership position kind of covers it But that character fly eventually reveals itself in a very important moment very crucial moment What he was supposed to reveal the glory of god and in that moment instead of revealing the glory of god he reveals his character which was He reveals his character in anger And he cuts his promised land short. He could see the promised land, but he couldn't enter Character is a foundation for our life. If you have a good character, you're gonna have a good marriage If your marriage is suffering is because your character is suffering If you want to have a good family you have to have a good character Because the family unit is built on trust. It's built on honesty. It's built on transparency It's been it's been a person to be able to come and say i'm sorry. I messed up being transparent That's that's the foundation of of the promise and so we can have we can dream of having this wonderful marriage This mr. Right or mrs. Right and it is wonderful children that listen obey all the time But we ourselves never obeyed we were rebellious and we didn't deal with those issues We still have those character flaws. We still uh, we still uh, you know get angry We still, uh, you know short tempered We discipline in anger and all other things. Well, how do you expect to have a promised land in your family? if Your own character is cracked So we have to Develop ourselves in order to possess what god has in store for us It's a challenge to all of us and we've always been perfected. That's why apostle paul Calls us to be perfect as he is perfect. It's a it's a it's a process We are we are flawed as human beings and we were we are fallen So it's gonna be it's gonna be a process But as god begins to increase we must be increasing ourselves We must be increasing ourselves. We must be growing ourselves in every aspect right now Started broke the ground yesterday. We're building we're building a house and it has a It has a daylight basement and it has a this huge So we have to build this huge footing And a concrete wall with a whole bunch of rebar in it For for for that house usually our our footing our foundation size will be by you know 16 inches by 8 inches deep Right, but for this one they wanted 6 feet wide 2 feet deep Okay, now that's a drastic change. That's a change 10 times over why because the weight Of the house it's going to be sitting on and the weight of the ground so that the ground doesn't slide from the upper level Into the lower and kill somebody inside in a foundation now I Do agree it's an overkill, but still nonetheless, it's better be saved than sorry You know you can literally park a tank on top of that on top of the house and it will stand But that's the point as our character is like a foundation It must be built well to handle the weight of god's glory his promise that he has trust Proverbs chapter 10 verse 9 says whoever walks in integrity walks securely Proverbs 286 says beta is a poor man who walks in integrity Then a rich man who has who has who is crooked in his ways The integrity of the upright guides them But but the crookedness and treachery treacherous of the treacherous destroys them proverbs 11 3 it is important for us to pay attention to our character to grow in our character to constantly stretch ourselves When holy spirit convicts us and says, you know what you haven't been patient with your spouse That we repent and ask god for grace to change when when when when uh when holy spirit Convicts us or a spouse convicts us either or um that says, you know, you've been short tempered with your children You know, you've been short tempered with your children Or you haven't been given enough time that we don't try to excuse and fight it because that's what weak men do That we we excuse our actions But a right but a strong man a mature man a mature person says, you know what you're right I need to I need to change. What can I do to be better? When holy spirit convicts us and when we have time and prayer and holy spirit convicts us and say, you know what? um You talked harshly to that person That's that's not revealing my character. That's not revealing my heart. You need to be patient You need to see people through the cross. I've shown you many times mercy I've shown you many times grace show that to others and then he says, yes, lord forgive me And you go to that person and say, you know what I've spoke harshly against you I should have I shouldn't have not done that that's growing your character That's expending your heart when you if you're in the ministry you want to be in the ministry Ministry is not about the microphone. It's not about giving more of knowledge and prophesying Ministry about having a big heart for people having a lot of mercy for people having a lot of patience for people having a lot of compassion for people And the more the more people you can fit in your heart The more patience you can have for people The more love you can have for people the more people god will give it to you You know, I look for for many years. I overseen our home groups and our Our live groups now and how they're doing just kind of overseen the whole thing and overseen the leaders of a home group And I can tell you one thing with the with the with a high degree of certainty the size of a home group of a person correlated with their character Almost I can say 95 percent of the time now there there's also some practical things But those of you that have been in leadership position for a long time And those of you that that know how these things run almost a hundred percent of the time Unless of course you were given by vlad or ilia and bunch of people to manage But usually that didn't last too long Because it always correlates with how big is your heart is How much people you can have love on how much people you can have compassion and mercy towards And how many people you're willing to change to to help change how many people you're willing to help go That means sacrificing on some many times on your end and and and helping somebody else at your own expense But that will determine how much God will entrust you with That's what ministry is all about and last thing And which is most important which from all of these things will flow from Is increase in our relationship with God without God all of those things that we talked about They're meaningless they will They they they will they will get you to places they will They will open certain doors for you because these are the principles of God that we talked about that works Whether you believe in God or whether you don't believe God But this one will help you to be satisfied in life Have any relationship with God whether you make it here here or never make it You know, there's people in third world countries. They they have just the same dreams and inspirations as you and I They want to better life for them. They want to prosper But due to their strong consensus and due sometimes to their economical Activities and all other stuff, you know, they just don't have an ability to to to prosper like we have in America But if you have God at whatever level you're out in life Even if you don't make it there where you want it to be you will be satisfied You will be fulfilled. Look at Abraham. God gives Abraham. He says look at the stars Look at the sand as many this is how many descendants you're gonna have so much such a big promise So many things but Abraham walking with God Still yet without a child and continues to walk with him and continues to walk with him But Abraham is not stressing out. Well at one point he did but it was kind of Sarah's fault too, but My point being is that Abraham Abraham he he was satisfied with God because Bible says he walked with God He walked with God he had a relationship with God And then he he developed his walk with God and developed his You know, he's trust in God to that degree That one finally he had a glimpse of the promise one son his own son And God said I want him gave it to him That he've grown his relationship with God so much That he was willing to sacrifice his son Because he trusted God so much because he developed his walk and relationship with God so much That he was given he was willing to give up any Any notion of of finally receiving his his promised land because he loved God so much and he trusted him And of course God God doesn't want human sacrifice. He was just testing his heart and And God blessed him but even Abraham Bible says that he died awaiting his promise But I want to tell you that Abraham died satisfied I'm talking about the promise of of nations a promise of Many sons and and daughters like the stars in the sky and the sand in the sea He's still waiting for the promise But because he walked with God he was satisfied because he had a relationship with God He was fulfilled in life because he Had an intimacy with God He walked with God Israelites on the other hand Israelites on the other hand came out God brought him out Out of the land of Slavery of the Egypt and they're walking and God says yes. This is my people I brought them out. They're my they're my children. I want to have closeness with them He says Moses bring him to the mountain. I want to speak to them face to face Bring him to the mountain and I want to have a relationship I want them to know that they are my children and I am their God He brings the Moses brings the mountain to the mountain God's glory descends God's God's glory is manifested. I mean, it's glory is there at the mountain, but But Israelites they said Moses we're too afraid We we don't want to speak to God face to face Why don't you go and talk to God and come tell us what he has to say to us? And instead of there were on the way to the promised land But instead of cultivating the relationship with God instead of knowing their God instead of Instead of you know, seeing God face to face They chose to be a bystander and just to sit on the side You know preacher you go talk to God and then on Sunday I'm gonna come and you tell me what God says for me That only goes as far That only goes far as far as they can go And so instead of being closer to God on their own as they're knowing God intimately personally They they opt out not to And God was merciful to them and God was leading them but because they didn't have that personal Encounter with God. They were weak in their faith. They complained. They were mumbling. They were And eventually they never reached the promised land Bible says that until the generation died Except Joshua and Caleb nobody entered into a promised land Because Joshua and Caleb they were sitting at the foot of the mountain Gazing upon the Lord they were waiting upon God They were waiting for Moses to come down and say, you know and and show what God has for them my encouragement to you is that Have a communion with the Holy Spirit fellowship with God because that's what's gonna Take you into your promised land. That's it's gonna be a wind into your sail And if by God, you know, if God forbid by some meaning somehow, you know, you don't get there exactly what you want Or in the place where you want to be You will be satisfied You will be fulfilled. You're gonna have purpose in life You're gonna have meaning in life and and at the end of the day Before you close your eyes, you're gonna say i'm going home And you will be fulfilled. You're not you will not be full of regret You will not be full of fears. You will not be full of I wish I could have done this I wish I could have done that because relationship with God will sustain you through your life I want to encourage you increase in your relationship with God increase in positive thinking and thinking our faith increase in knowledge and wisdom increase in skills abilities increase in character and increase in your relationship With God and God's gonna bless you. Thank you for watching this content I hope this was a blessing to you if you're like me and you like to click on things Click on this Subscribe to our channel and the content will come to you every time we post it and remember the best is yet to come