John Hagee - The Power of Your Potential
What is your potential? Never underestimate the potential of a child. A father was showing his son the photographs of the most wanted criminals in America on the post office wall. The father said, "These men are wanted all over this country. The police are looking for them. The FBI, they're looking for them. The CIA is looking for them". The child looked at the father, and said, "Well, why didn't they keep those people when they took their picture"? Not bad logic. When God wanted to liberate Israel from Egypt's bondage, he sent a baby in a wicker basket. And Moses became a man of righteousness. The hand of God of which used to destroy the empire of Egypt. When God wanted to liberate you and I from the debtor's prison of sin and Satan, he sent a baby in Bethlehem's manger named Jesus Christ. And because of his sacrifice at the cross, we gather here today, not as slaves to sin and Satan, but as sons and daughters of the Almighty, all-knowing God. Hallelujah for Jesus Christ and his precious blood.
What is your potential? There's enough atomic energy in a glass of water to drive a battleship around the world four times. The question is, how do you release that potential? According to the UCLA brain research institute, the human brain has the ability and the potential to create, and to store, and to learn virtually without limit. Their research indicates that we could, without any difficulty whatsoever, learn 40 languages, memorize a set of encyclopedias from a to z, and complete the required course work of 12 colleges and universities. That's what your mental potential is. Don't you feel good about yourself already? The English language has about 450.000 words. Linguistic experts estimate that our daily conversation uses up a mere 400 words, and the majority of those words, are me, my, mine, I, and why. Because the only way to obtain knowledge is through study. And for most of America's couch potatoes, that's something like going to the dentist for root canals without Novocain, something they don't really like to do.
Paul said, "Study to show yourself approved". Say that with me. "Study to show yourself approved". David said, "Thy word have I hidden in my heart: that I might not sin against God". "Thy word have I hidden in my heart" really translates, "I have read the word until I've memorized it". "Hiding it in your heart" is memorization. I want to tell you something. When you read this book, just reading it, the power of this message goes through your brain, and it increases your intellectual capacity to learn. If you read this as much as you watch television, you would be a genius. That's not puff talk: that's reality. Solomon said, "Happy is the man who finds wisdom: for there, the man who finds wisdom has found silver and fine gold, more precious that rubies, the length of life is in her right hand, and all of her paths lead to peace".
How many of you would like a life that is better than silver and gold, and precious rubies, and diamonds, and led to pure peace? How many of you would like to have that? It's right here. Knowledge is power. Say that with me. Knowledge is power. Not facts, knowledge. The first principle in releasing your potential is to gain the knowledge of God. I hold in my hand the fountain of knowledge. The author of this powerful text is God, the Holy Spirit. And when you read these pages, your life of doubt and insecurity vanishes. Your dull, dreary, dead personality will catch fire, because that's what's in this book. This is a two-edged sword that will send you out to combat. This is the bread of life that satisfies your ever longing. This is living water that makes every person totally satisfied.
Some of you are drinking a lot of things that never satisfy you. Out of these pages, pours joy unspeakable and full of glory. There is peace in the midst of the storm. There is the love of God that heals and unifies. Hope that is unshakable and unbreakable can be found in the pages of this book. With the Lord as your Savior, and God as being with you in all things, your sin will become whiter than snow. Your past is buried in the deepest sea, never to be remembered against you anymore. This says, "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad," because God Almighty is your father. Heaven is your home. You are a child of the king. Nothing shall be impossible unto you. Nothing shall be impossible unto you! Give the Lord praise and glory in the house!
There's a difference between making a great living and having a great life. Some of you have a great living but you have a miserable life. You have no peace. You don't have joy. You don't have hope for the future. There's no real love in your marriage relationship. You do not enjoy life. And it's your choice. It's God's will for you to be happy. The Bible says, "I was glad when they said unto me, 'let us go to the house of the Lord'". Say that with me. "I was glad when they said unto me, 'let us go to the house of the Lord'". It's all right to be happy and be a Christian. And there are a lot of people who don't believe that. If I'm spiritual, I walk around with a face that looks like I've been sucking a lemon all day. That's not spirituality: that's religion. And religion is a curse! I assure you of that. Salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ is liberation from religion that'll set you free to serve Jesus Christ, the Lord of this Bible.
When Elvis Presley was at the peak of his career, colonel parker arranged for me to meet and to talk with him in his hotel room here in San Antonio. Elvis had everything that money could buy. He had luxury cars. He had jets. He had diamonds. He had fame. He had applause of fans. He had a tell upon that was covered with gold. Yet, I never met a person more lonely. At the end of our conversation, he said, "Pastor, will you pray for me"? I prayed with him. Elvis Presley was a good person. The world loved his music. If you didn't, I'm sorry: the world loved his music. He had a great living. But he had a hurting heart and a lonely life. What kind of life do you have? Do you have a divine purpose? Are you lonely? Does your life have meaning? Are you angry? Are you frustrated? Are you chasing illusions that never materialize? Is your home in crisis? Is your marriage a war zone?
You're not living up to your potential. God has made it possible for you to have peace that surpasses understanding. He has made it possible for you to have joy unspeakable and full of glory. He's made it possible for you to experience unconditional love. The Bible says, "Love is of God. And those who do not have love, have not God". Your lovelessness is not an indication of your spirituality. It's a testimonial you don't know God himself. You have confidence in a world that's coming apart. When you know the God of this text, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me". Jesus said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you even to the ends of the earth," "Though your mother and your father forsake you".
And listen to me. There are millions of people right now listening over television. Your mother and your father forsook you. You've been living in a social system that's vicious and loveless. And I want to tell you, from the depth of my heart, there is a father in heaven that loves you more than you can possibly imagine. There are supposed to be 60 million evangelicals in America. If every one of us won one soul to Christ, in four years, we would dominate this country with the glory of God. But we've got to get Jesus out of the church house and into their house. They're the ones that are suffering. They need to hear the Gospel story. I'm tired of God's children saying, "Well, I don't have much potential: you know? I'm born poor. My daddy's poor. My grandpa was poor".
Let me tell you: little is much when God is in it. And when God gets in your little bit he'll make it a whole lot. He can turn your row boat into the queen Mary. In every seed, there is potential. There's the potential of a harvest. In every fish, there's a school of fish. In every bird, there's a flock. If every cow, there's a herd. In every man, there's a nation to be born. Abraham had Isaac, and Isaac produced Jacob. And Jacob produced 12 sons, and those people populated the righteous earth. Pastors of America, who are watching this telecast right now, because your church is small does not mean it cannot have great potential. Bethlehem's manger was not the Marriott. But what happened there changed the course of the world! The stone that killed Goliath was small. But it changed the destiny of Israel. Mustard seed faith is small. It's very small. A mustard seed is about the size of a BB. It's small. But the Lord says, "If it's pure faith, you can move impossible mountains with that pure faith".
God said to Abraham, "I will make you a mighty nation". In God's calculus, it works out like this: one equals many, little equals much, small equals great. Less equals more. The fact that you were born is proof that God knew the earth needed your potential. God has something special for every person in this room and those watching by television to do. Don't you dare go to your grave with the talents God gave you unused, the dreams not acted upon, the opportunities missed. Release the power of God. Reach for greatness! Dare to fly on the wings of faith when the cowards around you are scratching in the dirt, saying, "This is really good". "They that wait upon Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount on wings of eagles, and they shall fly into the face of God with faith and power to do the possible". Do it, in Jesus' name! Nothing, nothing, nothing is impossible with Jesus Christ, the Son of God!
Your source determines your potential. Say that with me. Your source determines your potential. When God creates something, he finds a special substance, a source, and creates that something. As long as that created something stays in contact with its source, its life has unlimited power. When God wanted to create plants, he chose dirt as the source. And as long as plants stay in touch with dirt, they live. But pull a plant out of dirt, and it will die. Fish were created for the water. Leave them there and they will become a school of fish. Take that one fish out, and it will die. As a Bible-believing Christian, you are odd by the standards of the world. Why doesn't the world like you? Because you live by another set of laws, these. And that's never going to change. And if that offends you? Tough! We live by these laws, not yours, God's laws. You feel supreme love for one you've never seen? That's Jesus Christ.
That's odd, by the world's standard. You talk to God: and yet, you've never touched him. That was the thing about Abraham. He came out of an idolatrous society. All of their Gods were wood and stone. You could touch them. But he had the faith to believe in an unseen God, something that had never happened. And God said, I can trust that man because he can see me: though he's never talked to me. You can empty yourself to become full. You decrease that you may increase. You go down in order to get up. You are strongest when you are weak. You are rich when you are poor. You die so that you can live forever. Let me tell you something. Death is not a tragedy: death is a reward for the righteous. We're going to live forever! You give things away so that you can keep them forever. "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven". You see the invisible. You hear the inaudible. You know the unknowable, because you are sons of the Most High God. And all knowledge, and all power flows through you, because you are rooted and grounded in him, and the rooted and grounded in the Word of God! He is the vine! We are the branches! The fruit will follow! Dare to believe the impossible is possible for you! Give the Lord praise in the house of God!
Your potential is activated by faith. God said, "Let us makes man in our likeness". The Hebrew word "Likeness" means to operate like, not to look like, to operate like, not look like. So the question is, how does God operate? God operates by faith. If you're not functioning like God, you're malfunctioning. I want to say that again. If you're not functioning like God in faith, you're malfunctioning. "Without faith, it is impossible to please God". Say it with me. "Without faith, it is impossible to please God". The just shall live by faith. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Faith is not an option: it's a requirement for the child of God. Faith is not an emotion. Hebrews 11:1, "Faith is substance. It is the evidence of things not seen". "Substance" is something that you can hold onto. "Evidence" is something in a law book that proves faith is not mystical: it's rock solid. "Substance" and "Evidence," what's the substance and evidence? The substance is what God has done. The evidence is what's recorded in this Bible.
"Have faith". Faith does not demand miracles: faith creates miracles. Faith starts out before you know how it's going to come out. Faith is not a leap in the dark: it's a walk in the light. Faith is not hoping God is real: faith is knowing God is real, based on the evidence of the Word of God. We know God heals, because the evidence says he has healed: therefore, he can heal now. We know God performs miracles, because he has and he can. We know God can move mountains. He can divide seas. He can rain bread from heaven if he has to, because it's in this book! And if it's in this book, you can have it! Your potential is determined by the characteristics of God you exhibit. If you are truly with the Lord and he is in you, his characteristics will be your characteristics. God is faithful. Are you? God is merciful. Are you? God gives unconditional love to people who don't deserve to be loved. That's why he loved you and me. Do you? God is totally forgiving. Are you?
"Forgive us, as we forgive those", that's the Lord's prayer. His word is his bond. If God says it, he'll do it! Does that describe you? He is patient. Are you? Do you find yourself standing in front of the microwave screaming, "Hurry up"? There are two groups of people in this audience: those who make good and those who are making excuses. When you blame someone else for your inability to do something, you have empowered that person to control you. They are now in charge of your life. You take charge of your life or someone else will! You take charge of your life! And here are the excuses you hear over the years. "Well, I'm really too young". Jesus started out as a baby in Bethlehem's manger. "I'm too old". Moses was 80 when he got started in the ministry as a senior Olympics that year. "I don't have enough talent". A mustard seed is not much, but it can change the world. "I don't know the right people".
You know God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: you're well connected. You're well connected. "But I don't have enough education". Did you ever hear of Bill Gates? How many of you know who he is? He's a billionaire, who dropped out of college because no one else could accept his ideas about how to access information. He's doing very well. Stop whining. Stop making excuses. Take charge of your life. "Greater is he that's within you than he that's within the world". Don't let your dream die! Consider the young man that was cut from the basketball team when he was in junior high school, but he kept trying. He played in high school. He kept trying. He dreamed of playing professional basketball. He kept trying. He did not let his dream die. His name was Michael Jordan. He turned the NBA upside down in Chicago, because the potential was there, and his drive and ability to stick with it made him one of the super stars of all the sports world.
The second way people destroy their potential is they want instant gratification. They want love without commitment. Well let me tell you, young lady, if you're dating somebody like that, get rid of them today. Tell him to take a taxi cab home right now. This generation wants benefits without responsibility. That's not a reality. You want success without work. That's not going to happen. The only place you're going to find success before work is in the dictionary. "As a man thinketh, so is he". Paul said, "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are lovely, think on these things". One of best things you can do when you don't feel well is turn off fake news and pick up the good news. There are people in this room right now, who are struggling in their lives, in their business, in their health, in their marriages, in the things they've tried to do. While you stand to your feet, I want to ask you this question.
Please stand. How many of you in this room can say, pastor, I know I'm not living up to my potential. I know there's something in my life that I could do and can do that I haven't done, and I'm willing to do. If that describes you, would you lift your hand right where you are? Keep your hands up and pray this prayer with me. Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I come today in faith believing, knowing that you have said, "Whatsoever you ask in my name, I will do it". And right now, I'm asking you... Now you fill in the blank. I want you, father, to help my business. I want you to restore my health. I want you to touch my children. I want you to restore my marriage. You lay it out to God in plain language. You don't think a prayer: you pray a prayer. Open your mouth and pray the prayer. Let God in heaven hear you ask for his help. The Holy Spirit is in this room. God Almighty is listening. You have the hotline to heaven right now. Now pray this prayer.
Father, I thank you that you've heard my prayer, and the answer is coming, and it's coming now, in Jesus' name. By his power, I receive it! Amen.