Steven Furtick - The Power of Potential (05/01/2018)
Diving into 2 Kings 13, the pastor explores how King Jehoash stopped short by striking the ground only three times, missing out on full victory over Aram that God intended. He stresses that potential is unpredictable and limited by our God-given purpose, but it can turn poisonous if unused or become provision when released through perseverance and process. Urging us to use every arrow without fear, he reminds that Christ in us unlocks true potential for greater things ahead.
God's Simple Messages Require Action
This passage of Scripture might seem simple. I'm learning that God speaks through simple. We want it deep. Do you know why we want it deep sometimes? So we don't have to do anything with it. "Let's talk about the angels. How many wings does a seraphim have"? I can study about the wings on a seraphim and still treat my wife like a dog, but once we get into the practicality of taking aim and taking action… That's kind of what we mean by Work Your Window. You'll see it in the passage.
If it's your first time here or you haven't been here for the series, you're walking into something. Hopefully you feel a fresh wind of God's Spirit blowing in the church today. I hope you do. I certainly feel it on the inside. If you're not excited, I'm excited enough for all of us today.
Revisiting the Archery Lesson in 2 Kings 13
I want to go right back to my epic Scripture passage in 2 Kings 13. What appears to be an archery lesson on the surface is really loaded with spiritual principles. This little Scripture has been our window to see some precepts and principles that are changing our lives.
Picking up in verse 17, where Elisha, the prophet, tells Jehoash, the king, "Open the east window". What if God won't open the window for you, but he'll show you which one to open? What if God won't do the work for you, restore the relationship for you, but he will show you what to say to begin the process of restoration and what to do to rebuild trust?
That's what we're trying to look at this year. Work Your Window, emphasis on work. We're not saved by works, but we work out what God has worked in us. Salvation is not a stopping point; it's a starting line. We want to see God do great things not just for us but through us. It's kind of like a vision statement around our church. "See what God can do through you".
Facing Oppression and Launching Victory
"Open the east window," which is facing Aram, which was a confederation of territories that was oppressing the nation of Israel. God tells him to open the window facing in the direction of his oppression. He does not tell him to turn his back on it and run and pretend like it doesn't exist and deny it by faith, but to face it.
Not only to face it, but he told him to take the bow and the arrow he instructed him to grab in verses 15-16, and he said, "After you've opened it, shoot"! And he shot. Then he proclaims, prophesies, and declares, "The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram"!
Everybody has an Aram. Everybody has an arrow. Which one are you watching today? Are you watching the possibility of victory or do you have your eyes on your problems to the point where you see no way to win? I'm just trying to be really practical in this series about facing your Aram, launching your arrow, and seeing the salvation of God in your situation in 2017 (or 2018, 2019, 2020, or whenever you're watching this on TV. They play these things for a long time).
Unfulfilled Potential Despite God's Promise
He said, "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek". But he didn't. How is it possible that God could announce the potential for victory but the king not experience it? How is it possible that God could announce the potential for freedom and his children live in bondage?
How is it possible that God could announce the potential of peace by sending the Prince of Peace and his people live in inner turmoil? How is it possible that Jesus could pray, "Father, make them one even as we are one," and a nation be divided?
I want to speak to you today about The Power of Potential. We've talked about The Power of Precision. Aim at something. Shoot directly in the sphere that God has called you to take your next step. We talked about The Power of Pre, how God is getting you ready, how he's preparing you for what he has prepared for you.
Precision, Preparation, and Perseverance
We're talking about aiming in the direction of your destiny, not in the area of distractions. Not this year. We're taking aim. We're taking action. He said, "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek". Then he said… See, it's not complete yet just because God announced it. It's not complete yet just because you believed it.
Patience, perseverance, persistence, purpose… These are the elements that release potential. We talked about the power of precision. We talked about the power of preparation. I made a statement last week that most of us are not living at the level of our potential; we're living at the level of our preparation.
"Then he said…" He gave him some preparations to make. The victory is won. You will prevail, but the preparation still has to be made. "Then he said, 'Take the arrows,' and the king took them". So far so good. "Elisha told him, 'Strike the ground.' He struck it three times and stopped". He stopped short.
The Danger of Stopping Short
"The man of God was angry with him and said, 'You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have…'" That construct is sad to me. "You should have; then you would have". Wouldn't that be a horrible place to live this year? Wouldn't that be a horrible place to live your life? "You should have; then you would have".
I've told you before that my dad used to always say, "I could if I would". Well, God flips that and says, "You could if you would". I've preached about this before. It's nothing new. It's a passage really about unfulfilled potential. The man of God was angry with him because he saw what it could have been. He knew how much more was in store.
I need you to lean into this word today, because there is potential in this moment. The Word of God is alive and active. The potential is limitless for what God can do through the power of his Word. It's funny, because anytime you talk about potential you have to clarify a little bit.
Four Points on Potential
Here's what I mean. I have four points for you about potential today. Potential is unpredictable. Even the prophet, seeing what could have been, the Lord's arrow of victory over Aram, was not able to predict the ultimate outcome.
Here's a dating tip. Don't pick your mate according to their potential. You are not Joanna Gaines, and this is not Fixer Upper. "But he has potential". Yes, but he also has a porn addiction, and his porn addiction is called a pattern. Here's a marriage tip. Don't pick according to potential; pick according to patterns.
"But he has so much potential". He also has terrible spending habits. You have the potential to be poor if you don't understand and uncover what is behind his habits that have caused him to be so broke. "But he has potential". But he has a bad temper. Watch how he treats his mom. You think he's going to treat you like he's treating you right now for 35 years? Watch the patterns of how he treats his parents. It'll tell you a whole lot more than his potential.
Patterns Over Potential in Relationships
I'm not saying they have to be perfect. I mean, it took Holly a whole year to see my potential. You can't always see potential in people. They missed Jesus. They missed him because he looked like them. They missed him because they could not see the Messiah. They missed his potential.
January 1, 1962, a guitar group walked into a North London recording studio called Decca Studios to audition for three executives. Fifteen songs in less than one hour, and they were summarily rejected by the record executives at Decca Records. The Beatles went on to sell a few albums, even though they were told, "Guitar groups are on the way out," even though they were told they had no potential in show business.
Touch somebody and say, "Don't judge me by my audition". This is not even the show. I'm just EQ-ing it right now, and you have no idea my full potential. Here's the thing. You don't know my full potential. Look at your neighbor and say, "You don't know my full potential". Be honest with them. Tell them, "I don't either".
Fear and the Risk of Failure
I live with my problems and my pain, and sometimes I live in my past, and it makes me unable to predict my potential. So I've learned to stop short. I've learned how to only strike with three arrows rather than five or six. I'm going to tell you why I do it. I do it because of my fear of falling short, my fear of failure.
Do you remember when the man with one talent buried it and didn't invest it and the master was angry? The assumption would be he didn't invest it because he wasn't smart enough or maybe because he didn't care enough, but do you remember what the man who buried the one talent said as a reason why he didn't invest it? He said, "I was afraid".
I used to assume that people who didn't give it their all, people who didn't persevere, and people who didn't try didn't care, and I would preach to people like, "The reason you don't try enough is because you don't care enough". But I found out that sometimes the reason I don't try enough is because I care so much that the fear of finding out that I don't have what it takes causes me to keep something in reserve.
Pain of Regret vs. Pain of Failure
It's not that I don't care; it's just that the last time I cared I got crushed. The last time I tried I got hurt. The last time I loved they used my love as leverage, and I'm scared to go again. The Bible gives no insight into the motivation of Jehoash as to why he stopped striking the ground, but I want to take up for him for a moment. Maybe he wasn't lazy; maybe he was afraid. Aram is pretty scary.
Potential is unpredictable. You might give everything you have to raising those kids and they end up on drugs. It has happened. You might bring them to Elevation Church every weekend and serve on the parking team with them, stand out there in orange vests with your kids and smile through it all, and they might still end up a little off. They might still end up on Dr. Phil. They might. You never know. There are no guarantees.
I might give everything I have to this church. I don't know if you want to hear this or not. I might give everything I have to this church and one year we don't grow. I don't know. But at least I'm here. Here's what I've decided. I've decided that the pain of falling short is nothing compared to the shame of stopping short.
Choosing to Go All In
I'd rather go all in, give it all I have, and find out that wasn't enough than wonder "What if"? I'd rather strike the ground as many times as I can. I'd rather throw myself at this sermon and three people listen to it and the rest of y'all look at me crazy, but I know when I walk off that stage, "That was all I had. I left it all with those people. If they weren't listening, there's nothing I could do about it. I preached to the full extent of my…"
I'd rather leave it all out there, because at least I can lie down on my pillow tonight and know, "God, that was all I had. If you would have wanted me to be smarter, funnier, more insightful, more motivational, you should have given me different genetics, but here's my gift, Lord. What can you do with it? Here are my five loaves. Here are my two fish. If you would have wanted me to have a cooler with more food, you should have told me before we got to the picnic".
Look at your neighbor and say, "At least I'm trying". There's no shame in that. There's no shame in falling short. Not a bit. But stopping short, that's a different thing altogether. I don't want to stop short, because that's a long-term pain. Failure hurts for a minute; regret stays with you for quite a while. "Should have, then you would have". That can stay with you for a lifetime.
Grace to Pick Up the Next Arrow
The good news is the window is still open. The good news is if you stopped striking there's nothing to stop you from picking up the next arrow today. That's the good news. How many are grateful for the grace of God? Me too, because I've missed some opportunities.
I feel like I'm not living in my full potential, but here's the crazy thing about it. I simultaneously feel… Please, if you feel this way too, just respond, some kind of grunt, some kind of something. You don't have to raise it up all the way. Just one of these. How many of you have ever sat next to somebody in worship who did the "kind of" hand raise thing? Just do that.
I feel simultaneously like I'm giving it all I have, and what more do you want from me, and I'm not doing enough…at the same time. Do you know why? Potential is limited. I know the poster with the eagle carrying a trophy into the sunset over the coffee maker in the break room said you had unlimited potential, but look at somebody and say, "You don't".
Potential Is Limited by Purpose
Potential is limited. If you think about it, you can remember several times in your life where you came face-to-face with the limits of your potential. I remember the moment at Summerville Baptist when I realized on the court in the gym of the Family Life Center, "Basketball is not my sport. I can still wear Jordans, but basketball is not my sport".
I remember the moment. "This is not for me. I don't understand this game. It does not make sense to me. It does not compute. I play baseball". I remember the moment when I realized that construction, or really anything with my hands, was not my gift. It kind of hurt my feelings, because people say talk is cheap. What I do well is talk, so what does that make me?
I have potential. Isn't even just the sound of that…? Don't you get tired of hearing that? "Oh, you have potential". One of the first times I preached, George Haltiwanger got up and closed after I preached, and he said, "Boy, Steven sure has potential". I felt good about it, and Jamie told me afterwards, "You know that wasn't a compliment, right"?
Potential as an Indictment
I said, "He said I had potential". He said, "Yeah, that's right. Potential means it hasn't yet been matured into purpose". He said, "You said, 'Crap' three times while you spoke, and you were speaking on a Sunday night in a Baptist church where the average age was 67". But I had potential. I have my own church. I can say whatever I want up here. Oh, you rebels.
So go with me. Santee Circle Community Church, the church where I served as youth minister, is building a building. Pastor Mickey said, "You have to be out there. You're the youth minister. I want you to show your face". I knew I wasn't very good with anything mechanical, but I showed up. Wayne Ahl never should have trusted me with his nail gun. That's my defense. I broke it. Not on purpose. They sent me home.
Mr. Wayne said, "You stick to preaching," so I did. I preached to those four people every time they would listen. Holly found some old VHS tapes the other day, and I told her "Statute of limitations. I don't want to see that". Thank God we don't have a VCR.
Potential Relative to Purpose
It's frustrating, because when people say you have potential it doesn't feel like a compliment after a while. It starts to feel like a judgment, like an indictment. You already know you're not doing all that you can do, and at the same time you feel like you couldn't do any more. "But it's not enough. But it's all I have. But it's not enough. But it's all I have. But it's not enough. But it's all I have. But it's not enough".
Into that God wants you to know and be set free by the fact that your potential is relative to your purpose. Maybe you've been tormenting yourself over potential you haven't reached because you're judging yourself against a purpose that isn't yours.
For example, this microphone is a top-quality Sennheiser microphone. It is about the best wireless microphone you can buy. It even has a special capsule on it, so when I feel the anointing of Drake coming upon me and grab it up here it still sounds relatively decent. It is an expensive microphone. It is a pristine microphone, but this microphone cannot build a house. It wasn't made to.
Fulfilling God-Given Purpose
To discard the microphone because it cannot fill a purpose that it was not created for would be to miss the potential. I'm not going to miss my potential because I was trying to fulfill somebody else's purpose. I can't be you. Don't need to. Don't have to. I was born to do what I was born to do, and when I do what God made me to do like God made me to do it… Purpose.
Potential is designed and custom-fit for purpose. You can't put in what God left out. That's true. I read that from an author named Douglas Wilson. He wrote a book about writing. He said it's true that you can't put in what God left out, but it is also true… Jonathan, when you preach, always remember the truth is in the tension.
The reason some sermons feel kind of trite and don't hit deep is because we resist the tension that would release the truth. When we just say, "God is good," it sounds good, but it's kind of like cotton candy. A little sugar high. It doesn't carry me till Tuesday. When you say, "God is good; life is hard. Life is hard, but God is good," now there's a tension. God is good when life is hard. The harder life gets, the better God looks, because your soul longs for something that is not of this world.
Truth in Tension and Untapped Resources
The truth is in the tension. Here's the tension. You can't put in what God left out, but it is also true that most of us have far more to work with than we are currently using. Most of us have more arrows than we are employing, more faith and gift than we are activating, because… Potential has potential.
"I think we need to give Pastor Steven a little more study time. This point seems rather obvious". Let me explain. I promise you Saul had potential to be a great king, but the same potential that could have made him a great king made him a jealous, bitter old man, throwing spears at the very successor God gave him to extend his kingdom.
Potential has potential. I can use this microphone to bring people together or tear people apart. Potential has potential, if not correctly appropriated for a purpose, to become poisonous. Potential can make a strong man who could have been a defender of the weak abusive of his wife, and an ambitious man who is frustrated about where he is take out his frustration on his kids and perpetuate a cycle of domestic violence.
Potential as Provision or Poison
Potential has potential. Potential is like milk. If you drink it and pour it out in time it can be provision, but if you let it sit… How many want to drink it after it has been sitting out for a month? It does a body good if you drink it in time, but if you let it get past that date that was put on the jug…
That's why some of us are miserable: because of unlived potential that has been sitting in the jug, sitting on the shelf. I'm afraid to fail, so I won't try. Now my potential has become poisonous, and I'm miserable because I'm not living my potential.
See, the secret is I don't really want to reach my potential. If I ever reach my potential, that means it's my funeral. I don't want to reach my potential. What do I want to do? I want to do what Paul did. He said in Philippians 3, "Forgetting what is behind me and straining toward what is ahead…"
Straining Toward the Prize
I have to forget about the past. My potential is not back there. "And straining toward what's ahead". I have to persevere. My potential won't come to pass if I play with it. I can't strike three times. I have to strain toward something. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God.
I have to show you this. Philippians 3:15. This is cool. He said, "All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things". What such a view of things? A view of things that knows that you have not arrived yet, a view of things that knows that what's behind you can't hold you and what's ahead of you is greater than what's against you.
God help me preach this message for three people who feel like "It's all I have, but it's not enough. But it's all I have. But it's not enough". He said, "All of us who are mature should take such a view. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you".
Living Up to What We've Attained
In other words, if you think you've reached your full potential, if you think you've arrived, God will leg sweep you to make sure you don't strut around in circles. This one confused me. He said, "Only let us live up to what we have already attained". What? Live up? That means I'm not there. Attained? That means I've arrived. Potential has potential.
"Keep preaching," Wayne Ahl told me. "Building houses is not your thing". He was kind of right, because my hands have never built a house, but I grabbed my microphone in 2010 and told the whole church about Love Week. I said, "We're all going to serve". You know I got to visit five different Habitat for Humanity sites where we were building houses?
It hit me. If I use what I've got, God will be what I am not. High-five your neighbor and say, "Work it"! Work your window! Work your gift! Work your potential, according to his purpose! Potential has potential. How did a microphone build a house? It's the power of potential.
The Power of Potential in Everyday Objects
How did a stick part the Red Sea? It's the power of potential. How did a mustard seed become the kingdom of God? How did a baby become the Savior of the world? It's the power of potential. "Only let us live up to what we've already attained". It's funny, because the English translators didn't know how to translate what Paul said. What he said is, "Let us live toward".
I don't want to reach my potential; I want to run after it. My potential is what gives me the possibility of progress. If I was there, I wouldn't have anything to run for. That's what makes me get up in the morning: the possibility that I could be a better man today than I was yesterday, the possibility that I could fulfill…
Do you know why I got up to preach? I preached this sermon on Saturday night. Some of my staff said, "Play it back. It was good". I said, "I think I could preach it better. I want to reach. I know I could quit, but I have some arrows left".
Stirring Up the Gift Within
Don't play with me. This is the kind of preaching that'll mess you up. This is the kind of preaching that'll stir up your gift. This is the kind of preaching that'll light a fire. Somebody shout like you have potential, like your praise has potential, like your gift has potential! It's in you, it's in you, it's in you! It's in you, it's in you, it's in you!
Potential. Initiative. Now I know why God was speaking to me before I came out. He's doing something. Before I came out I kept thinking, "Initiative". There's a guy here at the church. You might meet him if you stay around a little while. He's the campus pastor of our University City Campus. His name is Larry Brey.
Larry Brey is from Minnesota. I met him in Shelby, North Carolina. I asked him to come help me start the church. He was up at our revival, and he turned over to me. He was on stage here at Ballantyne, and he said, "Thank you, Pastor, for seeing my potential".
Seeing Patterns That Reveal Potential
I never told him this until this moment, but I want to tell him right now. I didn't see potential in you. I don't have that power. I don't see potential in you. You can't see potential. None of us knows. If they couldn't see it in the Beatles and if it took Holly a full 12 months to get her act together and be interested in me…
What I saw was patterns. I saw patterns of initiative. I saw that when the pastor of the church we were serving at said he wanted something, before he could get it out of his mouth what he wanted built, Larry Brey was at Lowe's with his pickup truck.
I saw when a room needed painting, Larry Brey was out in the lobby, and instead of drinking coffee over there just talking about the good Lord, he was recruiting volunteers to paint a classroom. I said, "I could use a guy like Brey".
God's Selection Based on Faithfulness
Jesus saw Peter fishing and said, "I see potential. The way you throw that net is the way you're going to preach my Word. I see potential". God looked at David and said, "I see potential. The way you tend those sheep is the way you're going to be king over my people. I see potential".
Potential is revealed through patterns, and how will you know your full potential if you don't give yourself to the process? I'm closing with this. Process reveals potential. You will never know what the relationship could have been if you do not embrace the process.
It is in the process of trying that potential to continue is released. It is in the process of getting down to the bottom that you find out how to make it to the top. Process reveals potential. That's why God chose Elisha. He was plowing in the field faithfully. He was involved in the process.
Embracing the Process for Revelation
God picks people who aren't afraid of process. God uses people who don't run when the ground is hard. God uses people who plow in obscurity. God raises up people who have their hands dirty, their sleeves rolled up, and embrace the process.
You will never know your potential if you keep resisting the process by which God is trying to reveal it. You never know what your mic can do. You never know what your marriage could be. You never know what you could be as a dad if you just keep staying stuck in the fact you didn't have one.
Your past is not your potential, nor is it the best predictor of it. The limit to your potential is your purpose and your perseverance. Your purpose (you can't do what he didn't assign you to do) and your perseverance. He told him, "You should have struck five or six times".
Turning Problems into Potential
My oldest son loves to argue. You could see that as a problem; I see it as potential. I feel like if we can get it applied to the right purpose… I don't have time to preach this whole sermon, but something you've been calling a problem is actually your potential in a different dimension.
That boy might make $10 million as a lawyer by the time he's 25 and tithe to me personally. "Steven Furtick Incorporated Ministries of Jesus Christ". (That's not a real thing.) He was kind of arguing with me. He said, "This is the most epic text in the Bible, but why not 9 or 10 times? Why not 15 or 16"?
The prophet was angry, because here's a man named Elisha who one day, just going about the process of his life, a mantle falls on him. When the mantle falls on him, his potential is revealed with a glimpse. It's just a glimpse. He did not fully realize his potential until 14 years later when he was standing at the Jordan with the mantle that hit his shoulders while he was plowing, because process reveals potential.
Why Five or Six Strikes?
God will give you a glimpse of the arrow, and then he will call you to strike the ground. Process reveals potential. "So why not nine times"? Elijah says. It's a good question. "Why not 15? If we're just striking the ground…" I had an answer, because I'm not going to be out-argued about the Bible by my 11-year-old. Not a chance. There is no potential for that to happen.
Touch somebody and say, "You have potential". I know you have potential, because if you didn't, God would have killed you by now. We'd be at your funeral if you didn't have potential. What you do with it is up to you. If you let it sit, it'll be poisonous. "You should have; then you would have".
Why five or six times? Here's my theory. It's just a theory, but it's absolutely true. Do you know why he said five or six times? Remember when he told him to shoot out the window he said, "Take the arrow," singular? The power of potential. If you let it sit, it'll become poisonous. You'll start projecting onto other people the potential you didn't fulfill.
Using Every Available Arrow
But if you release it in the process, it will become your provision. So here's what the man of God said. He said, "Open the east window. Shoot! The Lord's arrow of victory. You will completely destroy the Arameans". You will completely destroy. You will press toward the mark. You're going to do it all.
Verse 18: "Then he said, 'Take the arrows…'" Plural. For some reason, when I used to visualize this story, in my mind I had the king with one arrow striking it over and over again, but now I realize all the prophet wanted him to do was use every arrow that was available.
Why six arrows? You only did half of what you could have done. The only type of person I've ever found that God can only use in a limited measure is one who is half-hearted. I've met addicted people whom God used. I've met discouraged people whom God used. I've met mean people whom God used.
Elisha's Dual Potential
Elisha was mean. One time he was walking back from healing the waters of Jericho. He had thrown some salt in the water, just like the church needs to heal the toxic waters of our nation. Elisha took the salt. We are the salt of the earth. He threw the salt in the water. The waters became pure. It remains pure to this day, the Bible says, and the next thing he did…
He's walking along, and some boys come out of the woods and start calling him "Baldy". It's in your Bible. Read it. Second Kings 2:19-25. They said, "Go on up, Baldy! Go on up, Baldy"! The Bible says he called down curses in the name of the Lord. When he called down curses, bears came out of the woods and killed 42 boys.
You didn't learn that in Sunday school. It wasn't on your flannelgraph, because we don't know what to do with that. The same words that had the potential to heal had the potential to kill. If your potential does not find its purpose… I'm telling you, the shame of stopping short is worse than the pain of falling short.
Pressing On Without Holding Back
Why don't you press? Why don't you run? Why don't you go? Why don't you strike every arrow? I'm using every arrow. I'm not leaving any arrows on the ground. I'm not leaving anything. The man of God was angry. "You should have; you could have".
Then the Bible says, "Elisha died and was buried". It seems to be the end. Then the Bible tells a strange tale about how one day they were having a funeral procession. I need you to do me a favor. Look at the person who had the pleasure of sitting next to you this whole worship experience and tell them, "It's not over".
He dies, and they're carrying out a body. They were in a rush to throw the body, because some raiders came. When they threw the body, they accidentally hit Elisha's tomb, and when the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood on his feet.
Lessons from Elisha's Bones
I could preach that two ways. I could preach that to say whatever is buried in your life, whatever failure you've been through becomes your lesson for the next season, and nothing is dead. When God speaks to dry bones they come alive. I could preach it like that, but maybe Elisha's bones are a lesson in unfulfilled potential. Maybe he died with one more miracle still in him. Maybe the king isn't the only one who stopped short.
I'm just asking you today…Have you stopped short? I know it's not because you don't care. I used to preach like that. "You bunch of complacent, lazy, coward Christians". You have to be legalistic in your 20s. Now I'm starting to see… I get to know people, and I realize you're holding back parts of yourself and giving a percentage of yourself to your purpose because you're telling yourself…
Here's the way one comedian said it. He was up in front of a crowd and said, "I didn't prepare tonight, so I have no idea what I'm going to say". They laughed. He said, "No, I'm serious. It's my strategy. I never prepare". They laughed a little less, but they were still laughing.
The Strategy of Not Preparing
He said, "No, I'm serious. Because if I don't prepare and I bomb, I can tell myself it was because I didn't prepare". I'm preaching right to somebody right now. I'm not in your ZIP Code. I'm in your living room. I have my shoes off. I have them up on your coffee table. I'm asking for another Diet Mountain Dew. That's what I like to drink. Don't send me a link about aspartame. I don't care.
Somebody shout, "Potential"! He said, "If I don't prepare and I bomb, well, I didn't prepare. I'll try harder next time. Go get 'em. If I don't prepare and it goes well, hey, it's a miracle. I'm a genius. If I prepare and fail… So I didn't prepare," he said. And they laughed.
But it's not funny when you live that way, when you don't love. Because if I love, if I give them all that I am and then they reject me, they reject me. I'd rather send my representative. I'd rather stop short than give it all I have and find out it wasn't enough.
Declaring Sufficiency in Christ
I declare in the name of Jesus… Whoever this is for, lift your hands and receive it. You are enough. Say it out loud. "Christ in me, the hope of glory". Father, I thank you for the potential that is in this place today. Your Word has been released. I've spoken it to the best of my ability, but it's going to take a response. It's going to take perseverance.
It is going to take a commitment to purpose to see it fully come to pass. So I declare over this Word that I've spoken, as the rains fall from the heaven and do not return without making it bud and flourish, so shall your Word be that came forth out of my mouth today. It will not return to you void. It will accomplish the purpose for which it is sent.
Somebody shout, "Christ in me, the hope of glory"! I thank you for the potential of your Word. I thank you for your presence in this place. I thank you for the power of your Spirit. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, the Spirit of Elisha's bones, be upon your people. In the name of Jesus!