I want you to get in your heart: it's time for ME to break out this year, break out of the limitations, the restraints, to break free of the things held me back, and begin to start to have a greater impact with my life. Mica 2:13: The one who breaks open will come up before them; They will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it; Their king will pass before them, the Lord at their head.
I'd like you just to have a quick look in a verse in Mica, Chapter 2 and Verse 13. Sometimes I get messages God will give me a couple of weeks out, sometimes I get them the beginning of the week, sometimes during the week, sometimes on Friday, sometimes on Saturday, occasionally on Sunday. [Laughs] I hate the ones I get on Sunday. I find that quite stressful, but on the other hand I've found that listening to God and flowing with Him gets you the best results.
When I woke up this morning, it's like I woke up, and suddenly it's almost like I heard a voice shouting in my head. It was the Holy Ghost, and what He spoke to me was this: It's time to break out. If there's anything that you get out of this message today, I want you to get in your heart: it's time for ME to break out this year, time for me to break out of the limitations, time for me to break out of the restraints, time for me to break free of the things held me back, and begin to start to have a greater impact with my life. We'll just read in Mica, Chapter 2 and it's not the scripture we're going to stay in. There's one in the Old Testament that the Lord spoke to me about, but look at this verse here, and it says in Verse 13: the one who breaks open will come up before them; They will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it; Their king will pass before them, the Lord at their head.
So what it's talking about, the people of God, and it refers to Jesus Christ, and it calls Him the Breaker, the one who breaks out, the one who demolishes limitations, the one who breaks, bursts out into new territory, the one who breaks out of current ways of thinking, and in every way that you look at Jesus, He was definitely a breaker. He broke the culture, He broke the customs, He broke the traditions, He broke almost every kind of formal thing that would have restrained God's people. The word there to break, is exactly the word that has followed it, when it says: they will break out, so when we determine in our hearts to follow Jesus and begin to live our life to honour and please Him, then He wants us as a result of that to break out, to break out and have influence with our life.
Christianity is about an army advancing a kingdom, and so often what we do, we get to like our experience with God and don't realise, actually it's all about breaking into new territory, breaking into new areas, breaking open new things, and just staying comfortable is found nowhere in the Bible, not at all, not at all. The Great Commission, the last word Jesus gave to the church, I'll just say it, you know it: Go! That means break out. What could be simpler? Break out of your limitations, break out of your mentalities, break out of the confinement, break through your fears, break out, go and make disciples, make people into followers of Christ. So that is what Jesus commanded the church. He commanded the church to break out and invade new territory, and like all churches, it didn't respond so quickly.
Let's have a look quickly in Acts, Chapter 1. I want you to have a look about the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Baptism in the Holy Ghost's wonderful - if you're not baptised in the spirit speaking tongues, it's a great experience, it's an essential experience to live in the spirit. But notice what it's for; so Jesus told him: I want you to wait until the Holy Ghost be poured out, so what He says here in Verse 8: You shall receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you; then you shall have meetings where you'll laugh and fall over, and great things will happen. You'll see visions, have dreams, see angels. You'll be so impressed with the angels, have all these things happen - that's what'll happen. Well He didn't mention that, but that's just the side bit that happens, actually as a result of understanding what baptism in the spirit's about. Baptism in the spirit is a gateway experience into the realm of the spirit and the supernatural, that is accompanied by the mission or the purpose of God being performed. In other words you shall be witnesses unto Me.
So the outcome of being filled with the spirit, having great meetings, being touched by God, is that your life becomes a clear witness of the reality of Jesus Christ. To become a clear witness of that reality, we've got to live in freedom, and we need express that life. I think that guy that came up to Brydon, and just offered to pay when they were short of money, that to me is a very practical expression of it, something that just - generosity to a complete and utter stranger. So the New Testament Church broke out eventually, on the Day of Pentecost, of course there was a break out, 3,000 people saved. What you've got to realise is, this is the very city in which the founder of Christianity was murdered, was hung on a cross. What an amazing thing to start a church where your founder was murdered. Of all the places you wouldn't want to start, that's the one you wouldn't want to start, and no doubt you'd have a better plan. But Jesus said no, in the place where the problem was the worst, the solution will be the greatest, and so He poured out His spirit, and He sent them out. If you follow through the New Testament, I'll just look at one more verse, then I want to go to where I'm going, in Acts Chapter 8, and you'll see them breaking out.
Now they didn't break out easily. Jerusalem was a very religious city, and the people who lived in it, took on the culture of their day, and they were also reasonably religious, so although there was an outburst of the Holy Spirit, religious confinement or tradition mean they didn't actually do what Jesus said. Notice what He said: You'll receive power from on high, and you'll be witnesses to Me, in Jerusalem. He added more you know - and in Judea and Samaria and the utmost parts of the earth, so Jerusalem, our home city; Judea our region, and Samaria into our nation, and then the nations of the earth. We've got to be reaching into all aspects and so they were a bit reluctant to do that. It's quite interesting to see how God solved the problem of reluctant Christians. Here it is here - and so there was at that time - Chapter 8 - there rose a great persecution against the church. Isn't that nice? And therefore - Verse 4 - those who were scattered went out preaching the word, so God got them all out there eventually didn't He, how about that?
Great difficulty, a great opposition came, and so sometimes the difficulties we have, sometimes the challenges we have, are not challenges because we're advancing the kingdom, but they're challenges to get us out of the comfort zone and get on course, that our life counts in taking territory for Jesus Christ, winning souls, reaching people. So notice there, that those who were scattered - it doesn't say they were anyone important. It just says those that left Jerusalem and went to other parts, everywhere they went, they shared about Jesus Christ, everywhere they went people were won, and even Philip who was a Deacon, a helper in the church, he went out and preached the Gospel, preached about Jesus Christ. He is the one - the message is not about Bay City. The message is not about some great experience. The message is about a person, it's about Jesus Christ.
I want you to have a look with me, I'm going go to where I want to go, which is a scripture the Lord put in my heart. It's found in 2 Samuel, Chapter 5. So the end days, you've got to ask yourself, how is this going to affect me? What's this going to do for me? Where do I get on this? Everyone has got some place we need to break out; so if I asked you the question: when did you last lead someone to the Lord, and it's a long time ago, you need to break out, see? You need to break out. If I ask the question is than an issue or a fear or a thing in your life that's stopping you fulfilling what you know in your heart you're called to do or want to do, then that's nearer to break out. If there's limitations around your life, and you think man, I can't do all I'm supposed to do, that God wants me to do, all I've got in my heart, there's a limitation, it's to break out of it.
So everyone today will have something that God wants you to break out in, and as a body He wants us to break out in the engaging intention and connecting with people who don't know Jesus. So I want you to read with me in 2 Samuel, Chapter 5, Verse 17. Now the Philistines heard they'd anointed David king over Israel, and all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it, and went down to the stronghold. The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. So David inquired of the Lord, saying: shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said to David: go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand. Isn't that good? Go up, you'll win! So David went to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there; and then he said: the Lord has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water. So that's why he named the place Baal Perazim, meaning 'the Lord breaks through', or the 'Lord of breakthrough' - and he said: because the Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breakthrough of water.
So they left their images there, and David and his men carried them away. Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of the Lord, and He said you shall not go up; circle around behind them, get them from behind, come upon them in the front of the mulberry trees. And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, you'll advance quickly. For then the Lord will go out before you, and strike the camp of the Philistines. And David did so, as the Lord commanded him. That's a good statement - and he drove the Philistines from Geba, as far back as Gezer. Isn't that fantastic? What a great thing.
I want to pick it up and just open it and show you some things the Lord just dropped into my heart this morning, reading in Verse 17. Now the Philistines heard they'd anointed David king, so the Philistines were a very war-like people. They lived and dwelt in what's modern day Palestine now, lived on the coast. The name means literally 'to roll in the dust', and they were very violent, they worshipped idols, and they were a constant threat and a constant irritation to Israel. While Samuel was a prophet in the nation, while he was alive, they were held back by the anointing that he had on him. Once Samuel had died the Philistines began to invade the nation taking city after city, until the nation became deeply oppressed and impoverished because of the Philistines. Notice then, then the Philistines heard of David being anointed. Now they haven't heard that before. They didn't know about that before. Now they heard he's anointed king. Anointing is to empower you to do something. Every believer is anointed by the Holy Ghost. Every believer is given an anointing, a baptism in the Holy Spirit, an initial experience, but it's an empowerment experience,
David was anointed. When God anoints you, His anointing is for a purpose. A big mistake is to look for experiences, and separate your experiences from the purpose. I love experiences, I can't get enough of them, but if I separate experiences from the purpose of God, then the experiences become a deception, they become a trap, and we become irrelevant to the purpose of God. It doesn't matter how great the experience is, it is to lead you nearer to the Lord, so you'll bring people nearer to Him. So your anointing, God anoints us for a purpose. When the Holy Ghost was poured out - we read in Acts 1:8 - it was for a purpose, that we would make Jesus known. The second thing you notice there, in that verse is it says: they heard that David had been anointed king. Kings - notice it didn't say he was anointed a prophet, or a priest, or anything like that; he was anointed a king. This is what upset them, that he was anointed to be a king.
Here's the next thing: kings have dominion. Kings have a territory they rule over. God anointed David king because He had a purpose for Israel, to advance it, and to establish His kingdom in the earth. When you get anointed by the Holy Ghost, it's because God has in mind that you would, as a representative of heaven, advance His kingdom. How much did the kingdom advance last year, because of your effort? What advances were made, either at a personal level, or in the realm of influencing others? Ask the question - so David was anointed king, and kings have a territory, and kings dream of how they can enlarge their territory. Saul failed in his kingship, because he did not understand that he was a king in order to advance the purpose of God. The moment he stopped advancing the purpose of God, and just enjoyed the status he had, that's when he lost the plot, and lost his kingship.
Now you and I are called - the Bible tells us very clearly in Revelations 1 Verse 5, He has made us kings and priests unto God. In Revelations 5 it says: He has made us kings and priests to God, and we shall reign on earth. So you have been given a kingly anointing, and you are expected to reign, or to have a kingly influence in the earth, in the earth. It's not about waiting for some great thing one day. We are expected to advance the kingdom today, and all the teachings of Jesus talk about the kingdom, and the advance of the kingdom, and the stewardship of individual believers, of the gifts that God has given them - and God expects an increase from us, all of us. He expects us to be productive, expects us to be fruitful. So David was anointed king; you were born for dominion, and you should dream of it, so if there's anything in your life, if you've got a bondage in your flesh, a bondage in your life, you are called to have dominion over it. Set your face, you'll find the way to break free. Set your face, that this is not acceptable any longer.
If you have an addiction to smoking, then this is a bondage. Set your face, that you will expand the kingdom in your life, and have dominion over it, and begin to figure out or find out or get counsel how to break through that limitation. If you have a sin area in your life, a habit in your life, a fear in your life, determine this year, I will break through that. Then there are other parts of the kingdom and that's where we represent Christ in the community, so every one of us has a positioning in the community assignment. You have people you meet I'll never meet, and probably most of the people in this church won't meet either. They're in your territory, so wherever you go, your territory includes your personal life, your finances, your relationships, and wherever you are. So wherever we are, that's our territory, and we're not to rule over people. We're called to rule over spiritual influences, and to advance the kingdom of God, by being His representative to people, serving people as you heard of earlier on today.
So you are a king, and we have a commission, and it's a very clear commission: Go, make disciples. Go, make followers of Christ. Don't make church sitters and pew warmers. Don't make people who just come along, and Sunday's their church thing, and the rest of the week they'll just do what they like. That is not a Christian, that's not a disciple. That is not a disciple. A disciple is a follower of Jesus. We're following Jesus, then we align our life to begin to walk with Him, to discover His purpose, and to fulfil that purpose in our life - that's a disciple. Disciple, He said, follow Me, I'll make you a fisher of men. A disciple is a fisher of people. That means you put the right bait out, and you catch the fish - aha! How many did you catch last year? How many did we catch? How many did we catch for Christ? I love fishing.
I absolutely love fishing. I like going fishing with Brent Douglas. Brent's a great fisherman, he knows how to catch fish. A lot of people go out, you go out in the boat, catch nothing much - I hate that, just boring, get sea sick, and come back tired and cranky - but it's good tiredness. But when you go out with Brent, Brent is very focussed on fishing. I went out in the boat with him one time, and he said well here's the rule in the boat: don't talk. I said well that suits me fine, I don't want to talk anyway so that's great. We talked all day then. [Laughs] But we were focussed on fishing, and he showed me how to put the bait - how to hook it on properly. He showed me how you set your line up so you can catch these snapper, and he had this big chest there, and we come home full of snapper. I've been out several times with him. He knew how to set the bait, and he knew how to catch them, and he showed me some things that you do - I can't remember them all but he showed me so I caught fish. I didn't catch the big ones he caught - there's a way of catching the big ones too, a real way of catching the big ones.
Here's the thing though. You have to go where the fish are, and you have to lay out something that will draw and attract them, and then at the right time you hook them. If you don't have the right bait, you don't get any fish. If you don't go to where the fish are - and he would move this boat around all over the place, until he got it exactly where the fish were. He said it's no use fishing anywhere else, the only place you'll catch them, is where they are - make sense? See, so the fish you'll catch this year, aren't here, they're there. Think about that one.
So that means you need to turn up there, with an intention of fishing, and you don't always catch fish. Sometimes you get a bit disappointed, but if the fish are biting, you catch them, and so you've got to have the right bait, got to have the right way of hooking them. There's a bit of skill in it, and through the year I'd love if we can begin to start to set our heart, that we can begin to life our game plan and vision, that we'd see people saved for Christ, individually, right across the church. One person - sure, one person could come to Christ because of you. Some people come very easily, some of them come - you worked hard on this one, they didn't respond at all, and you've got someone over here, and suddenly they come to Christ, and you didn't do hardly anything. That's how it is, you do that. So there it is.
Now here's the other thing then is, there's no advance of the kingdom without resistance. The third thing, no advance of the kingdom without resistance, so when David was anointed king, and planned to advance the kingdom, the first thing the Philistines did when they heard about it was get up and jump up and go kill him. They wanted to kill him. When you set out - if you just want to just sort of be a casual Christian, you'll have to live your life below what God wanted. We're called to be productive and fruitful, that's fantastic, so here's the thing: the moment you step up and decide: I'm going to break out of this limitation, break out of this bondage, break into enlargement; you will encounter resistance and difficulties. If your prayer life is slack, and you say I'm going to really work on my prayer life in the next two, three weeks, get myself back into shape, you'll find resistance. If you decide you're going to break out of some bondage, there will be resistance.
The demonic realm notices people who are intent on a mission. Every time I ever go overseas, I always have something happen, before I go, while I'm there, and when I come back. It's always the same, and I've just learnt to shrug it off, as being part of the resistance that comes, so before and after this trip, I had things happen, and I've learnt to just shrug them off, just like that, just nothing, keep on course. When we were away we had lots of things happen, but funny things happened. We had a guy manifest in the room next door - haven't had that for a while. He was groaning and moaning and yelling for about half an hour I suppose, and then we had the power just go out on us, we had a whole lot of little things like that. It's just nothing, it's just little stuff, little stuff! You've got to learn to just hang in there - so the Philistines go up and their one thing in mind is to kill him. Kill him means take away the life, so the devil wants to take away liberty, freedom, and life from you, so you're bored and passive and dull, without fire for God! How we need to keep the fire every day alive - get inspired on Sunday, but what's happening Monday through Saturday? When you get up and begin to pray, begin to push through your limitations, and establish your positioning in heaven next to the Lord, and begin to decree today I speak and command my day, everything shall align up according to the will of God. I call blessing over my day today. I stand and take dominion over all assignments of the enemy, and cancel them in Jesus' name. Today everything will work together for good for me.
You've got to learn to get assertive, and get up, and start the day in prayer, and make decrees and declarations of the word of God, your life will be in alignment with the Lord! Demons, before they even come to you, you're on them, all over them! That's the spirit of David, see? So David, all these things happened to him, so there may be, we'll find there'll be resistance. An interesting thing here is I read that the giant, the Philistines came and they got themselves into this place called the Valley of Rephaim. I looked up about that and what I found was that Rephaim, they were descendants of the Nephilim, but they were formerly a race of giants. It's in this plain where the giants used to live, that's where the Philistines decided to set the battle, and I began to realise there are sometimes patterns of thinking, and fears, and strongholds, and issues in our life, and behind every one of them is some giant stands there intimidating you. Now the giants actually had all been killed by Joshua. All that's left is the memory of them. All that's left is the name. There's no giants there - but in that place where the giants were named, and where they once fell, there was a battle currently with the Philistines.
It's like Christ at the cross has legally defeated every enemy, defeated every bondage, defeated every demon that would come against you, but you have to deal with the memories of those things, and the thoughts of those things, and the attitudes of those things, and rise above it! I have felt God speaking to me about this, and I have been purposing in my heart to this year push out in a whole number of personal areas. It's good, you never quit, never give up, never retire see? [Applause] So I know there's a few people out in a retirement village, but don't you get a retirement spirit around you - it's all over, it's all over spiritually for you, you're not earning any more fruit in heaven, if you have that around you. You don't retire, just keep getting fired up - oh, we're in a retirement village. Well great! Let's start a prayer meeting! Let's start to pray and believe. Before all these people die and go to hell, let's get a few of them saved, and some of the staff while we're doing that!
So we've got all these activities they've arranged, well let's get to and start to pray, agree, and talk to them. And they can't escape - they all live in the village! [Laughter] All it needs is just one or two, hot-fired gospel Holy Ghost-filled tongue speaking believers - let's get the village saved aye! It's your territory if you live there. No one got saved? What happened? Why did you go there? Hey, glory to God! So we want to catch some people. If you're at school, young people at school, you need to believe God to break through the giants of fear and intimidation, rejection, see some people saved, see some people touched. It's a bit of work, you've got to sow and work at it, and of course there's always a resistance comes from the giants, so they call them to the place of battle, in the place that had memories of giants. I have no doubt that all of us this year will have some challenges, and it'll probably be over issues like fear or rejection or shyness, all that kind of stuff. But you've got to see what David did.
Now here's what I like about David - let's read what he did. It says: the Philistines heard that they'd anointed David king over Israel, and then went up to look for him. Now this is what I love about David: David immediately, because he heard about it, went straight down into the stronghold. The stronghold was his fortress, so when he heard it's on, there's a fight brewing, immediately calls all his soldiers together, gets them all armed up, and he's on, I'm going for it! Now you notice, he's already gone out to battle before he's even asked the Lord about whether he's going to have a fight or not. Now what that tells you then - see, its amazing insight to David - what it tells you is, he had a warrior spirit, and no one's going to knock him back, or put him down from what God called him to - warrior spirit. Got a breakthrough spirit. Interesting, all these guys around him got the same spirit on them, so notice, he's immediately someone stands up and challenges him to a fight, it's on. Now that's a fighting spirit. That's a fighting spirit. I've seen a few nasty people around town at times, and you look them in the eye, and suddenly [grr] they want to take you on, you know? That's not a fighting spirit, that's just they're plum angry and made at something and they're looking for a fight.
Well the Philistines were looking for a fight, and David said it's on! That's what I'm called to. I'm called to be a warrior. The only time he failed, was when he stopped going out to the fights, so he had an anointing to go out to the fight. He had a spirit of might on him, never lost a battle - except an internal one.
Now you and I, would you believe it, have an anointing for a fight! Well if you've got fears in your life, fight them! If you've got some depression around your life, fight it! You've got some demonic influence, fight it - and then there's some resistance in the community to people coming to Christ. It's in the spirit - fight it! [Applause] Fight it! Let's get something around us, that gets gritty and determined, and not namby-pamby and wussy. I can't stand it, and - I just can't stand it. I don't mind if we lie and stand and weep and worship and do stuff, so long as we're not wussy on the inside, so when the fight's on, you stare and you're counted, get up and get standing in the battle. We need to have that around us. David was both very tender, very soft, a worshipping man, spent a lot of time in the presence of God, but oh, he was a fighter! He fought - the public battle with the giant, was fought after the private battle with the lion and the bear. The lion, the demonic spirits, the bear, the crusher - that usually speaks of the flesh, speaks of iniquities in our family life or personal life. They try and crush us and stop us doing anything, and he took them on as a young boy with a sling, then he went out, and when time came to take on a giant, a biggie for the whole nation, he was ready. See, he was all ready.
What are you ready to pick on this year? I think you should decide what you're going to pick a fight on [laughter] really. You don't break out if you just wait for something to happen. You've got to decide, this is what God's speaking to me about, the challenge and the change, and I'm going to pick a fight with the devil on this one, until - and then I'll have a plan and I'll stick with it until I break out. I want you to see quickly David's plan, and then we'll just finish up. I want to show you a clip for three minutes that just touched my heart when I was looking at it, so the first thing is, he immediately goes up, so first thing is, you've got to take responsibility. Until you make a decision in your heart that you will make a change and be quite specific, nothing will happen. Notice what he did: he took responsibility. He didn't have to wait to be told to go out and get ready, he just immediately donned the weapons out and was gone, we've got this army showing up here, we're going to go down and give them what's what. They're not walking in here having it easy.
So the first thing is, you've got to take responsibility, you face the issues and take responsibility. Let me ask this. This is the thing I'm feeling a deep challenge in. Have we taken responsibility for people around us that don't know Christ? Have we taken responsibility in the workplace for its spiritual atmosphere, and for speaking and praying to change it? Have we taken responsibility to be the shepherd to the people that are there, so they find someone that's different in the workplace that reaches them? Have we taken responsibility? If we haven't, that's your first place to start. Have you taken responsibility to pray for anyone? They'll never change until someone begins to pray, and then has a plan, so number one, we need to take responsibility.
The second thing is revelation; he asked the Lord what to do, and basically what He's answering is this - now notice this: he's already gone down clothed with all the battle gear, he's got all the soldiers all called out and all ready to go, then he says: well what do you reckon Lord, should we go out to that fight? If we go out will I win it? They're good questions to ask the Lord aren't they? Should I pick this fight, and will I win it if I do? That's good prayer, asking God shall we go to that one, or not go to that one? Should I take that on, or not take it on?
So you notice although he's got a warrior spirit, he's also sensitive to the Holy Ghost leading. He listens to God. He enquires of God, he gets revelation, and God says: go up, take it head on. I'm with you, you'll clean them out! He said that's what I wanted to hear - so off he goes, has a battle, beats them thoroughly.
So number one, we need to take responsibility; number two, we need to get revelation, need to get insights on what to do and where to go so you don't go big headed and take on everything. You've got to take on what God gave you. The third thing is, you notice response; he took action, and he engaged the Philistines. Now this is the thing, you'll never change anything unless you engage it. To engage it, means you commit to getting involved. We have to engage with people if we're going to help them change. We have to engage the issues in our life, if they're going to shift. If you're happy to live with them, great. That's fine for you, good on you, well for you - but me, I want to move on in my life. I've decided I'm going to push against some things. See, so we need to make a response, and the response is that we've got to take some kind of action. You've got to do something, so it's all very well to get wound up, and get prepared, well to do to pray, but you've actually then got to put a plan down, and do something specific. God showed him even how to do it - got to take them on head on.
The fourth thing you notice here, it says after he broke through it says - Verse 21 - they left their images there, and David and his men carried them around. Notice that David addressed the root issue. The root problem they had was, what the power was behind these people, were these idols and he's making sure we're not having any idols around here. He dealt with the root issues. If you're going to deal with problems in your life, deal with the roots, not just the behaviour. If you don't change the root system, what you believe in your heart, and what's motivating your heart, then the behaviour performance thing doesn't get you very far.
A lot of people try with their willpower to make things happen in God, it doesn't happen that way, doesn't work that way. You've got to lean on the Holy Spirit to help you identify and deal with the roots. They discovered the idols, they discovered the root cause of this problem, they were having and they burnt them all. They just got rid of them all. Now here's the next thing is that you have to resist, because whatever you face, and whatever you determine to do this year to break out, there's going to be - it won't be just one battle. You'll have to have more than one, but you have to keep working at it. Some of these things you've got to keep persevering. I reckon that if you can just keep persevering and not quit, you'll probably break through and win, because you just outlast every one and everything else. You just kept going and wouldn't be stopped, so you need to resist.
The next time the enemy comes up - notice the next thing he does, is he gets fresh revelation. Now what this means is this: he never assumed that what he did last year would take him through this year. He never assumed that his gift would get him through. He never assumed that his past experiences would give him what he needed to get the victory. To get the victory, he needed God with him. For you to get victory this year and see breakthroughs, you need God with you. You need God with you, so you've got to continually ask him for direction, and the Lord said - notice what the Lord said. He says don't go up and take them head on. I've got a changed plan. Oh here's the plan: the plan now is you go sneak up around behind them, go right around the long way, come up behind them where they're not expecting it, and then he says wait until you hear the movement in the trees. In other words He said: there will be a supernatural movement, and on that movement then you initiate your action.
So you notice how on the one hand, he's got this warrior spirit and determination; on the other hand he's incredibly sensitive to the directions of the Holy Spirit, and if we're going to see things change in our life, have influence and whatever - maybe it's in your marriage, maybe it's in your family - you need to listen to the Holy Spirit, and get some insight on what to do. We need to listen a lot more, and then get busy doing what God said to do. Whatever God said to you to do last, do it - see? So he goes out there, and he routs them thoroughly, and this time they don't return. This time he decisively drives them right back to the far end of the land, and reclaims the territory that had been lost in the reign of Saul. What a great thing, so he truly broke out, and his fame was established.
So here's a couple of question to think about then, just as we finish up, and I want to show you a little clip. What are you going to do this year? What will you do this year to break out? What can you do? First of all start off by dreaming, and thinking about what do you want to change in your personal life, your finances, in your family, marriage, whatever it is. Just begin to dream about it. You've got to have a dream, ask the Lord, talk to the Lord, begin to get the dream, and not just in your personal life, but what about reaching or winning or influencing someone? One of the simplest things to do is, find what you love doing, and then do it with unsaved people and get them involved, draw them in. It's quite amazing what people [laughs] - I just said to the guys when I was away there hey, I love guns. Can we go shooting on Monday? Immediately, it was amazing how many people came out wanting to go out and do some stuff together, quite amazing. You've got to do some things together.
Secondly then, what's your limitation? What is the limitation that stops - what's stopping you? Is it your past experience, you've had a bad experience or two? Is it some thought pattern? Is it some habit pattern? Is it a bondage you need to break? Identify what the limitation is, because that is your hindrance personally, that you've got to get through. Then you may need to up-skill to get through that. You may need to learn something new, you may need to go into Equiping Track to get some training. If you're not in a small group - you need to be in a small group where others can encourage you in fulfilling your dream, and ask you how you're getting on, pray with you and stand with you. Finally it'll be what will you do? In the end what are you going to do? So have a think about what is it I want to break in? Where do I want to break out this year - in my personal life, marriage, family, and specifically in reaching the community? I need to do something. I need to break out. I need to break out. Tell someone next to you, you need to break out. Someone is waiting for you to break out.
I've got a little clip I want you to watch - if you could just play the clip now. I got it off YouTube and its called Evangelism, it's called Girl on a Park Bench. Just have a look at this.
[Excerpt] Here I am desperate for love, for truth. What are you going to do when you leave this building? Are you going to share with me what you've been learning here today, or are you just going to bottle it up and pull it out next week for your friends? Now when I say share I'm not talking about every tactic you've used on me in the past like judging my every move, telling me I'm a bad person, pointing fingers, giving me disgusting looks [laughs] and my favourite is when you tell me that I'm lost. I don't even know what that means to be lost. Do you really think judging me is going to make me change? Would it make you change? Now I know I'm a bad person. I've done bad things, but I don't need you to tell me that. What I need is for you to pick me up when I fall down, to be there when I'm broken. Yes, there's something missing in me. There's a void in my heart I don't know how to fill. You have it. You have that thing that makes you whole. You know that person that I need to know, so I'm watching your every move. I'm watching where you go, what you say and do because I'm desperate for something real. I need something genuine, to know that there's something more here than this. This can't be it, really and I think you know that. Listen to me, I need you. I need you to be here for me. I need you to walk out right now ready and willing to do whatever it takes - hey, it may not be comfortable. It may not be easy but I need you to show me love. No matter the cost show me what unconditional love really looks like. Stop telling me about this God of yours and show me who He really is. Honestly, I'll probably resist you. I'll probably argue with you and laugh at you. You know even when you fall I'll probably call you a hypocrite - but don't give up on me. Please don't give up on me because I'm going to ask you when's it going to happen?
[Pastor Mike] Let's close our eyes. A very powerful clip. Don't give up on me. What will you do? Let's listen to the Lord for just a moment, what He's saying that you need to do, that we need to do. It starts with just that one thing. [Pauses] What do you need to do this year to impact some unsaved person for Jesus Christ? What do you need to do? Do you need to learn how? Do you need to break out of the limitation of current relationships, do you need new skills, do you need - what do you need? What do you need to do?
Father, we just pray that You'll put in our hearts today people that need to know Jesus Christ, that Lord, we not walk out and just forget what we've learned. Lord, this year would be a true year of breaking out to see unsaved people connected to and engaged with, intentionally connected to with a view to winning them to you by demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ, the wonderful compassion. We may not see a leper but we can see someone who's really full of shame, defiled by what they've been involved in. They need Your help. We may not see a cripple, but we'll see people whose minds and emotions are crippled by the experiences they've been through. Why don't you just now just as we finish up, I don't want to finish up just with a big song or anything. I'd like us to pray with someone next to you, that they will fulfil what God spoke into their heart, they will truly break out and impact someone's life for Christ. Would you do that, just find someone near to you and pray, if you can move in the prophetic word move in the prophetic word. Let's pray and let's believe for God to touch someone's heart. Just pray for that person next to you. The problem is never what to do; the problem is having a heart to do it. God gave us a heart to do this.
