The Power Of Potential
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This passage of Scripture might seem simple. I'm learning that God speaks through simple. We want it deep. 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?

Because, see, 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. And 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. And hopefully you feel like a fresh wind of God's Spirit blowing in the church today. I hope you do. I certainly feel it on the inside.

And if you're not excited, I'm excited enough for all of us today. So 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. And this little scripture has been our window to see some precepts and principles that are changing our lives.

And picking up in verse 17 where Elisha the prophet tells Jehoash the king, "Open the east window." 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. And we're not saved by works, but we work out what God has worked in us. So salvation is not a stopping point. It's a starting line. And 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... Seven people helped me finish the church mission statement. That'll make you want to resign.

See what God can do through you. Look at your neighbor and say, yes, you. Even you. You too. Open the east window, which is facing Aram, which was a confederation of territories that was oppressing the nation of Israel. And 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 that he instructed him to grab in verses 15 and 16. And he said, "After you've opened it, shoot!" And he shot. And 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? Just trying to be real practical in this series about facing your Arum, launching your arrow, and seeing the salvation of God in your situation in 2017.

18, 19, 20, 20, whenever you're watching this on TV, they play these things for a long time. And he said that 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 preparation, how God is getting you ready, how he's preparing you for what he has prepared for you. Are you getting this on Snapchat, Hubakka? You might want to get this, because I'm preaching. It's my introduction, but I'm preaching pretty good. 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. Amen. And he said, "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek." And 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. Patience. Perseverance. Persistence.

Purpose. These are the elements that release potential. So we talked about the power of precision. We talked about the power of preparation. And 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, 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 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 and it's funny because anytime you talk about Potential you have to clarify a little bit and here's what I mean. I have four points for you about potential today number one Potential is unpredictable Potential is unpredictable even the prophets seeing what could have been the Lord's arrow of victory over Aram was not able to predict the ultimate outcome and

Because potential here's a dating tip don't pick your mate according to their potential Okay, you are not Joanna Gaines and this is not fixer-upper

Oh, 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. I'm preaching Lord Jesus and they won't say nothing. Did you turn this church into a presbytery overnight? But he has so much potential, but he also has terrible spending habits. So 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 what's his potential. I'm not saying they have to be perfect. I mean, it took Holly a whole year to see my potential.

And look, you always can't see potential in people. They miss Jesus. They missed him because he looked like them. They missed him because they could not see the Messiah. They missed him. 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.

He's already telling her. He knows the story. They walked in, auditioned 15 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 EQing it right now, and you have no idea. You see what you helped me preach. I feel like a funeral at Valentine just broke out and nobody told me. 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. And be honest with them. Tell them, I don't either. Because I live with my problems, and I live with my pain.

And sometimes I live in my past, and it makes me unable to predict my potential. So what I've learned to do, I've learned to stop short. I've learned how to only strike with three arrows rather than five or six. And I'm going to tell you why I do it. I do it because my fear of falling short, my fear of failure…

You remember, Greg, 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. 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 Jehoashin 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's happened.

It's 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, you know, a little off. Might still end up on Dr. Phil. They might. You never know. There are no guarantees. You know, 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. So I'd rather go all in, give it all I've got, 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 lay 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's my five loaves. Here's my two fish. If you would have wanted me to have a cooler with food, you should have told me we got to the picnic. Look at your neighbor and say, at least I'm trying. 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 than you would have. That can stay with you for a lifetime. The good news is the window is still open. The good news is if you stop 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 missed some opportunities.

And I feel like I'm not living at my full potential, but here's the crazy thing about it. I simultaneously feel, and please, please, if you feel this way too, just respond, some kind of grunt, some kind of something, just raise it up all the way, just one of these. How many of you have ever sat next to somebody in worship, they do the kind of hand raise thing? Just do that. I feel simultaneously like I'm giving it all I've got, and what more do you want from me, and I'm not doing enough at the same time.

You know why? Potential, point number two, I'm flying. Potential is limited. I know the poster with the eagle and the sunset, with the eagle carrying a trophy into the sunset over the coffee maker in the break room said that you had unlimited potential, but look at somebody and say, you don't. Potential is limited.

Potential is limited. And if you think about it real quick, 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 Somerville Baptist when I realized on the court in the gym of the Family Life Center, "Basketball is not my sport." I can still wear J's, 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. And it kind of hurt my feelings because people say talk is cheap, and what I do well is talk. So what does that make me? I have potential. It 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 Halterwonger got up and closed after I preached, and he said, "Boy, Stephen sure has potential." And I felt good about it, and Jamie told me afterwards, "Chris," he said, "You know that wasn't a compliment, right?"

I said, "He said I had potential." He said, "Yeah, that's right. Potential means it hasn't yet been matured into purpose yet." He said, "You said crap three times while you spoke, and you were speaking in a Baptist church of the average age was 67 on a Sunday night." But I have potential. I got my own church. I can say whatever I want up here. Oh, you rebels.

So so go with me santee circle community church the church where I served as youth minister is building a building pastor Mickey said you got 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 hall 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 and uh

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. 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. Because you already know that you're not doing all that you can do. And at the same time, you feel like you couldn't do anymore. But it's not enough. But it's all I got. But it's not enough.

But it's all I got. But it's not enough. But it's all I got. But it's not enough." And 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 that you haven't reached because you are 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 that 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.

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 that.

What I was born to do and when I do what God made me to do like God made me to do it Purpose somebody shot purpose, but potential is designed and custom fit for purpose All right, 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. He said, 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 they don't hit deep is because we resist the tension that would release the truth. So when we just say God is good, it sounds good, but it's kind of like cotton candy, a little sugar high, 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. 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... Point number three...

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 that God gave him to extend his king. Potential has potential. I can use this microphone to bring people together or tear people apart. Potential has potential.

has potential. 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. 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 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's been sitting out for a month? It does the 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's been sitting in the jug, sitting on the shelf. I'm afraid to fail, so I won't try, and now my potential has become poisonous, and

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.

So I don't want to reach my potential. What do I want to do? I want to do what Paul did. He said, "Forgetting what is behind me…" This is Philippians 3. "…and straining toward what's ahead…" I have to forget about the past. My potential is not back there. "…and straining toward what's ahead…"

I gotta persevere. My potential won't come to pass if I play with it. I can't strike three times. I gotta strain towards something. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God.

Let me show you something. I've got to show you this. He said, Philippians 3, verse 15. This is cool. He said, All of us then who are mature should take such a view of things. What's 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 helped me preach this message for three people who feel like it's all a guy.

But it's not enough, but it's all I got, 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 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 Helping somebody I'm helping somebody

I'm helping somebody. What's your name? What's your name? I'm helping you. But 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 Hall 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

I told the whole church about Love Week, and 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, and it hit me. If I use what I've got, God will be what I've been shot at.

High five your neighbor and say, "Work it!" Work it! Work it! Work it! Work your window! Work your gift! Work your potential! According to his purpose! I wish this was the rowdy crowd. I wish this was the rowdy crowd. I wish y'all knew how to respond when the Word of God hits your life. Potential has potential. How did a microphone build a house? It's the power of potential.

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. Toward. 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. To preach. 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 can preach it better. I want to reach it.

That's it. That's it. That's it.

Potential. Initiative. Potential. 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, 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 Bray. Larry Bray 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, and he was on stage here at Ballantyne. He said, "Thank you, Pastor, for seeing my potential." I never told him this until this moment, but I want to tell him right now. I didn't see potential in you. Power.

I don't see potential in you. You can't see potential. None of us know. 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 that we were serving at said he wanted something before he could get it out of his mouth what he wanted built, Larry Bride was at Lowe's with his pickup truck.

I saw in 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." 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, and the way you throw that net is the way you're going to… Come on. 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.

How will you know your full potential if you don't give yourself to the process? Point number four, and I'm closing with this: process reveals potential. Write it down. 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.

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. And 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 Mike can do. You never know what your marriage could be. You never know what you could be as a dad if you just keep 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 can't do what he didn't assign you to do. And your perseverance. And he told him you should have struck five or six times. My oldest son

Loves to argue and you could see that as a problem I see it as potential because I feel like if we can get it applied to the right purpose I don't have time to preach this whole sermon but um Something you've been calling a problem is actually your potential in a different dimension That boy might make 10 million dollars as a lawyer by the time he's 25 and tithes to me personally Stephen Furtick Incorporated ministries of Jesus Christ. It's not a real thing

And he was kind of arguing with me. He said, this is the most epic text in the Bible, but why not? He said, why not nine or 10 times? Why not 15 or 16? Because 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. You can stay with me, LJ, I'm closing. And when the mantle falls on him, his potential is revealed with a glimpse. It's just a glimpse, right?

He did not fully realize his potential until 14 years later that he was standing at the Jordan with the mantle that hit his shoulders while he was plowing because process reveals potential. 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? I mean if we're just striking the ground. But 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 got potential. You got potential." I know you got 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. And what you do with it is up to you. 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.

Man of God was angry. 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. What was the verse? Was it 17? Was it verse 17? Give it to me on the monitor here. Everybody shout potential. You mumbled whispered potential. I wanted you to shout potential. Shout potential. Come on, shout potential. Shout potential. Power of potential. You let it sit, it'll become poisonous.

You'll start projecting onto other people the potential that you didn't fulfill. 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 oppressed worker. You will. You're gonna do it all." Verse 18. Then he said, "Take the arrows." 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 that God used. I've met discouraged people that God used. I've met mean people that God used. 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.

The next thing he did, he's walking along, and some boys come out of the woods, and they start calling him Baldy. It's in your Bible. Read it. 2 Kings 2, verse 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 flannel graph, 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 pain of stopping short, the shame of stopping short is worse than the pain of falling short. Why don't you press? Why don't you run? Why don't you go? Why don't you strike? Every arrow. Every arrow. Stand to your feet. I'm closing. Every arrow. I'm using every arrow.

I'm using every arrow. I'm not leaving any arrows on the ground. I'm not leaving anything. And the man of God was angry. You should have, you could have. You should have, you could have. And then the Bible says that Elisha died and was buried. And 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 standing next to you, sitting next to you, this whole worship experience, and tell him it's not over. It's not over.

He dies and they're carrying out a body watch this and they were in a rush to throw the body Because some Raiders came and when they threw the body they accidentally hit Elisha's tomb and when the body took touched Elisha's bones the man came to life stood on his feet now I could preach that two ways I could preach that to say whatever is buried in your life is

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 gotta be legalistic in your 20s." But now I'm starting to see I get to know people. And I realize that you're holding back parts of yourself and you're giving a percentage of yourself to your purpose. Because you're telling yourself, "If I..." Here's the way one comedian said it. He was up in front of a crowd and he said, "I didn't prepare tonight, so I have no idea what I'm gonna say." And 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. He said, no, I'm serious. He said, 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 got my shoes off. I got 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. That's my shop potential. He said, if I don't prepare and I bomb, well, I didn't prepare. Try harder next time. Go get them.

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. I'd rather stop short than give it all I got and find out it wasn't enough. But I declare in the name of Jesus, whoever this is for, lift your hands and receive it. You are enough.

Say, "Allah, 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 was.

Come on, church. Come on.

Thanks again for listening. God bless you.