David [00:00:00]:
So glad you’re here with us tonight. It’s Wednesday, March the 4th. Wow. And here in Middle Tennessee, everything is blooming. The trees are blooming, the flowers are blooming, and it’s a beautiful time of year. Weather’s great right now, and we’re just praying that you’re having a good time wherever you are tonight. So we’re glad you’re here with us. Let’s bow our heads and open in prayer tonight.
David [00:00:28]:
Father, we thank you for this time we have together. We give you praise and glory for it, and we thank you, Lord Jesus, for being here with us. And thank you that your presence just fills this room, this place, even wherever our online livestream people are. We pray that you— your presence just fill their homes, their residence, whatever space they’re in right now. And we thank you for that, Father. And God, we just open our hearts to you, and we come and give glory to your name and thank you for your blessing that’s on our lives tonight. Amen. So tonight I’m going to start— and you know, a few weeks ago, our first service, we started with this song, but I just felt led to sing it again tonight.
David [00:01:22]:
And, you know, Jeremiah 33 talks about that if we ask the Lord, he says, ask of me and I will show you great and mighty things that you know not of. And so I want us to sing this song together expecting great things. And so just join in with us and As I get myself together here.
David [00:02:19]:
I’m expecting great things. I’m expecting great things. I’m expecting great things. Great things.
David [00:02:36]:
Sing that again.
David [00:02:38]:
I’m expecting great things. I’m expecting great things. I’m expecting great things in my life. You do great things in my heart. You do great things all around. You do great things. I said see. I choose to believe in great things.
David [00:03:38]:
Sing it again.
David [00:03:39]:
I’m expecting. I’m expecting great things. I’m expecting great things. I’m expecting I’m expecting great things, great things. I’m expecting great things. I’m expecting great things, great things in my life. You do great things in my home. You do great things all around.
David [00:04:42]:
You do great things I said and see, I choose to believe in great things. I’m expecting great things. I’m expecting great things. I’m expecting great things. Great things. I’m expecting great things. I’m expecting great things.
David [00:05:37]:
I’m expecting great things.
David [00:05:37]:
Great things.
David [00:05:37]:
Amen. Just take a moment and thank God for the great things you’re expecting tonight, the great things you’re believing God for.
David [00:05:44]:
Just thank him right now.
David [00:05:45]:
Father, we thank you. As you said in Jeremiah 33, that if we would ask, you would show us great things.
David [00:05:53]:
And we thank you for showing us great things, great things, great things, great things.
David [00:06:01]:
Hallelujah. Amen.
David [00:06:08]:
The splendor of the King, clothed in majesty. Let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice. He wraps himself in light. And darkness tries to die, and it trembles at his voice, trembles at his voice. How great is our God! Sing with me, how great is our God! And all will see how great, how great is our God. How great—
David [00:07:04]:
sing that chorus again.
David [00:07:05]:
Is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God. Age to age he stands. Time is in his hands. Beginning and the end. Beginning and the end. The God of three in one.
David [00:07:47]:
Spirit, Son, the Lion and the Lamb, the Lion and the Lamb. How great is our God! Sing with me, how great is our God! And all see how great, how great is our God! How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God. He’s a name name above all names, worthy of all praise. My heart will sing how great is our God. He’s a name above all names, worthy of all How great is our God.
David [00:09:20]:
How great is our God. Sing with me, how great is our God. All will see how great How great is our God.
David [00:09:40]:
Sing it again.
David [00:09:41]:
How great is our God. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our Amen.
David [00:10:13]:
Praise God.
David [00:10:14]:
Blessed be the name of the Lord God on high. Praise God.
David [00:10:19]:
Pastor Kanye.
David [00:10:28]:
Well, it is offering time, and we love offering time, not because it’s about money and what are we going to do with our money and how do we do our money and what does God expect from our money, but it’s a chance for us to participate in what God is doing here in the earth. God doesn’t need our money, and, and the verse here in 1 Chronicles. Everything we have has come from you.
David [00:10:54]:
Amen.
David [00:10:55]:
And we give you only what you first gave us. It all came from God, and it is ours to do with whatever we want. It was a gift from him. What he has given us is a gift, and it does become ours, and we take hold of it. But when we give it back to him We are showing him many things. Yes, the first and foremost is that it doesn’t have a hold on us.
David [00:11:24]:
Amen.
David [00:11:24]:
We don’t have to have those things in order to function, and that we know that if we give it back to God, it’s going to be multiplied. We can only do so much with what he gives us, but when we give it back to him, when we open up our hands and say, Lord, You can do much better things with this than I can by myself.
David [00:11:47]:
Thank you, Jesus.
David [00:11:48]:
I trust you. Yes, I trust you. Yes, not only do I trust you, but I’m excited about what you’re going to do with this. One of the great privileges that we get is to be able to see what God’s going to do with what we give back to him and what we then get to participate in. So there’s several ways to give. You can give here personally in the room.
David [00:12:15]:
Yes.
David [00:12:15]:
Or you can go online to our website, emergeinternationalchurch.org, or— and on there, there’s ways to text to give, and you can give through the giving form right there. We are very diligent about keeping track of everything so that you know where your seed is going. So you want to select on there, General Fund, if you want to give to what Emerge is doing. And then we’ve explained several times the missions goes to several places, one of which is in a church plant that is going in Hawaii, but to reach Korea. And that’s one that has hold of our hearts. But there’s several others that God has led us to pour into. And so not only do we tithe and offer on our income, but the church tithes and it offers as well, and we call that twice-sown seed. It’s sown two times.
David [00:13:14]:
So give with a cheerful heart. Don’t ever feel like you’re supposed to give or you have to give. Give with a heart that says, “Lord, I’m excited. I’m excited about what you’re going to do with this,” and wait and see what God does. Let me pray over these offerings. Lord, thank you. Thank you that you have made a way for us to be able to participate in what you want to do here in the kingdom. Thank you that we have the honor and the privilege of partnering with you and that as your child, Lord, this inheritance that we get to spend is multiplied by you back to us again and again and again.
David [00:13:59]:
We love you, Lord, and I just pray blessing over each and every offering that has come through. May they be blessed a hundredfold here in the earth and in the time to come. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David [00:14:16]:
Amen. As we give tonight, sing this with me. It’s an older chorus. It just says, I love And I lift my voice to worship you.
David [00:14:42]:
Oh, my soul, rejoice. Take joy My king, and while you hear, let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ears.
David [00:15:15]:
Sing it again with me.
David [00:15:18]:
Oh, I love you, and I lift my voice to worship. Oh, my sin repents. Take joy, my king, in what you hear, and let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ears. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ears. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ears.
David [00:16:43]:
Oh, we love you, Jesus. We love you, Father God.
David [00:16:50]:
We love you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, Father. Glory to God. Amen. Hallelujah.
David [00:16:59]:
Thank you, Jesus.
David [00:17:00]:
Jesus.
David [00:17:02]:
Praise you, Father.
David [00:17:03]:
Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God, glory to God. Hallelujah.
David [00:17:10]:
Thank you, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.
David [00:17:16]:
Thank you, Jesus.
David [00:17:19]:
Praise God. Hallelujah. Praise God, praise God, praise God. Glory to God, glory to God. Hallelujah.
David [00:17:31]:
Thank you, Jesus.
David [00:17:32]:
Get my notes situated here. I’m just so glad that, uh, thank you, we can be here with you tonight. You know, last week we discussed, we began by discussing The mindset of multiplication. And what we saw was that our Father God is a big thinker, and he’s always looking to increase and multiply in all he does. We talked about the fact that the universe is still enlarging. As God told me one day, he said, I was praying and I said, Lord, I look forward to the day that I can know you completely, know all there is to know about you. And as I prayed that, I heard this— seriously, I heard the Lord laugh. And, and he says, David, you’ll never know me completely.
David [00:18:41]:
And I went, what? He goes, He reminded me, says, “Who am I?” I said, “You’re the Almighty God.” He goes, “Right. And every day, what am I?” And I went, “Oh, you’re new. Every morning you’re new. Every day you’re new.” He goes, “That’s right. I’m new. I’m better. I’m more. I’ve grown.” He goes, you’ll never know everything there is to know about me.
David [00:19:12]:
There’s always more to learn about me throughout eternity, forever and ever. And he goes, guess what? Same’s true for you, son. You’re made in my image and in my likeness, so you’ll be new every day too. You’ll grow, you’ll learn, you’ll be more. Praise God! Our God is a God of increase. Our God is a big thinker. He’s a God who looks for multiplication. That’s why he spoke over mankind, be fruitful and multiply.
David [00:19:48]:
And one of the ways we saw last week as we talked about this, the way he does this is through his blessing. And so there’s an aspect of God’s blessing that he spoke over mankind, which I want us to begin to look into and understand tonight. And so Genesis 1:27 and 28 says this: So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him, male and female. He created them. Then God blessed them. Then God blessed them. I want to stop right there and dig into that word blessed tonight, go deeper into it.
David [00:20:45]:
The word blessed there in the Hebrew means— literally, it means to kneel down and be blessed. Now, this word has a twofold meaning, and we’re going to look at both of them tonight. But the beginning is to kneel down and be blessed. We bless God by kneeling before him as an act of adoration, of adoring him, as an act of acknowledging who he is. As we receive his blessing over us, recognizing his blessing as a benefit to us. Which reminds me, I talk about recognizing, I talk about acknowledging there. It reminds me of a verse, Proverbs 3:5-6. Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind.
David [00:21:50]:
And do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways, know, recognize, and acknowledge him, and he will direct and make straight and plain your paths. That’s one of the ways we bless the Lord. We come and acknowledge him. We know him. We recognize him in all of our life and we kneel before him. This was a very intentional act of the Lord. What he was doing here with Adam and Eve was very intentional.
David [00:22:27]:
This just wasn’t a passing thing like sometimes we do when we’re with people. Well, bless you, brother. Bless you, sister. No, Adam and Eve came and bowed before the Lord, and he blessed them. He laid his hands on them and spoke over them and blessed them. And here’s the truth also we need to know and understand: this blessing wasn’t just for Adam and Eve. This blessing spoke by the Father God over Adam and Eve was spoken to all mankind. ‘Cause the seed of all mankind was within them.
David [00:23:11]:
And so this is a mandate for all humanity. It is still active and operative within mankind today. So God blessed them. They kneeled before him and God blessed them. Now, the second meaning here. Now, this word blessed here is used over 300 times in the Old Testament. It’s a multifaceted word. God’s word is always multi-dimensional.
David [00:23:47]:
It’s like a gem, it’s just multifaceted, you know. But the other definition here of blessed, and you can find this in several different Hebrew lexicons, But it means to be prospered by God. When God blessed them, he prospered them. Now let’s look at what— we’re going to look at what that means, but first let me read this from Genesis because I said he meant it for all mankind. We see throughout Genesis God blessing people. First he blessed Adam and Eve, then he blessed Noah and his family, and then we get to Abraham. And Genesis 12:1-3, listen to what it says here. Now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.
David [00:24:51]:
And I probably should go to that slide. Oh, you’re, you’re already there. Thank you. And to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
David [00:25:19]:
Now let’s look at that same verse in the Passion Translation, it says the Lord said, follow me and I will make you into a great nation. I will exceedingly bless and prosper you, and I will make you famous so that you will be a tremendous source of blessing for others.
David [00:25:40]:
Wow.
David [00:25:40]:
Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. And then Genesis 12:2-3 in the Amplified says it this way. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you with abundant increase of favors and make your name famous and distinguished. And you will be a blessing, dispensing good to others. And I will bless those who bless you, who confer prosperity or happiness upon you, and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you. ‘in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed, and by you they will bless themselves.’ Wow, wow, wow, wow.
David [00:26:32]:
Now there are 3 things I notice here as I read this that God said, and before we move on, I want us to see this. When God blessed Abraham, he said 3 key things. I will bless you, so you shall be a blessing, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. So again, what we see here, what the Lord was speaking over Abraham was not only for Abraham and his family and the people Abraham would touch and influence there, but it was for all the families of the earth. That includes you and me. All the families of the earth. Praise God, we are all blessed through faithful Abraham. Blessing flows to you so it can flow through you.
David [00:27:39]:
That’s what God was doing with Adam and Eve. He wanted them to be blessed, to bring heaven on earth. That’s what he was doing through Abraham. He did it through Noah, Abraham. He did it through Isaac, Jacob, and right on down. We’re going to see this blessing flows to us so it can flow through us and from us. So let’s dig into this tonight. So we said that the second definition there of blessing is to be prospered by God.
David [00:28:16]:
So what does it mean to be prospered by God? Well, that word prosper there in the Hebrew means 4 things. It means to advance, to make progress, to succeed, to be profitable. Hallelujah. To advance, to make progress, to succeed, to be profitable. When God blessed Abraham and Adam and Eve, he empowered them to advance, to make progress, to succeed, and to be profitable. This was for every area and every dimension of their life, not just finances. We tend to think in our culture, blessed and prosperous is finances. That’s not all that means.
David [00:29:12]:
God wants this for us in every dimension of our life— spiritually, mentally, physically, relationally, personally, professionally. And financially. In all these areas, he wants you to advance, to make progress, to succeed, and to be profitable. That’s ours. That’s one of the things that Satan stole from Adam and Eve and from mankind that Jesus brought back to us. He gave it to us. It is ours. Praise God.
David [00:29:54]:
Genesis 1:28 in the Passion Translation says, and God blessed them in his love. See, all of this I’m sharing with you today flows out of God’s love for all mankind. God is love, and everything he does flows out of his love for us. God loves you, and he wants you to know you are blessed. You are prospered by God. Now let’s look at what it means to advance. Praise God. Praise God.
David [00:30:36]:
This morning Hot water was coming out of my wall when I got in my shower. I didn’t have to go to the well and draw it. I didn’t have to heat it over a fire or over a stove in a big pot. I simply rolled out of bed and headed to my shower. Many mornings I thank God for hot water in my shower. I thank God for the water department that brings it to me consistently without interruption. I thank God for the person or persons who he inspired to create the whole process of bringing water to our homes many decades ago. Because of what the Lord declared to Adam and Eve, we are still advancing in every dimension of life today.
David [00:31:34]:
We’re still making progress. We’re still seeing success and profiting from God’s blessing daily. Praise God. And so many, so many, so many different ways. God is in every good thing that comes. We can’t really take credit for anything. God flows through us. He uses our potential and our creativity to create all of this and advances, but it’s him in us, in all of us, working through us.
David [00:32:13]:
It is his blessing that causes all this advancement and progress to come forth. He declared it over mankind, and so we’re walking in it. You know, one advancement I’m grateful for is our ability to fill the earth with the good news of the gospel every week via our online streaming service and the internet. I mean, what we’re doing right here tonight, wow, this is powerful. I remember a time when to do this right here for an hour would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I worked with an organization back in the ’80s. We did the first worldwide, around-the-world communion service that had ever been done. It was the first time that a broadcast had been broadcast via satellite worldwide, around the world.
David [00:33:20]:
Simultaneously synced. It costs well over $1 million to do it, and now we get online and do it all the time, every day. Because of the advancements we’ve seen in the past decade, billions have access to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. 24 hours a day, each and every day. Genesis 1:28 in the Amplified says this: And God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, using all of its vast resources in the service of God and man, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. So what we see here is this: subduing the earth is using all of its vast resources in the service of God and man. This is how we advance, make progress, succeed, and profit. All that God was saying here over Adam and Eve, it was all linked together.
David [00:34:42]:
To empower them to go forth and be who he created them to be. Jesus restored all of that to us on the cross through his sacrifice, his death, his resurrection, all he bore for us so that we could have it all again and go into the earth using all of its vast resources in the service of God and man and advance, make progress, succeed, and profit. Through the centuries, I love studying this, but through the centuries, mankind has learned to optimize and maximize the vast resources of the earth for all of our benefit. We all benefit from this. So as we move forward, we will continue to do so because God mandated by his words That is who we are to be. Those who advance, those who make progress, those who succeed, and those who profit. So tonight, one of the things I want us to begin looking into is some ways that God prospers us by advancing us. Godly advancement is not about human ambition.
David [00:36:09]:
Ambition is a good thing when it is submitted to God. However, the enemy has made it about self-promotion, striving to have more, being better than everyone else. Godly advancement is God moving his purpose forward in and through his people. Brother Keith Moore says, what is God’s purpose? It’s real simple. He told it to his disciples: his will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. With God, advancement is never accidental. It flows and follows divine order. So first one here I want us to look at is this: Advancement by God’s presence.
David [00:37:09]:
God goes before you. Presence is the first dimension. Huh. Presence is the first dimension of advancement. Adam and Eve begin by bowing down before the presence of God. God’s presence brings blessing. The Hebrew word qadam means to go before, to proceed, to advance ahead of someone. And we’re going to see 5 things, 5 different Hebrew words here that can be translated advance.
David [00:37:45]:
But it means— this first one means to go before, to proceed, to advance ahead of someone. When God goes before you, paths are prepared. Psalm 32:8 in the NLT says this: The Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Did you catch that? God says, I will guide you along the best pathway, the best way to move forward, the best way to advance. He will guide us along the best pathway for our life. And he will advise us as we walk that way, and he will watch over us. How cool is that? You’re not alone in this journey.
David [00:38:37]:
And then Isaiah 30:21, the Amplified Classic says this: And your ears will hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it. When you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left. You see, advancement is about where God is guiding and directing you. Advancement is not just about all the opportunities and possibilities that we see. It’s about walking with God, being in his presence. And him showing you the way. Before doors open, God’s presence moves. That’s how the doors open.
David [00:39:31]:
The second key here to advancement is advancement by God’s power. So we step into his presence, and when we step into his presence, we have access to his power. God’s blessing causes you to succeed. His equipping you with his power causes you to succeed. The Hebrew word salah means to push forward, to prosper, to break out successfully.
David [00:40:13]:
Wow.
David [00:40:14]:
To push forward, to prosper, to break out successfully. This word here appears repeatedly in the life and story of David. And let’s look at that. 1 Samuel 18:14 in the NLT says, David continued to succeed. There’s the word right there. There, to succeed in everything he did, for the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. David’s success flowed from God being with him.
David [00:40:50]:
Being prospered by God flows from God’s presence empowering you to be, do, and have more. And when you be, do, and have more, you can give more, you can serve more, you can advance more. Which brings me back to this verse. I’ve shared this with you before, but Joshua 1:8, the Amplified Classic, says, this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written within it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. Being prospered by God means you are empowered to move forward, to advance. God’s wisdom and power flows to you and flows through you. What you would touch advances.
David [00:41:56]:
You are fruitful and multiply. Grace surrounds you. God’s favor rests on you and your assignment, and you are blessed to be a blessing. Glory to God. True success is about the advancement of God’s divine purpose in you and through you by God’s power. The third way we advance is by God’s process. Advancement by God’s process. It means moving in steps, stages, and strategies.
David [00:42:40]:
Now, knowing my wife like I do, she knows this very well, and I can tell you right now, this was not her favorite part of the process of advancement. We are on a journey with our Father God. A journey is a process, a series of steps, stages, and strategies. The third Hebrew word for advancement is nasah. It means to pull up tent pegs and journey. That’s what Abraham did. That’s what the children of Israel did. It’s time to pull up those tent pegs and go somewhere.
David [00:43:19]:
When God brought Israel out of Egypt, they didn’t teleport into the promised land. Now, some of us would like to do that today, but no, they moved in steps, stages, and strategies. When the cloud of God’s glory moved, they moved with it. And when the cloud stopped, They stopped, set up camp, put those tent pegs back down. You see, here’s a truth. Advancement is progressive. Advancement is progressive. All right, there we go.
David [00:44:03]:
I caught up. We live in a world of drive-throughs, Amazon delivery, and no need to go to the grocery store.
David [00:44:17]:
Hallelujah!
David [00:44:18]:
I’ll order it online and they’ll just drop it off. Praise God! We live in a world where we want acceleration without formation, without process. You know, they say it took Edison 10,000 experiments over 14 months before he found the right filament for a light bulb. That was 1879 when they finally brought it all together, 147 years ago. And look where we’ve come to now with light. There’s so many different ways you can have light these days, but it took steps, stages, and strategies. You see, God wants to accelerate us, but he does it through a process of growth and empowerment. He does it through steps, stages, and strategies.
David [00:45:28]:
Wow. Think about King David. He was in the field tending the sheep. Then he worked in the palace serving King Saul, became a leader in the army and a warrior. Then he spent years in the wilderness running from Saul, who was jealous of him. And then God placed him on the throne. I bet you there were times when he was in the wilderness going, God, did I miss it somewhere? God’s process does 3 things to advance us. Number 1, it builds us.
David [00:46:22]:
Number 2, it develops us. And number 3, it shapes, forms, and fashions us to be all God created us to be. Joshua 1:8 in the Amplified Classic says this: This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you will deal wisely and have good success. God’s process to advance you is daily and ongoing. Paul said it this way in Romans 12:2 in the Amplified Classic: Do not be conformed to this world, this age, fashioned after and adapted to its external superficial customs, but be transformed and changed by the entire renewal of your mind, by its new ideals, its new attitude, so that you may prove for yourself what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in his sight for you. You see, if we despise God’s steps, stages, and strategies, we will mishandle our destiny. God advances you in defining moments and movements.
David [00:47:56]:
Sometimes they seem small, like we’re taking baby steps, but added up together to where God God wants us to be, to advance us. The fourth way we advance is by walking with God. Walking with God. And this is where we get into daily obedience, daily surrender. The fourth Hebrew word for advancement is halak. Which means to walk. Get up every day and walk. Deuteronomy 5:33 in the Amplified Classic says this: You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land which you shall possess.
David [00:49:03]:
That word ‘walk there in the ways which the Lord has commanded you’ simply means this. The word ‘command’ there also can be translated ‘instruction.’ Walk in the ways God has instructed you. Walk in the way God has instructed you to walk. Walk in God’s way. That it’s going to go well with you. One of the ways we advance is to walk in God’s way. Now let’s drill down into what that means. Isaiah 55:9, the Amplified Classic.
David [00:49:46]:
Am I behind? There it is. Isaiah 55:9 in the Amplified Classic says For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. That word ways there in the Hebrew means my manner of living is higher than yours. My lifestyle is higher than yours. It’s better than yours. The way I think is a lot higher than you think. It’s a lot better than you think. Which causes me to ask this question: how are you living? What are you doing daily to advance? Are you living God’s way, his lifestyle, his way of thinking? You see, walking with God implies rhythm.
David [00:50:47]:
Cycles and seasons, direction, an aim, a course of action, consistency. Consistency there means a standing together, to be in agreement and harmony, to be of one mind. When we’re walking with God, this is a relational daily journey of aligning your will, your spirit, your actions with his, with the divine, rather than just the fleeting feeling every now and then. Oh, this daily walk brings peace, purpose, and love as you advance in God’s way. Praise God. Praise God. Here’s a quote to think about. Private obedience precedes public authority.
David [00:51:45]:
Amen.
David [00:51:45]:
Amen. What you prepare for privately in God’s presence, you present publicly by his power. Let me say that again. What you prepare for privately in God’s presence, you present publicly by his power. Advancement is hidden in our daily yes to his purpose and plan. That’s good. I love you. Advancement is hidden in our daily yes to his purpose and plan.
David [00:52:28]:
Reminds me of the song, worship song We say yes, Lord, yes to your will and to your way. The fifth way we advance, we advance to another level with God, going up into his promise. The fifth Hebrew word here is Ela. Ela means to go up, to ascend, to rise. A part of learning to advance is learning to walk in all God has promised us, all Christ bought for us on the cross and through his death and resurrection. In Hebrew thought, you always go up into a promise. You rise to another level. Step up or go up into God’s promises.
David [00:53:33]:
This requires active faith. We’re not just sitting around wishing and waiting. We’re actively expecting. It’s taking the first step forward to claim what he has already given us. It involves aligning our actions with his word rather than waiting for circumstances to change on their own.
David [00:53:59]:
Wow.
David [00:53:59]:
There’s a lot there. Hebrews 11:1 in the Amplified Classic says it this way. Now, faith is the assurance, the confirmation, the title deed of the things we hope for. And that word hope there means active expectation, the things we are actively expecting. For being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, faith perceives as real fact what is not revealed to the senses. It is by faith we step up go up, rise up, ascend into all he has for us. We advance by going from faith to faith. Romans 1:17 in the Amplified Classic: For in the gospel of righteousness which God describes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith.
David [00:55:10]:
As it is written, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith. We go from faith to faith. We keep advancing. We keep rising up. Faith to faith speaks of a progressive growing. It is the development of faith. From one degree of faith to another. Paul makes reference to going up or to another level of faith in 2 Corinthians 3:18.
David [00:55:44]:
Also, let’s look at that. 2 Corinthians 3:18, the Amplified Classic says, and all of us, as with unveiled face, because we continue to behold in the word of God as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into his very own image in ever-increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. We are advancing in increasing splendor from one degree of glory to another. That is never-ending. We will always be advancing in faith throughout eternity. So we will always be blessed and prospered by God. Now, here’s a truth to consider as you look to step up, to advance by stepping up into God’s promise.
David [00:56:46]:
You cannot ascend while clinging to what is behind. 2 Corinthians 5:17, the Amplified Classic. Therefore, if any person is engrafted in Christ the Messiah, he is a new creation, a new creature altogether. The old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come. Another place Paul speaks of letting go of the past is Philippians 3. Philippians 3:13-14, the Amplified Classic says, I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own yet. But one thing I do, it is my one aspiration, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.
David [00:57:42]:
I press on toward the goal to win the supreme and heavenly prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us forward, or upward. That’s what it says. What we see here is this: advancement culminates in elevation. Advancement takes us higher. So let’s go higher. So here it is, the divine pattern for kingdom advancement. God’s presence goes before you. God’s grace empowers your success.
David [00:58:23]:
God’s process shapes you. Obedience to God sustains you. And active faith in God elevates you. This is not random. This is his covenant with us in motion. What begins in his presence lifts us to experience his promise as we advance into his purpose for us. Praise God. Praise God.
David [00:58:56]:
You were prospered by God. To advance. Now, over the next few weeks, we’re going to look at the other 3 ways we’re prospering. So next week we’ll look at what does it mean to make progress. We advance, we make progress, we succeed, we profit. But God has empowered you to advance in multiple ways, in every dimension of your life. Let’s bow our heads in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word.
David [00:59:32]:
We thank you, Lord Jesus, for the truth of your word and what you’ve shown us here tonight. And God, I pray that this get deep down into our spirits and we live and walk in this place of advancing. Of honoring you, Lord, of representing you here in the earth and seeing your kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven, your will being done here on earth as it is in heaven, signs and wonders, Father, working in us and through us. As we represent you and reflect you to the earth. Praise God, what an honor, what a privilege we have. And Father, I thank you right now for working in everyone’s life this week, that they see the power of advancement working in them, through them, with them, and for them as they go forward.
David [01:00:43]:
And we thank you for that, in Jesus’ name.
David [01:00:47]:
Hallelujah. Amen. Thank you for being here with us tonight. And if you’re with others there, take some time to celebrate. And we, we will see you again next week. God bless
