If you were at the Redbud service, did you expect the turnout to be bigger? Did you realize that we had just over 300 people there? That is three times what we would normally have on a Sunday.
We are so used to being at 100% capacity in this room that it felt strange to be in a space at only about 15% capacity. Nevertheless, a 3X multiplication is quite amazing, from 100 to 300.
Something that kept rising up in my spirit last Sunday was that it was a seed event. We were sowing seed into something that is going to become what we all imagine it to be.
Most of us were imagining a packed-out park. And that is the vision that God supplied. Last Sunday was not the fulfillment of the vision. It was a step into the vision.
When God supplies the vision, or should we say “prophecy”, it is not fulfilled immediately. There is always a process on the way to fulfillment.
More times than not, we kill the vision because we give up on it when it is not fulfilled in the first step. The fulfillment of the vision is only for those who refuse to give up.
Last month, I brought you a message about how it is time for our name, NoLimits Church, to move from prophecy to reality. God renamed us 7 years ago because He knew who we would become.
Everyone enjoyed that message at the moment, but many of us have already settled back into the status quo.
We are being tempted to let go of the prophecy because it is uncomfortable to step into what is beyond our comprehension. We look around and wonder, “Did God really say that?”
Yes, God really said that it is time for our name, NoLimits Church, to move from prophecy to reality.
God really said that we will become the leading force in Owasso. No other organization will have the influence we do. We will steward the influence well. It will be marked by righteousness.
He really did say that we are designed to be a storehouse with resources so vast we can’t even fathom it. If we need a jet, we’ll just buy one. If we need more land, we’ll just buy it. If we need a huge stadium, we’ll just build it.
So what do we do? Do we look around for proof? Do we wait to believe the prophecy until God proves it by what we can see?
No. If we wait to see it with our eyes, it is not faith. You don’t need faith for things you can see. You need faith for the things you can’t see.
The only proof we need is the Word of God. We need Him to confirm it with His Word, which He is going to do today.
Join me in Isaiah chapter 54. Read the full chapter, and then we'll come back and dig into a few things.
Isaiah 54:1 NLT - “Sing, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into loud and joyful song, O Jerusalem, you who have never been in labor. For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband,” says the Lord.
Who did the Lord command to break into joyful song? The childless woman. Who did He say now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband? The childless woman.
Did you catch that? He told a childless woman that she NOW has more children than another woman who actually has children.
Apparently, the Lord is seeing something that she cannot see. God sees her as a mother of many when all she sees is her lack of children.
Not only is the Lord contradicting what she can see, but He is commanding her to break into joyful song over something that has yet to come to pass. And then, what does the Lord tell her to do next?
Isaiah 54:2 NLT - “Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense! For you will soon be bursting at the seams. Your descendants will occupy other nations and resettle the ruined cities.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. The Lord is telling a woman who has no children, who isn’t even pregnant yet, to enlarge her house; build an addition.
And don’t do the bare minimum, either! Build a NICE addition. Spread out your home and spare no expense!
In other words, don’t wait until you need it. Build it now. Use your resources now to build what is necessary to contain the prophecy that the Lord has spoken to you.
So, let me ask again. Should we just sit on the prophecy God has spoken over this house until He proves it with something we can see? Is that the strategy that agrees with the Word of God? NO!
What are we supposed to do in this time where what we see doesn’t align with what the Lord has spoken? Break into loud and joyful song!
We are to build as if we are already there. We are to make room for what He has spoken, sparing no expense.
When God supplies the vision, it is not fulfilled immediately. There is always a process on the way to fulfillment.
More times than not, we kill the vision because we give up on it when it is not fulfilled in the first step. The fulfillment of the vision is only for those who refuse to give up. And we are those people.
In 2012, the Holy Spirit urged me to start a blog to teach churches how to improve their sound. Then, a few years later, He gave me a vision for a course that would reach thousands.
A new soundboard has just come out that was a game changer. It was like the iPhone of soundboards that made all the flip phones obsolete.
However, at the time, I didn’t know this was the case. I didn’t know it would become the number-one soundboard used by churches worldwide. But the Holy Spirit knew what was to come.
God gave me the vision to create a course specifically for this soundboard. The vision was expansive. It was meant to reach thousands of churches.
So, I went through the painstaking process of course creation. Back then, I was new to being in front of the video camera. It was very uncomfortable and stressful, but I did it anyway.
After all the work of scripting the course, shooting the course, and editing the course, it was finally time to launch it. I thought it was time to see the fulfillment of the vision.
On launch week, I expected those thousands to rush in to purchase the course. Guess how many signed up on launch week? 20.
The Lord gave me a vision for thousands. I went through this painstaking process of doing something I wasn’t comfortable with. I launched the course by faith, and 20 people showed up.
This is where most people give up. They start thinking, “Well, I must not have heard from the Lord because 20 is a far cry from thousands. I’ll just move on to something else.”
But that’s not what I did. There is something within me, a gift from God, that forbids me to give up. It’s something He placed within me because of my role in the body of Christ.
So, I kept going. I didn’t give up on the vision. I didn’t let what seemed to contradict the vision stop me. What was ahead was a long, tough road. But guess how many students are in this one course now? 4,507.
Over the years, I have developed other courses as well. Overall, I have 9,123 students and have generated well over a million dollars in revenue from selling courses online.
Remember that vision God gave me? It has been fulfilled. But it wasn’t fulfilled on the first step. It was only fulfilled because I refused to give up on what God prophesied.
In the summer of 2020, the Lord gave me a vision of a healthy, growing church that was busting at the seams. Only one condition: I had to stop people pleasing and instead boldly preach the truth.
So, that’s what I did. I came out guns blazing and expected to go from a weak church to a glorious church in just a few weeks of bold preaching. Guess what happened?
Over the next several months, I managed to cut our attendance in half. I ran off families who had attended our church for many years. It was painful and definitely not the fulfillment of the vision.
But I didn’t give up on the vision. God is not a man that He should lie. Even though what I could see didn’t line up with what He had prophesied, I kept going.
For months, I kept going. For a year, I kept going. And then, finally, around the year two mark, the fulfillment of the prophecy came.
All of a sudden, we started packing out this room. It has been that way for well over a year now. And we haven’t just been growing in numbers. We’ve been growing in strength and unity.
When God supplies the vision, it is not fulfilled immediately. There is always a process on the way to fulfillment.
More times than not, we kill the vision because we give up on it when it is not fulfilled in the first step. The fulfillment of the vision is only for those who refuse to give up. We are those people.
We’ve talked about God’s vision for this house. Now, let’s zoom out and talk about God’s vision for America.
It was revealed to me during our 10 days of prayer and fasting last month. As I entered into the presence of the Lord, I became fully aware of how He sees America.
I didn’t know if America could ever come back. Although I was hoping for it’s redemption, it seemed too far gone.
As the Lord welcomed me into His perspective, all that faded away. He revealed to me that He has already chosen to redeem America. As far as He is concerned, it is a done deal.
Then He took me to Isaish 52 and through it spoke this to my heart:
“The time of sackcloth and ash is over. No more weeping. No more sorrow. Clothe yourself with strength! Put on your beautiful clothes! Sing and shout with joy! Break into joyful song! The Lord has redeemed America! All the ends of the earth will see the victory of our God.”
This is quite contrary to what we can see. So what do we do? Do we look around for proof? Do we wait to believe the prophecy until God proves it by what we can see?
No. If we wait to see it with our eyes, it is not faith. You don’t need faith for things you can see. You need faith for the things you can’t see.
The only proof we need is the Word of God. We need Him to confirm it with His Word. And wouldn’t you know it, He can confirm this same prophecy in Isaiah 54.
Isaiah 54:11-15 NLT - “O storm-battered city, troubled and desolate! I will rebuild you with precious jewels and make your foundations from lapis lazuli. I will make your towers of sparkling rubies, your gates of shining gems, and your walls of precious stones. I will teach all your children, and they will enjoy great peace. You will be secure under a government that is just and fair. Your enemies will stay far away. You will live in peace, and terror will not come near. If any nation comes to fight you, it is not because I sent them. Whoever attacks you will go down in defeat.
What are we supposed to do in this time where what we see doesn’t align with what the Lord has spoken? Break into loud and joyful song! Align with what the Lord sees. America has been redeemed!
God is looking for those who will truly live by faith. We’re talking about people who believe in the written Word of God and the prophetic Words from God even when they disagree with what they can see.
And not only do they believe God’s Word, but they act on it as reality. They sing and shout with joy because God has already done it. They build and make room for prophecy to come to pass.
We are those people.
