Sermon

Imagination - Kingdom Faith

Anchor Faith Church

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  1. Thanks for checking out the Anchor Faith Message podcast

  2. from St. Augustine, FL.

  3. Now enjoy this message. So tonight I want to talk to you

  4. about imagination. Imagination.

  5. Pastor Marcy, by the Spirit last night started to get into this a

  6. little bit and you know one of the greatest challenges that the

  7. church staff has and our worship team has because Pastor Darrell

  8. taught me this, he said, Listen, as a pastor, you're going to

  9. know. What typically the flow of the

  10. service and the training is with your staff and especially with

  11. your worship leader is that when they get in the spirit, they'll

  12. get in the vein that you're ultimately going to bring things

  13. to. And what happens is it what

  14. could happen is that say I knew that I was going to lay hands on

  15. people for healing well it could be easy for pastor Marcus and

  16. and worshipping to start sensing that people are going to be

  17. healed. So he has to, while singing,

  18. determine is it me that does that or is that something that

  19. ultimately pastor and this whole service is building so that he

  20. is going to release that? Because you can get over into

  21. something that is for someone else to deliver because God is

  22. just setting you up so that you can receive or getting everyone

  23. prepared, so to speak. You know, I've had conversations

  24. with multiple people within the congregation that said, you

  25. know, the Lord was talking to me about that subject.

  26. Well, why was he doing that? So that when I began to minister

  27. it, God was setting you up so that you would receive it easier

  28. because you were already there. I remember one time Apostle

  29. Darling Turner came here with the Global Leadership

  30. Conference. We hosted it one year, and I was

  31. in the Bible on concubines. I'm like, what's the deal with

  32. the concubines, man? I mean, what's up with the

  33. concubines? I've never really took time to

  34. study the concubines. OK?

  35. And you know, these kings had a lot of concubines.

  36. I mean, the name just sounds horrible, right at the end of

  37. the day. So with that being, she

  38. ministered a word called concubine wives and Queens.

  39. Oh, it was powerful. So God was already kind of

  40. talking. And then he allowed her to just

  41. rip things out so that it just set me on a path.

  42. And I was like, wow, here I was in this kind of vein.

  43. And God used her to deliver something.

  44. Amen. And so, you know, a lot of times

  45. again in service you'll start to pick things up that is happening

  46. and you have to begin to ask that question.

  47. Do I continue to go now? Pastor Marshall was dead on last

  48. night because what needed to take place with people stepping

  49. over into committing to the new season and the reason why a lot

  50. of us won't go into the next phase or season or step of faith

  51. with God is because we lose the capacity to imagine we become

  52. too sight driven. Now I realized, you know, when

  53. it's kind of hit me, I thought, well, no wonder God built me.

  54. Because when I grew up, guys, I had imaginary friends, not

  55. because I didn't have a sister. I had a older sister.

  56. And my older sister, I mean, she played with me.

  57. I mean, she did school with me. Obviously, I did the dolls

  58. because she was a girl. And so obviously we had that

  59. convert, you know, kind of interaction.

  60. But then I have my boy stuff, too, and I could buy myself,

  61. entertain myself. But I had four imaginary

  62. friends, four of them. It's just part of my I didn't

  63. have to see them, but they existed when I played.

  64. Are you hear? Hear me?

  65. I'll say the names. RC want me to let y'all know the

  66. names, and they're crazy names. I cannot tell you why their

  67. names are this at all. It makes no sense.

  68. But hey, I was a little kid, so the four names of my imaginary

  69. friends don't try to picture what they look like based on

  70. their names. Hanka.

  71. Jonka, Lipstick and Cooler. That was their names.

  72. Hanka, Jonka, Lipstick and Cooler.

  73. That was their names. OK, And so I would tell my mom.

  74. You can't sit there. We're what?

  75. Can't sit. Why?

  76. Because my imaginary friend was there.

  77. You know what God wants us to imagine?

  78. He actually gave us an imagination.

  79. The question is, are you allowing your imagination to go

  80. into the realm of God and the Spirit?

  81. Are you imagining things that are against God?

  82. Are you hearing me? So let's launch out with this

  83. scripture, Ephesians chapter 3, verses 20 and 21.

    Ephesians 3:20

  84. And it says this now to him who was able to do far more

  85. abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the

  86. power that works within us. To him be the glory in the

  87. church and in Christ Jesus, to all generation, forever and

  88. ever. Amen.

  89. Are you hearing me? So now to him who is able, is he

  90. able? I said, is he able?

  91. And what is he able to do? He's able to do.

  92. Our God is able to do. We should never take a thought

  93. that God's not able to do, not able to do.

  94. He's able to do, but not only is he able to do, He's able to do

  95. far more. Far more, I mean.

  96. These are these adjectives. Are we talking adjectives right

  97. now, Rod? Are we saying far more

  98. abundantly? Are we considering these

  99. adjectives? Let him think about it.

  100. Adverbial mixed in with an adverb that mixed in OK.

  101. We're describing something. It is far more.

  102. I mean not just far, but it's far more.

  103. And then abundantly. I'd like more's not enough to

  104. know it's not just more, it's abundantly more beyond.

  105. I mean these 4 words right in a row.

  106. Far more abundantly beyond. Far more abundantly beyond all

  107. that. We asked which means we're

  108. asking something and and basically give the Lord's life.

  109. You're four times off. You're four times off and what

  110. you just asked me I can times that by four beyond what we

  111. asked which it means we actually asked it.

  112. We we conceived it enough that we asked God, But then or think

  113. now there's things we're thinking that we don't even dare

  114. ask because it seems so outrageous.

  115. And the reason why it seems outrageous is because when we

  116. think, when that thought comes and we compare it to our

  117. ability, we're like, no way. And you're right.

  118. If you were left alone to do it yourself, no way.

  119. But even then, there is context that someone outside of God can

  120. imagine in a way and still get a result, as God said concerning

  121. the Tower of Babel, he said. There's nothing that they set

  122. their mind to that they cannot accomplish.

  123. The problem is what they've set their mind to is against my

  124. ultimate plan. And you know what?

  125. Now there's resistance and I'm going against the rebellion.

  126. Are you hearing me? So with that being said, he says

  127. now he is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we

  128. ask or think. But how is it that it's

  129. happening according to the power that works within us?

  130. So again, you don't get him to do.

  131. You don't get his ability to do far more abundantly beyond what

  132. you could think or ask without the power that's works within

  133. you. That's right.

  134. That's right. So God's not doing far more

  135. abundantly beyond in your life unless there's something within

  136. you working now. This power that works within us

  137. is connected to verse 21, to him be the glory in the church,

  138. which means what God's conceiving.

  139. And this thing that you could be, you could that God is able

  140. to do far more abundantly beyond what you can ask or think, which

  141. means what he's imagining is way bigger than what you're

  142. imagining right now. And he can work it with what is

  143. working in you, but it's going to glorify the Church.

  144. It's not here for personal glorification, nor is it for you

  145. to be able to say, look how God blessed me.

  146. And yet that blessing has no connection to the church that he

  147. set you in and made you a part of.

  148. Are you hearing me? Now?

  149. Let's look at this. In the amplified classic verse

  150. 20. It says now to Him, who by in in

  151. in a consequence of the action of his power that is at work

  152. within us, is able to carry out his purpose, and do super

  153. abundantly, far over and above all that we dare ask, or think

  154. indefinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts,

  155. hopes, or dreams. But again now to him, who by in

  156. consequence of so as the new American standard said here,

  157. they amplify the connection of his ability to do that is mind

  158. blowing to us, is connected to a power working us.

  159. Now if we want to know what this is, you have to back up a few

  160. verses because Paul is talking to them about their faith.

  161. Are you hearing what I'm saying? He's talking to them about?

  162. So the what's working in you is faith working in you.

  163. You receive something from him. It's his work because he gave

  164. you the directive, believe me. And as big as that is, it's

  165. settled. But most of us, and I was saying

  166. this at Morning Prayer this morning at 6:00 AM, is that more

  167. people love their definition of God than God's definition of

  168. God. And because most love their

  169. definition of God more than his definition of God, they won't

  170. imagine. Because here's the thing, Hanka,

  171. Jonka Lipstick and cooler. When I say that to you, you're

  172. like, bro, you're crazy. And when you start talking

  173. invisible stuff, right, You're crazy.

  174. And if I just started talking to them, you're crazy, right?

  175. That's crazy. No one's there.

  176. Now we go find out next year. There are some things in the

  177. unseen that are there, and people are talking to them and

  178. they exist. And.

  179. They're not imaginary friends. They are spirits that are

  180. conversing and they're having an open dialogue.

  181. I saw a guy today when I left the gym.

  182. He was having an open dialogue with what he was hearing in his

  183. head, an open dialogue. Amen.

  184. So with that being said, let's look at this verse 20 out of the

  185. passion translation, this is really good.

  186. The Passion translation said never doubt God's mighty power

  187. to work in you. Because again, if a man is going

  188. to receive from God, he has to do it without doubting.

  189. You can't doubt, no doubting. Are you hearing what I'm saying?

  190. Now let me just put this in perspective.

  191. You can't tell God what you're believing, for there's plenty of

  192. believers that will pull scripture and tell him this is

  193. what I'm believing for, but they've not asked him.

  194. How do I apply what you're saying from your word so that I

  195. can believe you for it? Because God knows the whole

  196. situation and knows what you need to believe in order for it

  197. to turn out the way his will is. Or you hear what I'm saying.

  198. So you can actually take a no doubt position using context of

  199. scripture that God hasn't technically talked to you about.

  200. Because again, the Bible is not for intellectuals.

  201. It's not there for the sake of academia.

  202. It's there so that he can speak to you his words alive.

  203. And when you get in situations, even though you know where there

  204. are scriptures you can go to, All in all you have to say of

  205. these scriptures, what are you having me stand on?

  206. What are you speaking to me? So that I can stand?

  207. But again, most of the time those particular layers of faith

  208. are basically trying to get out of trouble.

  209. And I'm not even talking about getting out of trouble, 'cause

  210. when you're imagining you're not in trouble, an imagination is

  211. not. It is.

  212. It's carefree to any obstacle, right?

  213. It can be carefree in. In fact, what could stop you

  214. from imagining, let's say, case in point, that you are going to

  215. be given a yacht so that you can travel around to small islands

  216. and preach the gospel. The only thing that stops at is,

  217. well, I can't afford that Or who would give that and how much

  218. would that cost? I mean, we start and we take, we

  219. take our imagination out. I mean, I can imagine myself on

  220. the front of it. I can imagine most people can't

  221. imagine themselves having a substantial amount of wealth to

  222. be able to help significantly when finances are needed.

  223. They can't imagine that at all. They can't imagine starting

  224. their own business. They can't imagine going bigger

  225. and franchising. They can't imagine that they

  226. could start A5O1C3 to help in a very specific need.

  227. And I'm not saying these things are disconnected from your

  228. church 'cause you need to be connected to the church.

  229. I'm just saying that then all of a sudden it grows in such a way

  230. that that particular niche is able to help people globally.

  231. But most won't imagine it, because at the end of the day,

  232. we. Short circuit ourselves through

  233. the scene realm. But, he says, never doubt God's

  234. mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this.

  235. He will achieve indefinitely more than your greatest request,

  236. your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest

  237. imagination. He will outdo them all for He,

  238. for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.

  239. Are you hearing what I'm saying now?

  240. We offer up to God all the glorious praise that raises from

  241. every church in every generation, through Jesus

  242. Christ, and all that will be manifest through time and

  243. eternity. The Church has so much work to

  244. do now that we must begin to imagine ourselves a Church

  245. without spot or wrinkle. That we imagine ourselves as

  246. being in complete unity. That we imagine ourselves

  247. walking in love, walking in forgiveness.

  248. That we can imagine that we can have a not not all.

  249. Well, you know church, you're going to have problems and you

  250. know people are going to not get along.

  251. And why can we not imagine that when you, I don't care whether

  252. you're immature, you're an infant babe in Christ, carnal

  253. Christian, or whether you have maturity that you will say yes,

  254. Lord, at whatever level you are, and that yes, Lord will cause

  255. you to walk in love and forgiveness.

  256. Spiritual maturity is not necessary to walk in

  257. forgiveness. It is actually an elementary

  258. principle. Because when the master forgave

  259. the one guy of all his debt, that one action was enough.

  260. That when he went out and found his fellow slave that owed him

  261. money, that one action of I forgave you an insurmountable

  262. debt that you never could have paid, and yet you couldn't

  263. forgive your own. That's elementary.

  264. That is not spiritual maturity. That is acknowledging all.

  265. That God forgave you. How in the world will I not

  266. forgive them? That is so simple.

  267. That is so simple because you know what happened when he did.

  268. We don't like to preach that because people have the this

  269. belief, you know, that you know once God Forgives your sin,

  270. you're done. Well, guess what?

  271. If you don't reciprocate the the action and behavior of what he

  272. brought you into, that's problematic.

  273. And that guy went to prison and was tortured.

  274. Say Amen anyway, OK? He left the house debt free.

  275. And in less than 24 hours, he was in prison all right.

  276. Let's move on to happier things. So in Ephesians, he's saying

  277. this thing that's accomplishing in you is the power working

  278. within you. And the power working within you

  279. is that God has said something to you.

  280. It's called faith, and you are. Beginning to imagine what God

  281. has placed in your heart. And as a result of that you're

  282. going to see it come to pass. Period.

  283. Look what it says in Hebrews 11/1.

  284. It says this. Now.

  285. Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things

  286. what not seen right. Now, before I dissect this down

  287. a little bit more, remember 2nd Corinthians 418.

  288. We quote this quite often here. And that is Paul saying, while

  289. we look not at the things that are seen, but the things which

  290. are not seen, for the things that are seen or temporal or

  291. temporary, but the things that are not seen or what they're

  292. eternal. I said they're eternal.

  293. Second Corinthians 418. They are eternal.

  294. So what we see here is that we should be more comfortable

  295. imagining. And I realized, you know, again

  296. just recently, I'm like, well, no wonder God picked me 'cause

  297. I'll imagine. I'm not ashamed to imagine.

  298. It's empowering, actually. I'm a person who's willing to

  299. think beyond myself and believe it could happen.

  300. I have, I've, I've my whole life has been this.

  301. Being able to believe something outside of what I saw, period.

  302. And we should be this way and that.

  303. Listen, you can't let what happens in this world from the

  304. enemy to take your imagination away.

  305. Can't do it. And 2024 will be one of your

  306. greatest years ever. Because again, when trials and

  307. tribulation come, listen. The reason why Anchor Faith

  308. Church owns a mall in Saint Augustine is 'cause we could

  309. imagine it. And I never came off and I never

  310. gave you a reason to doubt. We couldn't, even though there

  311. were all kind of things happening behind the scenes that

  312. could bring a lot of doubt if I had spoken about it.

  313. Hallelujah. So at the end of the day, I just

  314. imagine and I can see myself and can see it and can see it and

  315. can see it, and I'm imagining other pieces of property now.

  316. I'm imagining myself being on the property.

  317. I'm imagining what it looks like, how it's going to be

  318. different once I acquire it because of the purpose and the

  319. plan and what God has. And again I get things come

  320. towards us that I can say. I could imagine that now, at the

  321. end of the day, am I naturally capable?

  322. No. Are we organizationally

  323. structured? Probably not.

  324. But that won't stop me from dreaming.

  325. Because again, whatever peace needs to get in place, can get

  326. in place. I don't have to see it in the

  327. natural before I can say, OK, now we can do this.

  328. We should never allow ourselves to be in that position.

  329. And some of us have become complacent with what we've

  330. accomplished in one layer of faith, but won't dare to dream

  331. for something more to expand your influence.

  332. Because the reality is, faith is a fight.

  333. I know when it came to purchasing them all, I knew I I

  334. played it over in my head. I'm like, OK, I realize what

  335. this means. I mean, we have won so many

  336. faith battles. We are living in this realm of.

  337. We have what we say and God is good and things are awesome.

  338. But if I go after that, I already see the conflict

  339. associated with it, because I'm not even in the Devil's devices.

  340. I understand the sacrifice. I did not know it would take

  341. five years, right? But at the end of the day, it is

  342. what it is and we go for it. But I had to say, you know what?

  343. I'm willing to continue to dream.

  344. I mean, we should be the most aggressive people on the planet

  345. to be able to pull things towards us because most of us

  346. think how the enemy has put things in front of our face.

  347. We think we can't we we can't beat the government.

  348. We can't overcome, you know, what's going on.

  349. You know, in in law enforcement, we can't overcome what's going

  350. on in entertainment, we can't. We just think it's too big.

  351. I can imagine something different now.

  352. At the end of the day, I can imagine that all of this going

  353. to go to the wayside, because my King's coming back and he's

  354. going to do that anyway. But I Why would we stop an

  355. effort? It seems like that we we if we

  356. don't watch out, we're like, well, we know the world's going

  357. to go bad, so we basically quit imagining and we really just

  358. want Jesus to come back. And we have no imagination to

  359. continue to be way more effective.

  360. Like, let's go ahead and take what the devil stole.

  361. I mean, let's keep taking from him because the gates of hell

  362. can't prevail against us. That doesn't stop just because

  363. the world goes crazy, doesn't stop just because people are

  364. blatantly do not want Jesus when you witness to him.

  365. It doesn't stop that we still should be able to do because

  366. people need to see that, my gosh, everything you touch, it's

  367. not without opposition. But you win, You overcome.

  368. We have to get back to imagining God's word translation of

  369. Hebrews. 11/1 says it this way. Faith assures us of things we

  370. expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot

  371. see. I believe in the these next 18

  372. days, as we're in prayer and fasting, there's going to come

  373. and amass. God's going to give you

  374. something to imagine and and listen, I'm not asking, I'm not

  375. trying to think that it's got to be like, you know, OK, we're

  376. going to, you know, take over the planet.

  377. I'm not saying that. I'm saying for some of you it

  378. could be that God just says, listen, I'm going to bless you

  379. so much that you'll be able to give money away at all time.

  380. And that may be a stretch for your imagination some.

  381. It could be some relationship, right?

  382. And it's like we can do something here.

  383. And next thing you know, it could be that.

  384. I mean, it could be multiple things.

  385. It could be a young person that God begins to say, I'm gonna

  386. utilize you in this capacity in your school and you gotta be

  387. able to imagine yourself. There.

  388. Whatever. It could be some of you in

  389. business to expand, whatever the case may be.

  390. It could be God just wants to put you on a board somewhere so

  391. that you can be more influential.

  392. I mean, again, we do have someone on a county board now,

  393. praise God, but I do not have a county commissioner yet.

  394. We need to imagine, well, how could I win an election?

  395. Just see if God wants you to run, because if he does, how can

  396. you lose? Now that doesn't mean you may

  397. get in the first time, because again, I'm going to give, you

  398. know, a, a, a context of particular individual who's no

  399. longer they're not even in the earth today.

  400. But someone spoke to them about a promotion, and they didn't get

  401. the first time and they got sideways with God.

  402. But just because God's telling you something, you may have a

  403. conflict right out there. But that doesn't mean to change.

  404. My pastor, Mike and Angie, you know, Abigail B16 coming up here

  405. soon. And, you know, they had a

  406. miscarriage, OK. And so, you know, I got a word

  407. that they would have a child this time next year.

  408. She got pregnant immediately and ended up losing the child, like

  409. quick. Well, that's not what the word

  410. of the Lord said. She obviously went back,

  411. listened to the Lord. There were things they wanted to

  412. do to her medically. She went with God, said I'm not

  413. gonna do that. She stood on that word.

  414. She got pregnant again. Abigail's here 16 years later,

  415. right? My point is, is that she could

  416. have taken this thought because, again, there were some things

  417. that the Lord was talking to her about that she needed to make

  418. some adjustments, you know, in the realm of holding the child

  419. in the womb. And as a result of that, we

  420. press on. But she could imagine that it

  421. will be this way and I won't be this way.

  422. Are you hearing me? So again, God could say

  423. something and you could run and not get it.

  424. Don't think you miss God. Keep going.

  425. Keep pressing. Imagine that you can do

  426. something. Are you hearing me?

  427. You know, when Bishop Garraway gave that word back at the

  428. beginning of the year concerning, you know that that

  429. he said, I see you in the corridors of power and that

  430. they're speaking your name in the governor's mansion.

  431. That word has come to pass. I just got a text from Anila

  432. while she's traveling over to Tanzania and she was talking to

  433. We're going up to Tallahassee at the end of this month.

  434. And this group of people that are again connected with the

  435. faith base, they want us to get around the legislators and that

  436. individual says, we are telling everybody all over the state

  437. about your. Church.

  438. So yes, we want your pastor to develop relationship with the

  439. legislator. In fact, we want him on a

  440. particular board. And this is the first step.

  441. Well, I can imagine, 'cause you know what the Bible shows us

  442. that people that were in power, as far as the government had

  443. someone that they could speak to, to hear how God would want

  444. them to handle that. And, you know, we got enough nut

  445. cases around here following Jesus and ain't following,

  446. right? You know what?

  447. Let's get somebody that actually will follow God, stay with the

  448. word, not compromise. I mean, I think God wants some

  449. those individual to get connected to those that are in

  450. certain positions. Why not us?

  451. I said. Why not us?

  452. I mean, what would it look like? If Governor Ron DeSantis called

  453. and said, Pastor Earl, listen, we got this situation I want to

  454. What will you pray about it? Tell me what you think the

  455. Lord's saying concerning it. I come to you and say this is

  456. what we're asking pray. Let's get in prayer together.

  457. Because we are the answer to the world's problems, right?

  458. So we're convinced of things we don't even see because God's

  459. word is truth. The amplified classic of Hebrew

  460. 11/1 says it this way. Now faith is a substance to

  461. confirmation of title, deed of things we hope for being, the

  462. proof of things we do not see, and the conviction of their

  463. reality, faith. Perceiving as real fact what is

  464. not revealed by to the senses. So at the end of the day, I

  465. don't have to see it. You know, I'm not surprised that

  466. the Lord has me launching out January 4th, because, just to

  467. let you know. On Sunday, January 7th, we will

  468. not be in the sanctuary, so don't come here.

  469. You're going to come to the church like you normally do, and

  470. then we're going to take you into JCPenney.

  471. We're having service in JCPenney Sunday.

  472. We're going to have service in there and these chairs aren't

  473. going right. We're going to do crisscross

  474. apple salt. No, I'm kidding.

  475. I have chairs in there for you. You might want to come early

  476. because not all of them are padded.

  477. Just to let you know, I'm not here to make you comfortable.

  478. I'm here to guess vision. Are you hearing me?

  479. So we're going to be in JCPenney and everybody's going to direct

  480. you there. All right.

  481. But even do prayer in there. We're not coming in here now.

  482. I'm just going to let you know, air conditioning heater does not

  483. work in JCPenney. Thank you.

  484. It should be all right. I mean, considering it's pretty

  485. cool anyway and it's 53,000 square feet, so I don't think,

  486. you know, even if everybody shows up, we're going to create

  487. so much body heat that we're going to be sweating to death.

  488. But if you do get tired, bring a fan hot, bring a.

  489. Fan And most of you won't be complaining about how cold it

  490. is, so you can say Amen to that, all right, but we'll have to buy

  491. climate control at some point. We may do multiple.

  492. Services this year over there, all right.

  493. But I need you to go into space and see it, because this is too

  494. comfortable seating. I mean, if you all you do is can

  495. imagine coming here, then you'll never imagine going over there.

  496. You'll never imagine it. And again, I don't need it to be

  497. pretty, because people who have an imagination already see it

  498. beyond the state it's in. And let me just tell you this,

  499. you're you need to be thanking God that I can see beyond

  500. current states, because looking at some of y'all, y'all in a

  501. mess right now. But I see you in Christ

  502. somewhere different. Know that.

  503. So don't come to me with your problem thinking all all I see

  504. is your problem. I only see you in Christ of

  505. Victor, a champion only thriving and doing your fit and purpose.

  506. So any bumps along the road, that's easy.

  507. We'll pick you up and drive on 'cause I only see you as a

  508. champion now if you felt if you want to lay down, that's on you.

  509. But but when I stand before, I said I saw him as a heavyweight

  510. champion the whole time and I kept trying to call that out.

  511. Are you hearing me, 'cause I can imagine you being a chain, a

  512. person that changes the world. Why is that?

  513. Cause Hebrews 1320 and 21 says this Now the God of peace, who

  514. brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep.

  515. Who's that? Jesus, through the blood of the

  516. eternal covenant. Even Jesus, our Lord.

  517. Look at verse 21. Equip you in every good thing to

  518. do his will, working in us that which is what pleasing in his

  519. sight through Jesus Christ, to whom the glory, to whom be the

  520. glory forever and ever. Amen.

  521. Notice here in verse 21 that he is equipping you for every good

  522. thing to do his will. So Christ, the reason Christ

  523. died and rose from the dead was not just to forgive you of your

  524. sins. So when you die you go to heaven

  525. is so that you can be forgiven and be made in the likeness of

  526. God. Again, have your rulership again

  527. go back to the dominion that God originally gave man.

  528. And then he said, now I want you to imagine all we're going to do

  529. together, so working in us that which is pleasing.

  530. Now this word pleasing is important because Hebrews 11/6

  531. says without faith it's impossible to please God.

  532. So anything that's pleasing in his sight, remember what he said

  533. about Jesus here. This is my beloved Son in whom

  534. I'm well pleased. And he says that because

  535. previous just before Jesus gets done, he says John permitted at

  536. this time so that all righteousness can be fulfilled.

  537. In essence, I have to do what the Word has said about me.

  538. It's my purpose. It's what God's commanded me to

  539. do. I'm going to be obedient it to

  540. the crossing of the T and the dotting of the I I'm going to

  541. fulfill it all. And God said I'm pleased because

  542. this my son is operating in faith and that's what he wants

  543. us. He's equipping us so that we can

  544. do his will. That way he'll be pleased with

  545. us. He wants us to imagine.

  546. Hallelujah. He wants us to imagine.

  547. The crazy thing about imagination is there's things

  548. that pop up that I didn't imagine.

  549. I imagine what God said I do, but I'd never imagined it would.

  550. This would show up. But it doesn't matter because

  551. that is subject to this. What I've heard from the Lord

  552. period is subject to it because what God has said, he'll bring

  553. it to pass, and not only would it be able to do it, he'll do it

  554. far more abundantly beyond what we could think or ask.

  555. Got a call today from a third year Ramos student that's going

  556. to be graduating and they want to talk with me because they

  557. believe God is sending them to us.

  558. Well, praise the Lord, we have things to do.

  559. I know what's been trained. So I have expectation.

  560. Are you hearing me? And I don't think this would be

  561. uncommon. Why is that 'cause we are

  562. confessing that God is adding adults to us that are submitted

  563. and committed to division and they going to come from all?

  564. Over the place, all over the world to do the work.

  565. Can you imagine that We could fill up JC Penney and we're

  566. like, could you imagine, can I get crazy with you, Could you

  567. imagine that we would leave this 25 1/2 acres, have to buy 200

  568. acres somewhere else? Keep this as a mall to continue

  569. to funnel us and build a whole other campus.

  570. Could you imagine that? I could imagine that.

  571. I could imagine it. Yeah, I could imagine where the

  572. University of Saint Augustine left.

  573. We take, I can imagine that. I mean there's no piece of

  574. property I can't imagine. I just need a yes.

  575. So I drive around, I look, I'm like I'm listed.

  576. No place is out of my price range because I have the

  577. currency of the Kingdom and man, it's not out of my price range.

  578. Interest rates mean nothing to me based upon what God wants us

  579. to do. Oh my, my my.

  580. And here's the thing. I believe Jesus is coming back

  581. quick. Which means then I got to

  582. believe this can happen in a extremely fast time frame.

  583. Amen. Not decades.

  584. All right? Not decades.

  585. It's got to come to pass. I mean, we have been asked to

  586. get on the CRA board in West Augustine to help develop that

  587. area. I can imagine, and I know what I

  588. imagine will have opposition, but all I got to do is do what

  589. he tells me to do and it will transform and I will pull the 2

  590. billion that is on the east side of US one over to the West side.

  591. But I'm telling you right now, as a whole, the community's not

  592. ready for 2 billion because mentalities have to change.

  593. Are you hearing me? And it starts with simple stuff.

  594. OK, I can imagine. Hallelujah.

  595. I walked through the Tennessee Aquarium and I'm like, they're

  596. running this thing by grants. I mean, I dropped some money to

  597. go into thing, but at the end of the day, there's grant money

  598. here. I led to my Donald Law,

  599. Brittany, I said. There's grant money here.

  600. We, we, I mean they they probably getting grant money for

  601. these turtles. I'm gonna start a petting zoo in

  602. the middle of the mall and get grant money for it.

  603. Right. I can imagine.

  604. I can imagine getting it from everywhere, right, 'cause, I

  605. mean, if you're paying taxes and they're giving away in grants,

  606. might as well come to us. Are you hearing me?

  607. Hallelujah. I can imagine.

  608. I can imagine having a place We already have put it together.

  609. Where we can have a transitional home for the homeless,

  610. especially those that are part of the VA process or veterans I

  611. can already imagine, told the county to every county

  612. commissioner, every one of them to their face, I said we have

  613. the personnel and the capacity to do it.

  614. Today you need to give us property.

  615. You're telling the county to give you land?

  616. Well, everybody else is. Did they give it to me?

  617. No. Today.

  618. But praise the Lord. Look at Ephesians 210.

  619. It says, for we are his workmanship.

  620. You, you. You're not going to have this

  621. unless you can imagine. Now again, it's not your

  622. personal imagination you're trying to get God to bless.

  623. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is I'm keeping

  624. it in the context. When we imagine we're we're,

  625. we're in a place that's not real or to our senses real, but we've

  626. made it real in our minds. And when God's word penetrates

  627. our heart and we let it transform our minds, then it

  628. becomes a part of our minds eye. And we imagine that that word is

  629. reality, and as a result of that it comes to pass.

  630. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for what

  631. good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would what

  632. walk in them. Now?

  633. Nobody goes to verse 10. Everybody only stays at verse

  634. nine. That we're saved, not of our own

  635. works that any man should boast. That is the grace of God through

  636. faith. It's the free gift, and

  637. everybody stops there. But verse 10 says you got saved

  638. to work. And here's the thing.

  639. The things I have for you, I've already prepared for them to

  640. walk in. I've already imagined what your

  641. whole life is before you ever came out of your mother's womb.

  642. I just need you to hook up with my imagination.

  643. I'm like, Lord, let me and you know, you know how we cry out.

  644. These are the things we cry out. Which is a little frustrating to

  645. me because again it's so elementary.

  646. Oh Lord, let me see with your eyes and and and let me have the

  647. compassion you had. And I get it for the law.

  648. I understand that. But everybody wants to just

  649. know, God, on how he sees the lost.

  650. You know how he sees the lost finished?

  651. He sees the lost without excuse. It's done.

  652. Now. I'm not saying you shouldn't be

  653. compassionate. You don't go around to the lost

  654. and say, bro, you're going to hell, man, I'm sorry for you.

  655. I'm not saying you're callous, but I'm saying all we wanted to

  656. learn about God is how he sees the loss and God's like.

  657. Why don't you learn to see how I see creation?

  658. Because before man became lost, I wasn't thinking about the

  659. lost. He had a plan to save the lost.

  660. I know because the Lamb was slain before the foundation of

  661. the world. My point is, is that God always

  662. saw the existence of just believing and creating.

  663. Nobody wants to dare God. Let me dream like you.

  664. Think about it. There was a time in eternity

  665. that God had a thought when it was all by himself, Father, Son,

  666. the Holy Ghost. And it was well thought out,

  667. because before he ever spoke, he already saw the end from the

  668. beginning. But the.

  669. Minute. He began to speak.

  670. He was able to imagine every star, every planet, DNA strands

  671. and the multiplicity of how it would make a person look and how

  672. much hair would be produced. On the individual.

  673. I mean, this is like, right? And we're just asking God to

  674. give us his eyes to see the lost.

  675. Lord, give me your eyes to see, to imagine like you imagine.

  676. Because if I begin to flow like that with the Lord, I'm telling

  677. you to get the lost attention because they're going to.

  678. They'll determine real quick you are not of this world.

  679. You do not act like us. What is going on with you?

  680. I'm glad you asked. Are you hearing me?

  681. So he's created this work for us beforehand that we walk in and

  682. we just only have to imagine, you know, I know there's a

  683. Christian song out there. I don't want to pick it apart.

  684. I can only imagine. I mean, I'll have to actually

  685. imagine what it'd be like because the Bible tells me what

  686. it'd be like, and they tell me exactly what I'd be doing.

  687. So if the guy would have read the Bible, he wouldn't have had

  688. to imagine actually, and people wouldn't be crying over the song

  689. about what they would be like when they get in front of him.

  690. Because if they read the word, they know what it would be like.

  691. But we need to go and be imagine in more than heaven.

  692. Let's imagine what we can do now.

  693. Are you hearing me? OK Lord, if you are business

  694. owner, stand up. Hebrews 12/1 and two.

  695. Hebrews, Hebrews 12/1 and two. This is the passion translation.

  696. Look at this for us. We have all of these great

  697. witnesses who encircle us like clouds, so we must let go of

  698. every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall

  699. into. When we are able to run, then we

  700. are able to run life's marathon race with passion and

  701. determination, for the path has been already marked out before

  702. us. We look away from the natural

  703. realm and we fasten our gaze onto Jesus, who birth faith

  704. within us and who leads us forward into faith's perfection.

  705. In essence, he's the author and finisher of our faith.

  706. The author and finisher of our faith.

  707. Are you hearing me? And so there are many that have

  708. gone before, the only thing that stops you from accomplishing or

  709. imagining. Again, number one, you got to

  710. get rid, got to deal with your wound.

  711. All of us have wounds. All of us.

  712. Somebody has said something, both a, a believer who was

  713. carnal and fleshly and acted in the flesh instead of in the

  714. spirit. We've all had been wounded by

  715. them. We've all been wounded by the

  716. world, every one of us. But are you going to hold the

  717. wound? Are you going to let it continue

  718. to fester, or will you heal it through forgiveness so they're

  719. no longer your puppet master #2? If there's something that you

  720. repeatedly see yourself and you know it's not God's will, yet

  721. you're doing it. When I say that again, don't see

  722. sin as 10 commandments, you know, well I don't steal.

  723. Well, I don't commit murder. Listen, the Bible says if you

  724. know what to do and you don't do it to him, it's sin.

  725. So it's it could be a general sense that you know you're not

  726. and you're doing it. And at the end of the day that's

  727. sin and you easily fall. You got to eliminate those.

  728. Then you're going to be able to run.

  729. I said you're going to be able to run.

  730. And I heard in my spirit when I had you stand up, the Lord says

  731. command them to dream again. Not a suggestion.

  732. The Lord said command them to dream again.

  733. Command them. See, some of you are thinking if

  734. you don't watch how you'll think so.

  735. So you're like, well you know, I'm just self-employed, you

  736. know, what kind of do? Can you imagine taking it and

  737. handing it over to a manager and handing it over to where you

  738. actually can step back, Literally, as the business

  739. owner, you don't have to be there all the time and go ahead.

  740. And instead of, you know what, I'm just doing this, you know,

  741. well, you know what, I could get back in the game and I could

  742. develop this thing so that it goes beyond my lifetime.

  743. Should the Lord tarry and you go that your company name goes on,

  744. why does it have to die with you?

  745. I mean, you could be that person.

  746. Now again, I don't know whether you're international or not.

  747. I'm not asking. I don't know that God may know

  748. that some of you are traveling in those directions even now.

  749. And what's crazy is this. Listen, if God is birth and his

  750. will for you is to be this absolutely strong, local

  751. business thrive, you're doing what God's asked.

  752. Nobody can do better, even if they become a global company.

  753. You only are to do what you're assigned, what he's marked out

  754. for you before beforehand to walk in.

  755. But are you doing it with everything?

  756. Are you imagining how it could go more?

  757. Or does the number scare you? Do the taxes scare you?

  758. Do the personnel that you're going to have to hire scare you?

  759. Do you scare yourself because you know you're going to have to

  760. change in order to handle? Because some of you can't even

  761. imagine you could handle that many?

  762. Because you get frustrated when it gets that big, But the

  763. reality is you can change. Because you have the reigning

  764. spirit on the inside of you. You do And I heard the Lord say

  765. in my spirit, Command them to dream.

  766. Command. Them to dream and write down

  767. crazy thoughts, Matt, right now. Crazy thoughts.

  768. I mean, just crazy stuff, Stephen.

  769. Crazy things, Ernie. Crazy Seth, Crazy stuff, Elliot.

  770. Just the most obscene idea. If it pops in, write it down

  771. because then you can vet it to determine is it God or something

  772. else. Because you know God's voice,

  773. Chris. Think of something crazy, Chris.

  774. Just crazy. Now, it may be a process.

  775. I get it. I came here and the only thing I

  776. ever got from the Lord is don't buy 5 acres.

  777. That's what I got right out. Don't buy 5 acres.

  778. Because what you are and what you're going to do, you got

  779. going to be able to do on five acres.

  780. Don't do it. So that's why it took so long

  781. because we looking for land now I actually am hearing I'm

  782. listening to God about some land I tied up once.

  783. Determine maybe I shouldn't have let go of it because it may have

  784. never been for the church but it may be If you want to know what

  785. that property is, where the trend galley barn is, that's 51

  786. acres that we got in contract with and they built a pond with

  787. the trunking company but then they encroached on wetlands and

  788. then they end up having to mitigate and tie it up and I

  789. would have only had eight. Acres.

  790. And it wasn't even connected, although I could have filled in

  791. the pond that was 15 acres, which would have put us back to

  792. 23. But that takes time.

  793. At the end of the day, I went away from it.

  794. And I do have some people in a town right now that are saying,

  795. well, you know, they would believe in God for that and

  796. didn't do it. So I'm like, Lord, did I miss

  797. it? Should I just stayed with it?

  798. It wasn't. For the church.

  799. So I'm asking because if he wants me to have it, I'm going

  800. to take it. Are you hearing me?

  801. Because I could. Do something with that barn.

  802. Are you hearing me? Some other ideas?

  803. Now my point is, is dream. Imagine.

  804. Write it down. Crazy stuff, but you've that

  805. kind of stuff takes you out of your comfort.

  806. The Lord commands you to imagine, which I believe.

  807. In the next 18 year days, you're going to hear some stuff.

  808. Write it down, write it down. And then at that point, let the

  809. Holy Ghost prioritize it. Hallelujah, you can be seated.

  810. I am a pastor, but I'm also an apostle.

  811. Because I'm an apostle, I actually own businesses that are

  812. connected with the church. You know what?

  813. My son came to me in our creative team and had a crazy

  814. idea. And so why don't we start a

  815. nonprofit? They used to have one as ALC,

  816. but let's make it nonprofit called Citizen Studios.

  817. We already knew we wanted to do this with them all because

  818. again, the way we look, we want to have control of the design.

  819. Because I'm not going to have people writing with a Big Magic

  820. marker on the side of their building or their storefront and

  821. say open and these are ours, We tear that stuff down, OK, we

  822. want a presentation, all right. That being said, he says, you

  823. know, based upon our workload, we have people coming to and

  824. talking to us about our design. And so we have contracts with

  825. other companies right now that are paying us monthly to create

  826. content for them. That takes our guys about two

  827. hours a week. So for eight hours with one

  828. company I get $1000. What do we do with that money?

  829. We move it right into the creative area and.

  830. Because those guys are working a percentage.

  831. Of it, The majority of it goes for the ministry.

  832. The other percentage I give them bonuses.

  833. Because they created an economy. When our creative team goes on a

  834. trip with us to document for you, they also begin to do other

  835. things. It's 'cause we began to imagine

  836. when we went to Poland, Chase took pictures of Poland, came

  837. back, sold the drone footage and the pictures for over $3000.

  838. Yeah, and what did what? What?

  839. Because he they're feeding the church and the church is feeding

  840. them creative, Very creative. It's amazing.

  841. There's another little venture I'm fixing to jump into, but

  842. I've been talking about doing this for years, things that we

  843. would have. So I can have it on the fly.

  844. And again, people can say, well, how can you do that?

  845. How does it take away from your pastor?

  846. And don't take away. I don't actually do it.

  847. I empower those to do it. And as a result, we reap.

  848. The benefit base. Are you hearing me?

  849. Yes. There's one particular thing

  850. that came. Through a particular musical

  851. artist contacted. US through Citizen Studio and.

  852. May want us to do a music video for.

  853. Them at the. Sound of 10 to 15. $1000.

  854. Amen. How do you do you imagine?

  855. Now let me say this. Are we going to build this

  856. ministry? Where?

  857. You don't ever have. To tithe and give an offering

  858. again. Well, if you want to go broke,

  859. then sure. I'm not telling you additional

  860. income so that you can. Say, oh, great pastor is getting

  861. all kind of money we can hold. Ours.

  862. I mean, this is a biblical principle of giving that's

  863. between you and God at the end. Of the day, I mean you.

  864. Really want to get out there and do something amazing?

  865. Let me just say to you, as a business, you need to be giving.

  866. On your business. And some of you have done.

  867. It some of you got involved with what, Bishop?

  868. Said and. Man, you have come through.

  869. We'll talk about that next week. What's come in?

  870. Because what took us five years to get them all, We have more in

  871. the. Year.

  872. Did you hear what I said? What took the church?

  873. Five years based upon what people would sow and was making

  874. and came into their possession. Took us five years to do 250.

  875. $1000 more came in in a year. To be able to.

  876. Pay the mall. Off, which means you prospered.

  877. Because of your other giving, there's increase that has taken

  878. place. Are you hearing what I'm saying?

  879. So God wants us to imagine now, I did business tonight.

  880. I just did what I had unctioned by the Spirit.

  881. At the end of the day, all of us need to imagine, need to be

  882. asking God these next. 18 days. Lord, what's my purpose here?

  883. What's my connection here? How do you want me to, you know,

  884. continue to thrive within the vision here?

  885. But also what? How do you want to use me?

  886. Because some of you are thinking retirement.

  887. And you shouldn't. Rod, we got a lot of books to

  888. write, don't we? Yeah.

  889. He initially imagined. That I would write the great.

  890. American novel, right? And then he came here, And then

  891. the Lord says, Nah, what I meant for.

  892. You. Having a a.

  893. Book that would go all over the world got connected here and it

  894. is doing that and I received a copy.

  895. Of the forest in Greek last week and in Vietnamese Hallelujah,

  896. we're hitting the nations because his word's the most.

  897. Important word. Anyway, not a fictional novel.

  898. Not that he still couldn't write one.

  899. All right. Or you hear me, I got some

  900. little kid books that I would do under a pseudo name, but.

  901. I won't talk to you all about that.

  902. Stand to your feet. Come on, stand to your feet.

  903. But everybody standing. If you're here today and you've

  904. never made Jesus the Lord of your life, I'm telling you, God

  905. planted ideas are amazing. I am living proof.

  906. I wish I could load you. All up on.

  907. Multiple charter buses, maybe even actually a plane from Saint

  908. Augustine and we. Fly into.

  909. Gainesville And then we take a little trip out to a town called

  910. Archer where there's one light. Because Archer decided it was

  911. not going to grow. And I could take you past my

  912. house and you would say, can anything good come out of

  913. Archer, I'm telling you. But man, what God has done.

  914. Through a kid who was raised in Archer, Florida.

  915. Because I can imagine. I can imagine.

  916. I can imagine. That I can.

  917. Ignite the city, impact the nation and influence the world

  918. and be great at all three. I can imagine that when I'm

  919. influenced in the world that you are thriving, igniting the city.

  920. When I'm not here. I can.

  921. Imagine that when you're out in. The nation doing something, and

  922. I'm here locally, we're thriving together.

  923. I can imagine, because I can imagine that this prophecy will.

  924. Come to pass. For us in 2014.

  925. Prophet John. Todd said this.

  926. He has meditated for some time. That it is yet to be seen what

  927. could be done through a man who gave himself wholly to the Lord,

  928. the Holy Spirit said. It is yet to be seen.

  929. What could be done through a whole church that gave

  930. themselves wholly to the Lord? I believe Anchor Faith Church is

  931. that Church the gates of hell shall.

  932. Not prevail against it. And then he said, I bind up

  933. strife and division. He went on to say God is

  934. building his. Church and Anchor Faith Church

  935. is part of his church. This is not something that man

  936. is orchestrated, but the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have

  937. orchestrated this. God gave vision to Pastor Earl,

  938. gave vision to Pastor Marcy, and you all have come and hooked up

  939. with that vision. Anchor Faith Church is going to

  940. do that. Anchor Faith Church is not a

  941. local organization. It's not a state organization.

  942. It's not just a national organization.

  943. It is an international organization.

  944. Man, I believe that. I can imagine.

  945. Of what it looks like. For a whole Church to wholly

  946. give themselves to the Lord. I can see it.

  947. I see the fire of. God over every one of your

  948. heads. Right now, I see the anointing

  949. in your lives. I see the power of God.

  950. Wanting. To flow through you, I see us

  951. all in unison. All in Unity all walking and I

  952. see it and we create such. A culture of it, that.

  953. Everyone that gets added loves to be here because of the love

  954. and the environment of God and they quickly shed.

  955. Off their. Carnality.

  956. They quickly repent. They quickly change their

  957. thinking. I can imagine.

  958. It and I see you in it. So this year?

  959. As we get into some really significant stuff.

  960. Can you maintain the imagination?

  961. That together we're stronger and don't let anything pull you from

  962. this vision. Thank you so much for listening

  963. to this message. If you want more, subscribe to

  964. our message podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, and

  965. SoundCloud. Rating and leaving a comment

  966. will go a long way with helping our messages get better

  967. circulation. If you'd enjoyed watching our

  968. weekend messages, visit youtube.com/anchor Faith.

  969. We'd love it if you'd subscribe. Leave a comment or a like on the

  970. messages if you'd like to find out more information about us

  971. and how we're influencing the world and help support the work

  972. we're doing by giving, just visit anchorfaith.com.