Don't Limit God

Can you pick your Bibles up?

Please wave them around?

Make Jesus glad, the devil mad.

Let's say this together say heavenly Father, I'm here tonight by divine appointment.

I have ears to hear what the Spirit is telling me right now.

I'm listening for me and I'm listening with my spirit ears, not just my head, but my heart, because faith is of the heart and my faith is being developed and built to bring forth fruit in this hour.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Let's look at Psalm 78.

Today's the 18th, so 1848, 78, psalm 78 was one of our Psalms today.

Let's start with verse 12.

Let's talk about Israel.

Marvelous things did he, god, in the sight of their fathers, israel's fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zohan.

He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, and he made the water stand as a heap.

In the daytime also, he led them with a cloud and all the night with a light of fire.

He claved the rocks and the wilderness and gave them drink as of out of the great depths.

He brought streams also out of the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers.

And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most high in the wilderness, and they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

Yay, they spake against God and they said can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

Behold, he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed.

Can he give bread?

Also, can he provide flesh for his people?

Verse 38,.

But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed them.

Not, yay, many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath, for he remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passed it away and cometh not again.

How often did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert?

Yay, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel.

And so tonight I just want to share a message entitled Don't Limit God, don't limit God.

There's no limits with God.

He's a God of no limits.

You know, with God nothing shall be impossible.

Luke 1.37, talking about Mary conceiving without having known a man.

With God, without nothing is impossible.

And then, in Matthew 1926, with men it's impossible, but not with God, because with God all things are possible.

You know, with men it's impossible, not with God.

With God, it's possible.

See, you're over here with men.

Get over here with God, because with God, with God, all things are possible.

There's no limits.

I said there's no limits and I'm just thinking about Isaac.

He didn't limit God.

He heard from God.

I mean, you had to take some guts.

Here's a farmer, hey Lord, have you seen it's not rain, hadn't rained.

I mean the land is powder.

I mean there's not even enough moisture in the ground for the seed to germinate.

He just couldn't pay any attention to that.

He knew he heard from God.

God told me so in that land.

He didn't limit God.

So here we see in Psalm 78, israel continually limiting God.

And they did it in two ways.

First of all through ignorance, and probably more like ignorance, you know.

Ignorance, I mean because they had to know they saw God at work, they saw his power, they saw his willingness in Egypt, and so they ignored, they ignored God.

And then the other one is through unbelief.

Can God, can God Boy?

They were just can God Boy.

I mean, it made him hot.

You know, unbelief always angers God.

Aren't you glad he doesn't act on his anger but with compassion, with mercy.

And so you know, God wants us to break through the natural barriers.

These were natural barriers they faced in the desert when they ran out of water.

They natural barriers.

And so this is our greatest year yet I mean we're not going to quit on that.

God said it.

We didn't say it.

God said it.

He had to know that there was going to be COVID-19.

He had to know that all of these obstacles were coming and he gave us something that without him in charge, there's no possibility of us having our greatest year yet.

Are you kidding?

Especially if it has anything to do with finances?

But I believe it has to do with finances.

So our greatest year yet we're not going to limit God.

Everybody say natural barriers, see what's your eyes, see what's your natural eyes see.

You know the world is full of natural barriers and so those things in the flesh that we see can influence us.

We can start to believe that more than we believe what God said With man it's impossible.

We got to get out of man.

We got to get out of flesh and into the spirit.

You know, I used this illustration.

I saw it many years ago.

But scientists decided to come up with this experiment and they took a big tank of water about four foot deep, big square, thousands of gallons of water, filled it up with water and they placed a lexan divider in the middle of the tank and on one side they put a fish called the northern packets, found in the Great Lakes.

They're really a fighting fish, they're corner boars, they eat other fish.

That's what they.

You know they.

They're not bottom dwellers, they don't eat scum.

You know, they eat other live fish.

I mean, they're aggressive and I think Tom has caught some.

He likes to go fishing up Lake Michigan and they're they're beautiful game fish.

And so they put them on one side of the plastic divider and then they put their food on the other side, little fish that they like to eat.

And of course, you know they had the cameras rolling.

And those, those northern pike man, they would swim and they would hit that plastic.

Wham, you know.

And they just did this.

You know, for a while, for a period of time, they just kept going after those fish until they finally all figured out that they were unattainable.

But they couldn't touch them, they couldn't touch them, and then they kind of calmed down, they quit trying.

And then those sneaky scientists, they did a funny thing they pulled the plastic out and now they're all swimming in the same water and they still didn't attack the fish.

They're hungry, but they didn't eat the fish.

Why?

Because fish pain, pain.

You know that's all I mean.

They got that.

You know they were conditioned.

Aren't we conditioned?

We're honest.

This is why we have to have faith.

We have to have something beyond the natural.

We have to have.

We have to have faith in God's Word.

I mean, we've been created to break through the barriers.

We've been created to break records.

God didn't put us on the earth to just vegetate.

You know, in less than a hundred years, you know, we went from horses to automobiles.

I mean, golly.

I mean we went from horses that just go, you know plot, along two or three miles an hour to automobiles that can get on the freeway and drive.

And you know and if you're like me, you drive faster than speed limit.

I want to get where I'm going.

The first flight to outer space.

We went from Wright Brothers in 1903 to putting a man on the moon in less than 66 years, 1969, 1903.

That's crazy.

That's crazy.

But God has created man.

And of course, we know the Tower of Babel.

That was without God.

They decided, no, we don't need God, we're going to build our, we're going to do ourselves A tower that reaches to heaven.

And so God knocked it down.

Because, if he, they were all in one accord.

And God said look, if there's not going to be anything, they can't do if we don't get get a hold of this situation.

See, so mankind has certain powers that we were created with.

We were created to rule and reign, but not without God, with God, but the where we, where we all right now, as people, have been conditioned, you could say brainwashed, like it wouldn't be far from the truth.

Records are made to be broken, and so we ought to break through these barriers, amen.

What barriers are you facing?

What?

What challenges to having your greatest year?

Yet what are they?

Are they?

Are they social?

Are they career wise, are they financial?

Are they health wise?

What are they?

What are those barriers?

Everybody has them and those barriers are all the natural.

They're all sense, knowledge, what you can, what you can see with your eyes, hear with your ears, smell with your nose, touch, amen.

All of those five senses are involved in the barriers.

That's why I preach and teach the Word, because when you get the Word of God in you, it, it puts you through the idea of limits.

God is taking the limits off when you can get the Word of God in you, because we walk what we walk by faith and not by sight.

Faith and patience, and hears the promises, amen.

And so don't limit God.

Everybody say I'm not limited in God, so I've got one, two, three, three things Don't limit God, don't limit God.

Number one by your mind.

You have to have your mind renewed.

God spoke this to me a few years ago.

He said when you, you quote the Word like that, people will automatically say, yeah, I've been saved, my mind's been renewed.

But what they?

What I mean is that that their minds need to be refreshed.

Refreshed, I mean, that's why we ought to read our Bible every day.

You can't.

Faith doesn't come by having heard.

It comes by hearing and hearing and hearing.

And if you don't read your own Bible, you're not.

You're not giving God an opportunity to speak to you through His Word.

He's not limited.

He can speak to you at some other time.

But one thing about it when you don't exercise your own choice to read His Word and put it first, god's not really obligated to chase you around down the day and interrupt your schedule.

I mean, when you give Him time, then that's when.

That's when.

That's when you, you've given Him time, you've given Him opportunity and he and when you, you may not hear anything, but when you read your Bible, that's God speaking to you, amen.

So we need we can limit God by your mind, renew your mind Romans 12 to be transformed.

By the renewing or the refreshing of your mind that you may prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God, you would never wonder about what to do, whatever decision you've got to make.

Claire was talking about these opportunities.

You know these are decisions that you have to make and sometimes we're afraid to make a decision.

Guess what?

When you don't make a decision, you just made a decision.

That's making a decision.

When you decide, when you want to put it off, you just put it off.

You made a decision.

It's you know when you, when you, when you decide not to limit God in your mind, see you get out of wrong thinking.

Man's way of thinking, god's ways are higher than our ways, his thoughts and our thoughts.

That doesn't mean they're unattainable.

It means that unless we read His thoughts, let's read how he thinks, and the more you read about how God thinks us, how you're going to think you're going to think like he does, you're going to finally get to the place where you think just like God thinks.

And that's 90% of the battle about making a decision about what you should or shouldn't do about some something.

That's that's in front of you.

See, wrong thinking is with man, right thinking is with God.

With God, all things are possible.

There's no limits when you think like God.

There's no, no limits when you think like man.

You're thinking, oh man, I don't know, I don't have the education, I don't have the preparation, I don't have the finances for that, I don't have the background for that.

I don't, I don't, I can't, I can't, I just can't do it.

Oh no, but when you get over here in the God's Word and you read on there, I can do all things through Christ to strengthen it.

You read one of those.

Remember that song we used to sing?

We used to sing all those little choruses at Lakewood.

I mean it's like a whole new world.

When I started going to Lakewood we had all these little choruses.

You know they they didn't sing hymns, they had these little choruses and they were the Word.

They sang, they had Word songs.

You know, I can do all things.

I can do all things.

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

I mean you sing that and I mean you're a giant killer.

You get through singing, it gets down in your spirit and you start remembering.

Well, I said I could, I can do all things.

You know, brother, those things, that's what he.

He held up his doubt and say I'm a can do person, I can do all things.

I can do everything the Bible says I can do.

I can, I'm a can do person, just little things like that Wrong attitude.

Don't limit God with your wrong attitude in your mind.

People blame God.

People blame God when they ought to be looking in the mirror.

God's not the reason why you're having a problem.

He didn't withhold anything from you.

He's not teaching you a lesson.

He's not.

He's not chastising you.

He doesn't have to do that that.

If he's got anything to say to you, he knows how to say it to you.

He's not going to use circumstances to beat you up.

He didn't use the car wreck to teach you a lesson.

He didn't use the heart attack to teach you a lesson.

You might learn something, but he didn't teach it.

He's not in charge of that lesson.

Are you with me now.

But people do.

They think these kind of silly things.

See, what is that?

That's natural thinking, that's thinking like man.

But no, let's get over here and think like God thinks.

Praise God.

You know, amnesia is just failure to learn from the past.

You know, somebody said, oh, I just need to forget the past.

Well, yeah, forget it, but don't fail to learn from it.

I mean, learn the lesson.

Victory's in mistakes.

You know, paul said this one thing I do forgetting the things which are behind stretching forth.

Well, yeah, you can forget those things, but he writes all about those things.

So which is it?

Did he have amnesia?

No, he didn't have amnesia.

He was informed and learned from the mistakes he made and then it helped him on the way forward.

He didn't let those things depreciate him or hinder him.

Yeah, that's a whole different subject.

When you start feeling guilty about your past, that's under the blood.

If you made a mistake, it's under the blood, isn't it?

Didn't you confess it to the Lord?

Lord, I blew it, forgive me.

Okay, then it's gone.

But the lesson that you learn from that mistake you ought to take with you, amen.

You know we have a deal we do here in our staff.

It's called a post-action review and it doesn't matter how many times we've done a certain event.

Let's just say we're gonna have, you know, a fellowship on the grounds, we're gonna have dinner, somebody's gonna cater it, we're gonna have food People line up for the food, we're gonna have fellowship or, in half, games outside.

We've had those for years and years and years, and the way that we've been able to improve it is we have after it's all over.

On the next week we'll have a staff meeting and we'll do a post-action review on that event and we'll go through it and we'll say, well, what went right with it and what went wrong with it, what are some things that went wrong?

You can't say, well, what are nothing went wrong?

Yeah, always something.

There's always something that went wrong and you can't.

It's not to beat anybody up.

It's to learn how to do a better event the next go around.

That's the way we ought to live our life.

We ought to have more post-action reviews, not to make you feel bad, but to you know, to where you can learn from your mistakes.

I know you've never made it in, but I've made plenty.

I've made enough for all of us.

Praise God.

Don't limit God by your mind.

I talked about that inward dialogue, that negative internal dialogue this morning.

The eight track tape that never ends endless loop over and over because negative thoughts get in your mind and they follow a track.

This is scientific.

I mean your brain is trained to think a certain way and it'll just.

Those thoughts will run on the same neurons.

It'll just go round and round in your mind.

You ever wonder why you keep thinking about those things.

Well, you could break that.

Don't limit God by your mind.

Take authority over your thought life and start thinking like God.

Get over in God's slot.

God.

With God, all things are possible.

When you think like he does, there's no limits.

But when you think like man, there's limits.

You're getting anything out of this.

Don't limit God by your mind.

Number two don't limit God by your own ability or lack of it.

Don't limit God by your own ability or lack of it.

You know his presence is a great equalizer.

I mean, you know his presence is where you receive specific instructions for your life, not for somebody else's life.

Your life, his presence.

When you don't ever not in his presence, well then there's no opportunity Again.

Is he going to chase you down the road and hope that he can finally shoehorn enough time for him to speak to you.

Or are you going to put him first?

Or, you know, be like Brother Hagin.

See, he did all his praying.

See, I can't relate to Brother Hagin, because I'm not a night person.

He was a night person, so he did his praying at night.

He would go to bed and lay in bed and pray till wee hours of the morning, but then, being a pastor, he didn't have to punch a time clock.

He wasn't working at a factory, he wasn't working, you know, eight to four, so he would sleep late.

I don't know how he did that once he had kids, but anyway he's sleeping late.

Probably late for him, at 6.30 in the morning probably, but anyway, but he would pray at night.

Now, me, I just, I'm done.

I mean, I'm not.

That's not the time for me to pray at night.

My time is in the morning.

I like to get up early, I like to pray, I like to have my quiet time.

Phone's not ringing to tempt me to answer it, and all of that, all the distractions, and so his presence is the great equalizers where we receive specific instructions.

So yield to his plan when he starts dealing with you and starts showing you something that he wants you to do, yield to it.

Don't put it off.

Appropriate God's ability.

If God is dealing with you about it, guess what he's gonna do.

He is going to anoint you to do that thing that he's asking you to do.

And don't despise the day of small beginnings.

We all start off with the simplest of tasks.

You know I'm an educated person.

You know I had my own business.

But I had to humble myself when it came time for me to find something to do at Lakewood.

But I, you know they didn't choose me to be on the board and don't have those huhter leaders.

You know I didn't get a letter saying we invite you to be on Pastor Osteen's board.

Please report to the Houstonian club.

No, I mean, you know, I got invited to mow the grass.

I got invited to load the chairs in the back of a trailer and ride behind a pickup to go to the warehouse.

It was about, I don't know, a mile and a half away and we went and loaded up all kind of chairs and all kind of stuff, you know, for the convention that was coming up.

Yeah, I mean, you know I had to humble myself.

I just kind of laughed.

I just thought, well, this is pretty funny.

Whatever they need, you know I still got two hands in the back.

I can use them, praise God.

So sometimes you have to humble yourself but at any rate, god gives you grace according to the call.

You know one thing about it when you're faithful and little, god will make you ruler over much.

I wound up having my own parking place.

How many can say they had their own parking place?

God, they had.

Mine was, you know, I say the EPA.

They had to call the EPA.

It was a super fun cleanup site when I left there and started this church, because it was all about an inch of oil on it.

But God doesn't know how to promote you.

If you'll just keep you know, keep yourself humble, god gives you grace according to his call.

He gives you inside information, which is another word for revelation, and that always trumps the lack of talent.

Maybe you're not the most talented, but when you're informed of the Holy Ghost he'll make you look like a genius.

He'll make you look really smart.

He'll make you look like man.

You got it.

They got it all together.

Really, all they were was good at praying.

That works.

So don't limit God by your mind or by your thinking.

Don't limit God by your ability or your lack of it, or even your abundance of it.

Sometimes people do have a lot of ability.

Well, you have to, just, you have to be humble.

And then, finally, don't limit God by looking at the clock or the calendar.

They've been.

Faith operates on seed time.

Seed time in harvest shall not cease from the earth.

Genesis, chapter eight.

What is seed time?

The time between the time you plant a seed in the ground and the time you get a harvest.

There's a time between the amen and the.

There it is.

Amen, we've said amen to our prayer.

Now, has it come to pass yet?

No, well, don't look at the clock, don't look at the calendar.

Just start thanking God.

Start thanking God every time you think about that thing that you prayed or you said.

Just thank God that you have it.

Thank God, I believe I've received that back on October the 18th in the evening service.

I believe I've received that.

Praise God, thank you, lord.

And long about.

Whenever it grows.

I mean apple seeds take a long time to produce apples, pecans.

You know, even from a seedling, it takes 15 years from a seedling to get pecans off of pecan tree, and that's if you've got a seedling.

I don't know how long it'd take if you planted a pecan.

You might have to wait a long time.

I was looking at these trees in the front.

You know we've got live oak trees that have flourished, but the crepe myrtles and I didn't want crepe myrtles.

I've had a lot of complaints about the crepe myrtles.

That was not my first choice.

I wanted redbud trees.

Do you know what a redbud tree?

Oh, they look so beautiful in the spring.

They don't have any leaves, they're just reddish, purple, beautiful, and then they put the leaves on.

But they're really in the spring, they're really.

But crepe myrtles, you know they were easier to get.

We didn't have anything available.

And look at it, they haven't grown, they're stunted.

Every one of them is just real dumpy looking.

They are pretty, they flower, but they're not big.

I have a crepe myrtle that I planted in my yard at the same time these are planted.

It's about three times that big.

They're all kind of shrunk, you know, kind of weird, and I don't know what the answer is, except that that soil out there is just.

It was man-made.

We made what we call berms.

We wanted to make sure that people didn't drive in here, you know, with their four-wheel drive pickups, and cut through our parking lot while we weren't here.

So we put up some barriers.

But you know, it's taken a while 17 years Doesn't look like they're going to get any bigger.

I mean, how long does it take for a crepe myrtle to get big?

But you know we're not looking at the calendar.

I mean, so what?

But our faith works on seed time, galatians 6, 9, and due season.

We shall reap if we faint not, faith never faints.

Everybody say my faith is not faintin' See, quit looking at the calendar and the clock, because our faith is working 24-7 to bring the answer to us.

Maybe you just need to kick up your confession.

Maybe you need to kick up your praise, praise God.

You know Psalm 37 talks about.

You know, don't be frustrated at the evildoers that they bring evil things to pass, but rejoice.

So you know, look, get your heart right.

You know, don't limit God in any way.

Always get your heart right.

Don't get disappointed in what God has done.

God's done great things.

If there's a hitch in the get-along, it's on your side, it's not on his side.

He's not holding anything back, but some things just take time to grow and you know the bigger thing it is.

Don't shrink back from asking largely of God just because you think it'll take a long time.

I mean what else I mean?

So it takes a long time.

So what If that's God's plan for your life?

I think about all.

I knew the day I got saved that I was a pastor.

That was not easy, because my wife did not wear a pastor.

She married an engineer.

I had that discussion with the Lord one time, because every time I talked to my wife about ministry she just clam up, she didn't want to talk about it and she, you know, usually didn't like it.

She'd get irritated.

And I was talking to the Lord about it.

I said, lord, you call me the pastor, but what's the deal?

Every time I talk to Gladys she doesn't even want to think about it.

I mean I kind of feel like I'm behind the eight ball here.

Probably ought to be thinking about starting a church or doing something in that way.

He said well, you know, one thing about it is she married an engineer and you didn't even have enough gumption to become one.

She informed her that you decided to be a home builder.

You didn't consult her, you didn't ask her what she thought about it, you just expected her to just snap to your decision.

I said, oh, I did that.

Yeah, I got to thinking about it.

That's exactly what I did.

I was just kind of, you know, goofy.

I learned from my mistake.

Don't be like that, guys.

Your heirs together, the grace of life.

Of course I wasn't saved back then, but it doesn't matter.

You still shouldn't treat your wife like that, saved or unsaved, and said so.

You know you deal, you leave her to me, I'll take care of your wife, I'll bring her along at my speed.

I said yes, sir, and I quit talking about it, quit worrying about it, quit fussing about it, because it was a pressure on me.

I felt behind.

I was 33 when I got saved.

I felt like I was way behind, and this call took a long time to develop.

Every day and every year of preparation has not been wasted.

I needed every bit of preparation, plus amen, for whatever call you have, whatever God has got you to do, it takes preparation, and so get your heart right, hold steadfastly to God's word, praise Him every day, but don't limit God.

Lift your hands and receive tonight.

Praise God, I'm not limited God.

Everybody shouted Amen.

God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that I dare ask or think according to the power that works in me.

Amen, don't forget that last part.

Amen.