Finishing strong

Today's teaching is called Finishing Strong.

And let me just pray.

Let me just pray for the guys here and the guys at home.

Because I think both need to concentrate.

Yes, so let me just pray.

Father, one of the things that you said before the service today was

that destinies will be formed here today that will affect the earth.

Destinies will be formed here today.

Destinies will be shaped here today that will affect the earth.

So it's best heard when it's delivered.

Father, nothing wrong with hearing it later, but if we are here, then please allow us to hear.

I pray that I hear, Father.

I pray that I hear, so that I may be changed.

I pray that I respond to the open heaven above us right now.

I pray that I not switch off and or go into teaching mode.

I pray that I follow your lead, Holy Spirit.

That I don't create anything, nor do I leave out anything that you want to create.

Jesus, I ask this for the guys who are doing tech here.

That we leave tech to minimum right now.

And we focus on what you want to say because of the open heaven above us.

Please ask this about granted.

It would be a shame to miss out.

It would be like the shepherd boy who slept when the angels came.

Didn't happen, but I've seen skits like that, Father.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Guys, so today's teaching is called Finishing Strong.

Finishing Strong.

Finishing Strong is not a teaching I'm doing because we're at the end of the year and we've got two or three weeks left.

Because two or three weeks is not enough to finish strong.

Finishing Strong is a teaching I'm doing because I want us to start wise to finish strong by the end of 2021.

I'm not saying start early.

I'm saying start wise.

Luke 14 verse 28, Jesus was explaining a parable and he says,

Luke 14:28

Doesn't a man who wants to build a tower first go and check whether he has the means to complete the tower?

So it's that sense that I'm coming to you with this message.

I'm just relaying it.

And so it does continue from some of the things we learned last week.

So I just want to talk about Finishing Strong and then let's see where we go with that.

Guys, one of the things that happens which causes us not to finish well,

to often finish with a whimper or finish weak or finish with a lot of unfinished business,

is this thing called a gap between what we long to do and exhibit a readiness to do at the beginning of any endeavor,

which is not matched by completion or finishing.

There's a gap which is why God wants us to be wise and he wants us to finish strong by starting wise right now in December of 2020

so that we will not have any regrets in 2021.

We look at the tower we are supposed to build and we pay the cost and get all the material knowing that we can finish it.

There is a gap that most of us have in our lives between what we long to do and the readiness to do it,

but it's not matched by completion or finishing.

There is a gap.

And that gap is usually because of what I call a coup, C-O-U-P, C standing for complacency or mediocrity.

These are the things that occupy the gap that prevent me from finishing strong and all these things are real in my life.

There's a complacency or mediocrity that creeps in either because I'm doing better than most people or because I just settle for doing things not to the best of my ability.

God is not interested in excellence, but he is interested in me having a passion in what I do.

The second thing is over commitment.

Over commitment and this has happened to me every year for the last many years.

Because of over commitment in my enthusiasm, in my initial willingness, in my desire to oblige and sometimes in my desire to actually do good, I over commit.

I commit more than I can and what happens with over commitment that is enthusiastic, that is emotional, that dreams at night but finds reality in the morning is that you lose interest after a while.

You have over committed and you over commit to people and to causes and you lose interest because you realize suddenly that after the initial enthusiasm and after the initial emotional rush, you do not have what it takes to finish it.

But you've committed to it and therefore now there's a gap between the longing to do and the readiness to do and the completion and the finishing.

The next one is unbelief.

Sometimes when God gives us things to do, they are so impossible that initially you think it is doable because you have the faith for it.

But the moment faith is challenged by circumstances, because I have not prepared myself to the extent that I should, I flounder in unbelief.

I flounder in unbelief.

And then the last one is procrastination, which I will define, which you shouldn't simply render as delaying things to tomorrow.

That isn't actually the accurate definition of procrastination for most grownups.

Procrastination is picking less urgent, far more pleasant tasks and in the process putting off impending tasks.

This is what grownup adults do. Kids delay till tomorrow.

So grownup adults, especially because we have so many gadgets that are available, we procrastinate by picking less urgent, far placenter tasks at the expense of putting off important impending tasks that we need to.

So I remember once trying to start a business and I spent days trying to get a business line and getting a name and getting stationary and getting all the unnecessary things that one requires for a business without actually focusing on the business.

The number of things that we do as people that is less important, is more pleasant, but is, it's just ridiculous. Stop it. Please stop it.

This gap will leave you as someone who is never able to enjoy the pleasure of completing what you really desire to do.

It's not a lack of desire.

If you have a struggle in this area, be accountable to your spouse or to someone else saying I have this tendency to just spend hours on social media, finding out things about what I'm doing that are absolutely unimportant, pleasant, but unimportant, not urgent.

Four or five hours spent on it. It is a sin.

I'm preaching to myself, guys.

Second Corinthians 811, Paul had to deal with this problem with the Corinthians in Second Corinthians 811.

Second Corinthians 811.

It says in Second Corinthians 811, I'll read from NIV or ESV.

So now finish doing it as well so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have.

So now finish doing it as well so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have been.

This was with regard to financial commitments.

Here was a church that had made a financial commitment, but there was a gap between committing to it and actually doing it.

And many of us do that. I've had people do this to me.

I have done this to people where I'll say, hey, I'll give this to you.

And a day goes by, a second day goes by.

I remember asking Evan to buy me something.

And he bought me something and he gave the bill to me.

It was just $40.

And I had every intention of paying him.

I had the money too.

I could have just interacted.

But guess what?

I don't know why we are like this, where we choose to delay what we can do immediately.

And we don't realize that it creates a gap and that it becomes something that percolates in your life.

And so Evan comes again and I say, yeah, yeah, I'll give it to you.

And then as he leaves, the Lord says to me, what are you doing?

Why do you commit to someone and say something to someone and you have the means to fulfill it?

Why do you keep delaying it?

And so before he got home, I apologized to him.

I said, Evan, I'm really sorry.

There's absolutely no need to do this.

And I interact with the money.

I've done it to people and it's been done to me.

And it's pathetic.

Got to stop this.

Complacency lowers your goals.

Complacency and mediocrity forces you to lower your goal, your aim, your vision,

because you realize that at the rate you're going, it's impossible to reach where you have to reach.

So you'll have to lower your goal.

Complacency lowers your goal.

Complacency is a robber.

It's violent.

Complacency is violent.

It destroys people.

Proverbs 1, 30 to 32.

When you read it, it says the complacency of fools will kill them.

I pray today that because God is saying that I can shape destinies here today,

because God is saying stand up, because God is saying there's an open heaven,

that in your homes you will respond and that your heart and life will be changed for the sake of others.

Because others benefit, eh?

We live for the benefit of others.

And Godly that happens to you must happen for the benefit of others.

Overcommitment forces you to lose interest.

If complacency lowers your vision or goals,

because you know mediocrity will prevent you from getting where you need to,

then overcommitment forces you to lose interest.

I've said this before, but please remember guys,

mediocrity is only exposed when you hang out with the passionate.

Mediocrity is only exposed when you spend time with those that are more passionate than you.

If you think you're a good singer,

you will continue thinking you're a good singer till you hang out with someone who actually sings.

Do you want examples?

No, I won't.

Okay.

Unbelief, unbelief limits you because of your self-reliance.

Unbelief limits you.

These are things that prevent us from finishing strong.

Unbelief limits me because now my unbelief forces me to be self-reliant on all the gifts, talents, abilities,

degrees, skills, know-hows that I have.

Because I do not have the faith required to take on the storm that is ahead of me.

So why not choose a path of least resistance,

forget the storm, go into a place where I can be self-reliant and walk in my self-reliance and I do not finish strong.

I might finish, but I do not finish strong.

I might finish, but I do not finish strong.

Jehoash, in 2 Kings 13, if you read the passage that I asked you to read last week,

that king finished, but he did not finish strong.

There's a difference between finishing and finishing strong.

The world can finish, but only Christians can finish strong because of the strong one who lives in us.

Finishing strong is not scaling a mountain. Finishing strong is not having more money at the end of the year.

Finishing strong is the impact and the dent you leave, the god-like dent you leave in lives and cities

and in the areas of your calling in the previous year.

That is why I'm hoping that if we finish, if we start now, we can finish strong, every one of us.

This is the beauty of it. Every one of us, whoever's listening to this, every one of us can finish 2021 strong.

By strong, I mean it'll be such a pleasant aroma in the nostrils of God.

You know how thrilled he is when something is completed?

Ask a parent, give a child something to do.

It doesn't matter that the child may not do it well, but the child does it with passion.

Finishing strong, it blesses the parent's heart.

God thrills at it. Strangely enough, at the end of it, he doesn't say, well done, good and faithful son.

He says, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.

You have been faithful in three cities. Let me give you six.

All domain increases simply because of faithfulness.

And faithfulness is essential or another word almost for finishing strong.

That's the first one that prevents us from finishing strong.

The next one is you have to define what you are setting as a goal, a vision, a call that you're pressing towards.

Philippians 3, 13 and 14. These are all highly practical, doable steps, guys. This is not abstract.

Philippians 3, 13 and 14. It is hard work, but it is highly practical.

Philippians 3, 13 and 14. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.

For one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

I press on towards a goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Define what you are pressing towards. Define what you are pressing towards.

It must be something that Christ has taken a hold of you for.

This is why last week I talked about inheritance.

This is why many of you that have met me over the last three weeks,

I've been asking you to find out what it is that God has for you.

I have permission to release people into the calling that is theirs.

I have permission to do that, but you have to do the work.

I can help you with it, I can release you into it, but you have to do the work.

And doing the work is not sitting for two hours and coming up with something and saying,

great, done, now Jacob, what do you want to do with this?

It's not Jacob's destiny, it's yours.

It involves work.

Define what you are pressing towards.

Sometimes I think to myself, Jacob, why don't you get off this horse

of trying to help people walk in their destiny, release them into the prophetic.

Just forget it. Talk about other things.

But do you realize how powerful it is when a man knows his purpose?

Do you know how powerful it is when a woman knows her vision?

Do you know the years that Israel roamed in the wilderness?

Giants like Elijah quit on what they were shown.

It's easy to turn away and to let life cause you to meander.

What if we had the staying power, the perseverance to stick with something and see it through?

At the end of the day, I say to you, you will enjoy the adventure,

but God will be glorified through you.

And that for me is so much more than me fulfilling my destiny.

Guys, strangely enough, the inheritance is not what I'm after.

I'm after the one who gives the inheritance.

If I were after an inheritance, if I were after destiny,

if I were after a prophetic word coming to pass,

then I'm like the prodigal who wants what is given rather than the giver.

The reason I want to walk in my inheritance,

the reason you should do anything to walk in what is allotted to you in a time frame by God,

is so that your father, the giver of your inheritance,

can work with you and plow the field and bring things to fruition that others can eat and enjoy.

You must by now be convinced that surely this is not about you.

What good is it if I preach well?

You think that makes me a great preacher?

I'll find you a hundred tomorrow that are better than me.

But what if I preach well and it affects you and changes your life and your life affects somebody else?

Domino effect.

Define what you're pressing towards.

It is hard work, guys.

Like Habakkuk, you have to climb up the watchtower and you have to look out

and see what God is saying, how he will answer you.

It must be something Christ is laid a hold on you for.

Write and rewrite what God is saying, write and rewrite.

This exercise of, okay, Jacob asked me to do it, let me write it down, okay, here it is.

Now, how come God is not doing it?

It ain't like that!

That would be like me giving you an oil field to drill.

And I give you the oil field and you're thrilled that you have an oil field,

but that's when the real work begins.

The happiness of owning an oil field, people who are happy about owning an oil field die poor.

They're buried in the oil field and they turn into oil a hundred years from now.

I think.

But the point is that...

Write and rewrite, go to Joshua 18.4.

Joshua 18.4.

Guys, I'm not irritated at all as I preach this.

If you see my face grimacing or turning funny,

it's because I have such a deep desire for us to go here.

I have this deep desire partly for your sake, but partly for what the Father can achieve through us.

I see so much potency in every person at Acts 29.

I can't believe that I'm surrounded by such powerful, potent people.

I cannot believe this.

But I badly want us to do well for his sake and for the sake of others.

And that is why when I say things like this, it is so that you won't look at this as a homework to be done,

but as life work that must be fulfilled for the sake of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

because they are very passionate about this.

Never underestimate the passion of God for the fulfillment of what he has promised or what he has prophesied.

Never underestimate the passion of God for the fulfillment of the promise or the prophetic that he has released over you.

He is so itching to do it.

The Holy Spirit is so itching to do it.

Because God has always had plans.

Before I was born, my days were numbered, written, authored.

What magnificent writing.

Joshua 18.4, Moses tells Israel,

Listen, you guys need to go define what you're looking at and write it down.

You need to go define what you're looking at and write it down.

Listen, you guys need to go define what you're looking at and write it.

Provide three men from each tribe.

And he was talking about the inheritance.

Joshua said to the people of Israel, verse 3,

How long will you put off going in and taking possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers has given you?

Provide three men from each tribe, and I'll send them out that they may set out and go up and down the land.

They shall write a description of it with a view to the inheritance and then come to me.

It was an idea of writing and rewriting so that eventually what God wants is written on the tablet of your heart,

as it says in Proverbs 7, verse 3, that is written on your heart because of that.

Proverbs 7:3

And don't write yourself off because you're 80 or 84.

Because that's Caleb's age and Barzilai's age and Gizela is 95.

So if you think you're old, go spend some time with Gizela or Dagmar.

Once you define what you're pressing towards,

this is the next stage that is so, so important.

It's like part two.

Once you define what you're pressing towards,

as in something that Christ has taken a hold of you for,

once you define it and you write it and rewrite it,

understand it simply, write it on your heart.

Once you define it, you need to render all other priorities lesser or a loss or dogdung.

I'm using scripture.

Philippians 3.8.

Philippians 3.8.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake, I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.

Message says, Philippians 3.8.

Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life.

Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my master,

first hand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant, dogdung.

I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ.

Once you know what, once you've defined what Christ has called you for and you begin pressing towards it,

render all other priorities either lesser or a loss.

People find it so hard to let go of something that they were doing without making an extra buck on it.

Yeah, yeah, I'm willing to let it go, but I just need to make sure that I get a $1.20 for it because I bought it for a dollar.

Let it go.

No, no, but I did my masters in this and God is calling me as a missionary to Timbuktu,

but they don't have a history department yet. So I'll just wait till a university opens there.

Then they have a department of history so that my masters can be put to use.

Let it go.

God can use everything in your life at the right time.

Go ahead.

How do we get back to something that needs to be finished?

If we have forgotten slash blocked it from our mind, I'll get there in a short while.

Yeah, I'll get there in about, I don't know, I'll get there. I have it here. Yeah.

Counted lesser, counted a loss, counted dog dung. I know dog dung doesn't sit well with the other two, but it is what it is.

Strangely enough, whenever God wants to do something new in my life,

the resistance I put up because I either have to justify letting go of something I worked hard at

or I have to get my money's worth of what I did that I'm so not willing to make it lesser or make it garbage.

That in Psalm 81, God says this, this was always bothers me. Psalm 81, Psalm 81, verse 10 to 12.

Psalms 81:10–12

Psalm 81, verse 10 to 12, reading from the NIV.

Psalms 81:10–12

I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

Some virgins say, but you would not have it. Other virgins say, but my people would not listen to me.

Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

If my people would only listen to me, how quickly I would subdue their enemies, turn my hand against their foes.

You would be fed with the finest of wheat, with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

I think I've spoken to you about this guy called Ahimaaz.

Many of us suffer the syndrome he suffered. I call it the Ahimaaz syndrome.

It's in 2 Samuel 18, 19.

The thing with Ahimaaz was, Ahimaaz was the son of Zadok the priest.

But he instead of walking before God, which was the call upon his life, wanted to run before David.

And insists that, no, no, no, I want to run and give David the news.

And it ends disastrously. You should read the story.

Why? Because there was something he was supposed to pursue, but he decided that that is not what he wants.

This is what he wants. I plead with you, use the three weeks to shed extra weight,

to throw over the side of your boat debris.

Because there's no point hanging on to stuff when your boat is going to crash or run aground.

It's very difficult guys, but it's absolutely possible.

And in all these situations, you know what finally forces us to choose away from God?

Strangely enough, it's that ugly word.

In all these things, mammon comes in and starts playing.

Mammon decides whether you can do it now or whether you can do it later.

Forms its way somehow into all these decisions.

Mammon is not money. Mammon is security.

Money is a form of security, but it might be something else too.

The next thing if you want to finish strong. I love this next one.

The next thing, and guys in most of the things that you're supposed to let go, make lesser, count as lost,

you've already been told that many times over this year alone.

Many times you've been told, but you will not let go. I will not let go.

Please, when I say you, please understand it's me too. I struggle with every one of these things.

I won't let go because what if I can squeeze another drop out of it?

But it's so much fun. I love doing it.

But God said he would.

And we come up with different reasons why we find it so scary to change our priorities.

The next thing is if you want to finish strong, see the things you have permission in.

See the things you have permission in.

See the things that you have permission in.

This is what happens in 2 Kings chapter 2, a chapter I asked you to read last week, and I hope you've read it.

2 Kings 2 · chapter mention

See the things that you have permission in.

I love the conversation that's happening as Elijah and Elisha walk.

What do you want from me, Elisha? What do you want me to do for you?

Elijah, this is what I want. I want twice the Spirit that is upon you.

I want a double portion of the Spirit that is upon you.

Wow, you've asked a hard thing, Elisha, but here's the thing.

If you see me being taken up in a whirlwind, in a chariot, then it will be granted to you.

As in, if you see that, you will have permission.

And so they keep walking and just as they've crossed the Jordan,

he sees the chariots come separate Elijah and Elisha.

Elijah gets taken away in a chariot, and immediately Elisha knows that he now has permission.

What do you have permission in? What do you have permission in?

Jacob, how do I find it out?

I mean, take ordinary examples. What does your child have permission to do now that you have given the child?

The child does not need to come and ask you anymore.

What is it that here at Acts 29, when I give people responsibilities,

they don't have to ask me. They can go ahead and do things because they have permission in it.

What do you have permission in?

What is it that God is saying, listen, this was crafted for you, now begin to run in it.

And you have sufficient evidence from God that this is a call on your life.

There have been enough words. It's very difficult to accept those words because of our mental way of approach.

I struggle with the things that God has said to me.

I find it very hard to come into terms with them.

And once you know that you have permission in something, you have to experiment with it.

What does Elisha do?

He picks up the mantle that Elijah had now dropped.

And he knows that there are 50 prophets standing on the other side of the shore and they can see him.

And he rolls up the mantle and he does something that now experiments with his permission.

And it will prove what is to happen.

And he strikes the water and the water parts and he walks back to the 50 waiting on the other shore.

You never know what you have permission in until you experiment with it.

I remember writing down this line when I was preparing this teaching.

It says, I call you because of how I see you and because of who I am, not who you are, Jacob.

I call you because of how I see you and because of who I am, not because of who you are.

Only once when I know the permission I have, when I begin to experiment with it

and when I begin to believe God that our shucks, even though my reality is very different,

this is how you see it and this is who you are, only then do you start believing.

That is the beginning of believing.

If those two steps are not met, there isn't even the avenue to believe.

Guys, don't think that you know what I'm talking about.

Because I would say to you, I've taught like this many times before,

and I don't fully grasp it because it is so hard to take on what God is saying and think of yourself like he is saying.

This is why we settle for much lower visions and then strive really hard

and find that we are not achieving it because God allocates his power, his resources, his spirit, his ways

based on who he has called you to be, not based on who you want to be.

Christians think that by lowering the vision and by reaching for attainable, hardworking things,

things that you have to work hard towards, that now you can make it, you will make it by the sweat of your brow

and how have Adam's children been doing with that for the last 4,000 years?

It is to try and wear what God is saying I am and find it so unfitting in the beginning,

so huge to fill, so overwhelming, so inadequate.

And then trying to fit it every day, trying to muscle up, sometimes fabricating it,

sometimes just saying stuff you don't believe but working with it continuously

till others notice that you are beginning to fill that suit.

Because God allocates power, resources, avenues, help based on who he says you are,

not based on who you want to be or think you can be.

Stop! Stop not if not for your sake, stop for the sake of God and for the rest of the people

who are missing out on who you are.

I go through faces and people at Acts 29 and the ones that are listening that I know of

and I try to find one that cannot rise to ridiculous potency with God and I can't find one.

Why is it that I am surrounded by people of such high caliber?

Only then do you believe and once you start believing you can partner with God.

Till you believe you cannot agree and walk with God.

Half the work is believing him.

Not half, I'd say three quarters of the work is believing him.

One quarter of the work is obeying him.

One quarter of the work is obeying him.

The rest is just details.

Three quarters is believing that I actually believe what you're saying.

I am not that but my God I believe that.

And then one quarter is obeying.

That's how people in at least in the Bible created history.

Which is why escaping gravity is where the battle is.

Escaping the gravity of what you think you are.

Escaping the gravity of your physical circumstances.

Escaping the gravity of your lack.

Escaping the gravity of your bodily, physical, emotional, relational limitations.

Escaping the gravity of those things is where the battle is.

Because if like any rocket launch, maximum fuel and thrust is used up in the first four minutes.

After that you escape gravity and you enter an orbit that you have been programmed for.

But my God it is so hard and every time we try we usually fold up or we lower our expectations.

And so all that has to happen is in the beginning when one bursts off the blocks in a race.

If something can happen that can slow you down, discourage you, remind you of how things haven't changed.

Negativity brought in, a few pits and falls, disappointments.

Why? So that you may either fold up or you may lower your expectations.

I find it very frustrating when I know God is saying something about someone and I say to them

and then it isn't happening and they're struggling with it.

I feel frustrated because I wanted it to happen for them and I remember God saying to me

listen I've given you permission to release them into it.

Can you leave me to work with them to make it happen?

Instead of you taking on the responsibility of now working it in them.

Can I do it please? And I really don't need your help because I think I'm capable.

Because you want to see, right? If you've sown seeds you want to see fruit.

The farmer knows that he has to wait three months, four months and all you have to do is weed,

pull out, I don't know what farmers do but something like that and water maybe and then stuff grows.

You were a farmer.

Any questions guys? I'll answer Kevin's question a little later.

The next one that really helps to finish strong and this is such a good question.

The next one that really helps to finish strong and this is such difficult things

because they're not difficult for any other reason but because our lives are busy and undisciplined.

The greatest enemy, that's an exaggeration, one of the greatest enemies of Christians today

is social media.

It is robbing them of their destiny by allowing you to spend hours on someone else's protection.

Losing out on what you are supposed to step into.

I killed that Goliath two and a half or three months ago. I killed it.

I killed it. I blooming killed it.

So that it wouldn't rob me.

I'm blooming 55 man. It's not like I got another 60 years.

The next one is hard because of our busyness and because of our lack of discipline

and it is locating God and learning Christ.

You can word it however you want. These words are not, I like these words because they seem to convey to me what I'm trying to say.

Locating God or if you want to put another word you can put locating presence.

Locating presence and learning Christ.

Locating presence and learning Christ.

Psalm 27 verse 8.

Psalms 27:8

Psalm 27 verse 8.

Psalms 27:8

When you said seek my face, my heart said unto you, your face Lord will I seek.

That's what the NKJV.

When you said seek my face, my heart said unto you, your face Lord will I seek.

Locating presence and learning God or locating God and learning Christ is a discipline.

So this is something that I do and if it helps so be it.

So every day I try to take what Jesus said in Matthew 11 28 where he invites the disciples to wear his yoke

and I believe the yoke that Christ has been wearing from the beginning of creation is affection, intimacy, trust.

Trust.

So one of the things I try to do when I wake up as father, so help me to wear this yoke that your son has been wearing since the beginning of creation

and that he said he will teach me to wear. That it is light, that he will walk with me, he will instruct me on how this works.

Help me to enter into the same kind of affection that Jesus had with you.

You and him seem to have a relationship that I haven't scratched.

He seemed to be so affectionate when he spoke to you.

You seem to be so affectionate when you would sometimes speak loudly, sometimes quietly to him.

I know what it is to be affectionate to one or two people here on earth.

I know how my heart is towards them.

Affection always helps me recognize goodness.

Affection always helps me release goodness.

It is impossible to know the goodness of God without being in an affectionate relationship with God.

Next one is intimacy. Knowing him. Knowing him.

I seem to be better at that than affection.

Where you know things about God. Just know.

He knows you in and out. He said that.

We are fully known, but we must here on earth get into that place of knowing him.

Knowing how he thinks, knowing his heart, knowing the way the spirit searches his mind and lets you in.

And the last one is trust. We will talk about this another time because I talked about this in 2014 or 2015.

Trust. How is it that Jesus, you trusted him so implicitly?

How did you trust him like that? I am not able to.

I need faith. You need a trust.

I wish I could trust. I wish I could use less faith and more trust.

So that is the first place.

Second place is, I was telling someone about this two days ago.

These are disciplines you can cultivate. Please, these are not formulated for you.

I am just sharing with you something that helps me.

And if you can take one or two out of this and use it, so be it.

One of the things I try and do every day is spend some time speaking in tongues.

Be it one minute or twenty. Why? Because the Bible says that tongues edifies you.

That it is charging your battery.

That you begin to say things that are pure and perfect.

That you speak directly to God, your spirit speaking directly to God.

That you begin to say things that God desires for you and you desire for God.

That there is no other form of speech that is more pure and more perfect.

That it edifies or builds you up. So why not spend some time doing that?

Then go into praise. Pick one song.

And just sing it in your croaky voice.

Croaky because you just woke up, not because that is your natural singing voice.

And just praise. I think this morning it was...

Ah! Oh, echo.

Do do do do, do do do do do do do do.

You make royals out of slaves. We proclaim in Jesus name.

That was a song. I didn't know the lyrics so I pulled it out and started singing it.

The next thing is go over the Rhema word that God has given me over the last one year.

Different words or prophecies that God has spoken.

Different things that he has said. Go over it.

The Rhema is a proceeding word of God. It is a current word.

It's a relevant word for the season that you are either stepping into or that you are in.

It just is so difficult to handle because it has a prophetic element to it.

It talks about something that you are not as if you already are.

It has in it the potency to bring you into who you are in God's eyes.

Go over it. Writing down a prophetic word and keeping it is not warring with it.

Timothy my son, war with the prophetic word spoken over you.

What happens when you war with the prophetic word?

The word shapes you. You always lose to the word.

It is only the traditions that you and I have.

Mental, spiritual, relational, emotional traditions that can nullify the word.

Jesus said it is the only thing that nullifies the word.

But if you want to change and are willing to lay down your traditions,

wrestle with the word and the word will always shape and change you.

Because it works with your mind first.

And then the last one is Logos which is the Bible.

Pick some of these guys. Pick some of these. Use them. They are scriptural.

And the last two things that you don't have to do but I love doing is one,

search out the mind of God whether there is anything for the day that he wants you to pray for or no.

And then decree things that he has already shown you on the behalf of Acts 29,

on behalf of people, on behalf of nations, on behalf of ones that you are connected with.

Decree over them. Speak over them. Decree over Acts 29.

Zechariah 8. Decree over Acts 29. What awaits them in terms of an Elisha year.

Decree over people.

I realize that this can take an hour if necessary or even more.

And that not all of us have that luxury. Break it up.

All of us have the luxury of three 20-minute segments during the day.

It is a discipline. It does not come easy.

When was the last time anything that required discipline happened easily?

You see the discipline I have when it comes to cleaning my coffee machine,

making sure the grinds are taken out, setting it up again so that when I come the next time,

it's already my God, it's like I'm a Michelin chef when it comes to making coffee.

What you prioritize, you will find an ability to walk in discipline for.

I hope that helps. It's not, it's something that you can take and mess around with and modify

and do as best as you want. And then you can ask to not just search God's mind,

ask for things for yourself. Father, what about that private jet? Not yet, son.

Okay. I was talking to Chad and Apple has brought out these AirPod Max,

like it's like a headphone. And so Chad was talking to me about it and I watched a video

and I said to Chad, you know what, I think I won't buy these AirPod Max.

I'll put the money towards the private jet. And his response was,

usually people who have to put money towards buying a private jet and give up headphones,

usually don't end up flying in a private jet. Which is true.

You don't collect 700 bucks towards a private jet.

Gosh, if you just took this excerpt and put it up, can you imagine how it could ruin my life?

All righty, moving on. Guys, to finish strong you need strength to endure.

To finish strong you need strength to endure and finish. Finishing always requires strength.

And one of the coolest ways to develop strength is to do it through joy.

Nehemiah 8.10. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

Hebrews 12.2. For the joy that was set before him, he went to the cross.

And so try to make this a priority in 2021.

One of the first ways you do this is by finding the source, which is Psalm 16.11.

In your presence is fullness of joy, which takes us back to the last point.

And then finding both expression and experience.

Guys, this word is the evidence of your faith.

Is the evidence of your faith, eh?

Joy of the Lord will be my strength. I will not falter, I will not faint.

He is my shepherd, I am not afraid. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

So try and make it an important habit in your life, joy.

Source it from Psalm 16.11. Learn how to experience and express it.

If you experience it and you don't express it, it will die.

Joy that is not expressed dies.

If you express it without experiencing it, it will die.

Because joy that is not experienced is fake.

But tying both of them together is faith, because faith allows you to be joyful even though the fig tree does not blossom.

Even though there are no cattle in the stall. Even though the olive tree has shed its fruit.

Yet I will engage now in cartwheels of joy.

Habakkuk 3, 17-19 from the message.

Now we talk about Kevin's question.

What do you do when you forget some of the things that you were supposed to finish?

What do you do when you block it out?

Because you don't want to face it again because it's been a while.

What do you do when you were told to finish things and you were unable to?

For all the reasons we've mentioned, including complacency or mediocrity, unbelief, overcommitment and procrastination.

What do you do then?

I would say, collect the leftovers.

Because Jesus has a marvelous way of taking things that haven't come to pass either because of your own circumstances or because of your own flaws.

Whatever it be, Jesus has this marvelous way as in Matthew 14-20.

After multiplying fish and bread, starting with very little, multiply it.

Twelve baskets left over. Collect the leftovers.

Capitalize on your unfinished prophecies.

Capitalize on your unfinished prophecies.

Capitalize on them.

Don't lament them.

Don't lament, oh but this was said, it hasn't come to pass.

Really? Collect them. Collect them. Put them in a basket. It's left over.

We can do stuff with them.

Capitalize on your unfinished prophecies.

Hosea 6-3 says, I'll send both the latter and the former rains.

God can send the spring rains and the winter rains.

So what if there's stuff left undone in my life?

So what if I couldn't even forget undone? I couldn't even wrap my head around some of the things God said.

What if what I did was a failure? You think I'm going to throw them away?

God said long ago through a prophetic word to me four years ago,

Jacob, never worry about things left half finished when I ask you to move on,

because every block that I have given you to build, I will take and use them.

So don't worry about it.

This is what has given me the freedom to start something,

stop it halfway because God is saying go somewhere, and then start something else.

Do you realize that right now we started a series called Church Central?

The three of them stopped dead and are off to another tangent.

Who does that? That's not how pastors should lead a church.

But who cares?

Nothing that God has given you as a building block will be unused.

It will be used.

Liggy is texting me in between.

Would you have some time in the coming days for a call?

Liggy, if you're watching, yes.

But if possible, could we talk about this after the message?

Just kidding, man.

Collect leftovers, capitalize on unfinished prophecies.

This is not my line. I took it from someone else.

No breakthrough without follow through.

No breakthrough without follow through.

No breakthrough without follow through.

You have to keep following through, keep following through, keep following through.

Because something hasn't come to pass does not mean it is now rendered useless.

It does not even mean that it is not an accurate word.

It means that I have to keep following through.

I have to collect the leftovers.

I have to capitalize on my unfinished prophecies.

One of the things I do as soon as 2021 comes, I'll have a new set on my phone which says 2021.

And part of it will be things that haven't yet come to pass.

I remember telling the story of the accident ages ago.

So there was this man caught in a huge storm.

His wife is pregnant and is about to give birth.

And he has to take some kind of transport to head home before his wife gives birth.

But the trains have shut down. The roads are snowy.

Everything is shut down.

So he goes to the airport.

They say no planes.

And then someone tells him there's this crazy one-eyed pilot in a small airport down the road.

He flies in crazy weather like this.

So this guy goes there and there's a crazy pilot with one eye.

He says, you really want to go in this storm?

He says yes.

And so the pilot says, do you have any unfinished prophecies in your life?

So the guy says, yes, yes, yes.

I have an unfinished prophecy in my life.

Well, I'll take you then.

So they jump into this little plane and they're flying towards the town.

And suddenly there's this huge strike of lightning and it breaks off one wing.

And the pilot is now trying to control the plane.

And he said, you said you have unfinished prophecies in your life.

He said, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do.

He says, okay.

And so he's still flying.

And then suddenly there's a wind shear and the tail breaks off.

And now the plane's like wobbling all over the place.

He says, you lied to me.

You said you have unfinished prophecies.

I said, yes, I do.

And then there's another strike of lightning and the other wing goes off.

Now the plane is heading towards the ground.

He said, you lied to me.

I took you on your word.

You said you had an unfinished prophecy.

He says, yes, I do have an unfinished.

He said, what is it?

He said, this man came and prophesied all my life and said I would be the only survivor in a plane crash.

And that's the point being that the point being that unfinished prophecies are great, man.

Work towards them.

Capitalize on them.

David was told that he would be king.

Goliath was told nothing like that.

Guess who was going to die that day?

Capitalize on unfinished prophecies.

Collect them.

Father, this one, this one, this one.

And God thrills when you remind him of that.

If it's a question about how planes crash, I can't...

Okay.

Just look at the last one here then.

Don't go further back.

Whatever God wants me to remember, he will revive.

Oh my God, he has...

That's why he's called the ancient of days.

He can pull things from very, very long ago.

Two more points and we're done.

Work out the course you're running with runners better than you.

Work out the course you're running with runners better than you.

Work out the course.

Guys, this cannot be done on your own.

You need help.

I need help.

I have people that I go to for help.

These are not people always better than me.

These are people who in that area may have greater expertise or may have...

I may have noticed greater faith or perseverance.

I may have heard something they're saying and I realize,

gosh, they have an understanding in this area that I don't have.

I'm talking real.

These are not examples I'm giving just so you understand.

I'm talking about real life.

There are people in this church that I know in certain areas,

they seem to understand things better than I.

Even if I may have taught them that, they seem to practice it better.

And then I go to them.

Work out the course you're running with runners better than you.

Galatians chapter 2, verse 2.

Galatians 2:2

Galatians 2, verse 2 from the passion translation.

Galatians 2:2

Galatians 2, verse 2.

Galatians 2:2

And I went up by revelation and communicated unto them the gospel

which I preached among the Gentiles, but privately to them,

which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run in vain.

So this is Paul who wrote most of the New Testament,

going and asking people who had seen Christ one-on-one,

who had personal knowledge,

hey, this is what I'm preaching, what do you think?

Work out your course with runners better than you.

And this is where I go back to the point I was saying.

So you hear God and you say, all right, here it is, now what?

No, no, no, no.

You work on it and then keep coming back for course correction.

Keep coming back for course correction.

Keep checking the stars to see if you are still keeping the course

that you were asked to keep.

This is not some kind of one-off thing.

I've done my duty now, oh God, you better get going on your prophetic word.

No, war with it, struggle with it, wrestle with it so that you are changed.

I know people who come at the beginning of the year and say,

this is what God is saying and that's it.

Really? What about the rest of the year?

You know, there was a man called Demas.

Yeah, I'll just call him Demas because that's how he used to pronounce his name.

So there was this guy called Demas.

In Philemon, verse 24, it says, Demas used to be a fellow worker with Paul.

And then it says in 2 Timothy 4.10, Paul is saying to Timothy,

Timothy, Demas has left.

He has deserted me.

He has gone back to the world.

It was not that Demas backslid and went the way of sinners.

The truth is that Demas found it so attractive to go back into the ways he used to function

that he no longer was walking as a fellow worker of Paul.

You think it's not possible for me to veer off course?

Course correction is critical.

Some of you have been told by others, hey, go meet with this person, talk with them.

No.

And if you're feeling scolded, this is exactly what I'm trying to do.

Maybe scold is not the right word that makes it schoolish.

If you feel admonished, how about a slightly stronger word, rebuked?

Ah, exactly what I was trying to do.

Last one.

Sheldon, sit on the piano.

Guys, your cause, if you want to finish strong,

your cause is conveyed and carried by your passion.

In 1 Samuel 17.29, David,

sees Goliath coming out every day and everybody hiding the moment Goliath comes out.

And David says, is there not a cause?

Your cause is conveyed.

Your cause is conveyed and carried by your passion.

One cannot have justice, one cannot have justice.

Passion that does not have a cause is zealous but is misguided.

A cause that does not have a passion will neither be conveyed nor be carried.

In the passage that I asked you to read, I asked you to read the passage that I asked you to read.

In the passage that I asked you to read last week,

if you notice I keep saying asked you to read last week,

just so if you haven't read it, you will this week.

The passage that I asked you to read last week, 2 Kings 13.18,

he was a king called Joash and he had a cause, he had to rule Israel,

but he did not have the passion for it and so,

you can imagine how after having beaten the army three times,

because he struck the ground three times,

you can imagine the day he had to fight his fourth battle,

what he must have been thinking.

He knew he would have three victories, but the enemy wasn't wiped out,

and now it was the dawn and they had to go out and it was a fourth battle.

What was he thinking?

Guys, a cause must have passion.

If it doesn't, you will not be able to convey to others.

Remember, all our causes are for the sake of others.

What is David trying to say? Is there not a cause?

Meaning, come on guys, this un-circumcised Philistine is mocking both the God of Israel and the people of Israel.

Is there not a cause?

He was trying to get the army rallied together to stand up against this giant.

Let me repeat that line again.

Never underestimate the passion that God has for the fulfillment of what he has promised or prophesied over your life.

Never underestimate the passion that God has for the prophecy or the promise that he has given you, Jacob.

Never underestimate it.

I've shared this with some of the old timers here at Acts 29.

1994, I've just come to Canada. It's been hardly eight months.

God had given promises that are coming to pass even now.

I see them coming to pass even now.

But then, as a new immigrant who had nothing, who knew very little, who knew very few people,

there was just no way those promises could come to pass.

I was looking to find a way to earn a living, to find maybe a newspaper to work at and stuff like that.

I remember going to this church and there was a little fellow called Mike.

He was like a TA, like a sub-pastor.

And so he is conducting the worship.

And he says, how many here think they'll serve the Lord in some capacity?

A lot of people go up.

How many here think that they'll serve the Lord once their jobs are over, some go back, a few stay?

Finally, he asks the question, how many here know that they are called to serve the Lord without doing anything else?

And that is what I was struggling with.

But I stood there and he comes and before he can even lay hands on me.

And this is anecdotal, okay? Don't make theology out of it.

I'm just sharing this with you to show nothing else but the passion that God has

or the prophetic that he has spoken over you and the promises that he has given you.

There is nobody more passionate over my life and the promises that he has given me that God himself.

And I stand there and before he can even touch me, I fall and I'm lying there on the ground and I'm absolutely conscious.

But here's the thing, guys. I can't get up off the ground.

It's like my legs are moving, my hands are moving, my head is moving, but my back refuses to get up.

I'm just worshipping God as this worship leader called Shannon plays the piano. I'm just singing.

I didn't have a car then Shannon and her husband Kevin brought me to church.

People are leaving, some are standing there and they think I'm like knocked out, I can't hear anything.

But I'm absolutely conscious. And they're saying stuff like, I think the guy has gone to sleep.

I can hear a little bit of laughter and giggles and stuff like that.

I want to tell them no and I'm just singing songs and every time I sing a song,

God will pick an area in my life that I don't believe fully in and say, do you believe this?

And I'm struggling with it as I'm singing. Finally, Kevin comes and says to me, hey Jacob, Shannon needs to go home.

We've got to lock up the church. Do you think you can come?

And I'm saying to him, Kevin, I'd love to. Nobody feels more foolish right now than me.

But I can't. People try to help me, I can't.

And so Kevin says, okay. And they lock the church.

And I'm lying there on a stage like this with the lights above, I can't move.

And then after everyone had gone, God reminded me of the promise that he has been so faithful to bring to pass.

So faithful. Plumbing impossible, man.

Neither had the ability nor the resources, nothing to accomplish what has been accomplished over the last 26 years.

And he said, reminded me of the promises.

And it reminded me of a scene from this book written by Demos Shakerian called The Happiest People on Earth.

Where something like this happens to this guy called Demos Shakerian as his wife is playing the piano.

And God says, will you ever doubt my promise again? And Demos says no.

Then God asks me the question, will you ever doubt the prophetic and the promise that I've given you?

And I say no. And as soon as I say no, he says, you can go now.

I held on to that, man. When times were difficult, I held on to that.

And I've seen the goodness, the faithfulness of God.

This is not a story that, I mean, there's nothing that is self-exalting in this story.

I was just helpless on the ground.

So this is not so that anything else may be conveyed but the passion of God for the word that he's spoken over you.

So here's what I want you to do.

We're going to have dead air for five minutes.

And if you missed out on this Sunday because you had something else to do,

dot, dot, dot, dot, dot.

We'll have dead air but very alive with the spirit.

I want you to go and pull out some of the prophetic words and the promises that God has spoken over your life.

I want you to read them. Now, most of you have them on your phone or in your notebooks.

Go get them. I'm going to read the ones that I'm struggling with that I find impossible.

So that's what we're going to do for the next five minutes. We're in no hurry.

There's no Vietnamese church after this.

Go pull out the prophetic words and promises spoken over your life.

Don't pull out what you want. Pull out what God said you are.

Go look at it again. Go look at what God said you will do in certain nations.

Go look at what God said will be your legacy here on Earth.

Go look at what God said you have been called for.

Go look at what you recently heard about next year.

Go look at what has been left over from last year.

Go look at all these things that God has said. He knows it is God.

You don't need any reassurances about that.

So what if it's only two sentences? Grab those two sentences.

Take the next five minutes to go over them. Read them. Read them slow.

You won't be able to finish this process today, but you can start the process.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

When God gives you a word, he is telling you what he has seen.

When God has given you a word, man, when you look at the words you guys have received,

one hand you think to yourself, there are so many who desire this and haven't received it and you haven't.

Then when you look at the word you realize that this is so different from how you see yourself.

Whenever God gives you a word, he is telling you what he sees.

I just want to end with a story from Graham Cook and then we'll pray.

So Graham Cook was in, again this is an anecdote, so don't try to draw theology from it.

Take it as best as you can and if you don't believe it, agree with it, let it go away.

Because I'm not espousing him or the story somehow resonated with me.

So he was in Scotland and I shared this three or four months ago.

But it's what I want to do tonight.

He was in Scotland and he was preaching about persevering or something.

And they happened to talk about that story that we see as our inheritance, Second Kings 2.13,

where Jehoash the king struck the ground three times and then stopped.

And so as he is talking about this story and reminding people of the promises and the prophetic

that has been spoken over their lives and the promises and the prophetic spoken over Scotland,

hey, it changed.

The promises and the prophetic spoken over Scotland.

Then this old man, he must be 90 or 92, he comes up and he kneels down

and he starts beating the carpet and the platform in front of him

and starts calling out the promises and the prophetic.

And then another young man must be in his 20s or wearing leather and a whole lot of chains and stuff like that.

He comes up too and he kneels right beside the 92-year-old

and he starts banging the carpet and the ground saying, beginning to pray for Scotland, beginning to pray.

And they begin to pray stuff like, I will have what you have given me, O God.

Scotland will become what you have said.

This is what we have heard you prophesy through people over the last 600, 700 years.

And we will have it. And they start banging the carpet and the platform in front of them

and start praying, saying that today I will stand up in faith and receive it.

And as this old man and the young guy start doing it, others from the congregation come up.

You have the entire congregation up front beating the ground and striking the ground

like that king was supposed to with the arrows.

Only they're using their hands, striking the ground, reminding God of the promises and the prophecies,

claiming it, saying, I will walk in it. I will see it come to pass. I will stand in faith for it.

And they keep doing this. Now the entire church is involved.

And as the entire church is involved, this old man rises, winks at Graham Cook and walks out.

And the young man rises and he stands at the door and Graham Cook sees him and then he disappears.

Like disappears, literally disappears as if he was never there.

What you make out of the story is up to you whether you think it is real or not.

But I want you to know that God has a passion for bringing to pass the words that have been spoken over your life.

And I just pray right now that you would kneel where you are right now

and begin to look at the promises and the prophetic words you have

and begin to strike the ground with your hand in prophetic action.

And begin to say, oh God, I believe this. Oh God, I will have it.

Oh God, these are the nations you've given me. Oh God, you've said this about Wally.

You've said this about New York. You've said this about Lithuania. Oh God, you have said this about me.

Oh God, I believe it. I'm going to exert faith. I'm sorry that I have not been able to.

But today I start again. Today I start again.

We'll just take a few minutes doing that, guys. If you were here, there would be a noise as we do it together.