"Journey of Expectation" with Ps Don McDonell // 22 Jan

God, we thank you for your word today.

Let your word come alive in our lives

today.

Let it penetrate beyond the mindsets of doubt

and fear.

Let it ignite a flame inside our hearts

today that change the world forever.

In Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.

God bless you as you take your seat

today.

And man, what an awesome.

Oh, thank you guys.

Thank you.

Awesome worship.

Loved it.

In fact, there was a real presence of

God there.

In fact, I thought when we're taking communion

this morning, if you needed a miracle, that

was your moment.

All right.

Don't miss the moments in life.

I'm right into moment.

There was such an anointing here.

The power of God.

I don't know if you even believe in

the anointing anymore.

There's so many people now that sort of

flounder through life and don't understand the anointing

of the Holy Spirit.

There is nothing as powerful as the anointing

of the Holy Spirit.

All right.

We're meant to carry it with us.

We should influence atmospheres.

When we start singing praises like that, you

better believe that our confession ignites the atmosphere

for the supernatural.

Okay.

Always let God put his super on your

natural.

So we sing with all our hearts.

Most of that is confession.

And it's great to confess the word of

God, isn't it?

And I just want to challenge you today

and stir up your faith a little bit.

Okay.

2023.

It's a great day to be alive and

keep praying for our nation in Jesus' name.

Been praying for our nation all year.

Been praying for a move of God and

stuff's happening.

I'm believing for revival.

And tonight we've got Layla Nahavandi here.

And I was talking to Layla.

We were in a meeting together actually on

whatever.

I can't remember what day it was now.

I think it was Friday.

We're in a meeting together and she is

believing for revival to hit this nation.

Okay.

Layla used to live in our nation and

we're on a committee or committee, I hate

that word.

We're on a team together with the Global

Evangelical Association.

And we're believing for the power of the

Holy Spirit to hit the planet.

In the next five years, we're believing for

five million souls in the kingdom.

Okay.

So I want to tell you, get ready

for a mighty move of God across the

nations.

All right.

Are you ready for it?

So if you're not fired up already, come

tonight.

She's a young fired up evangelist and she

will stir your faith.

Okay.

She will stir your faith.

And how many know we need our faith

stirred every now and then?

We just need it.

You just need to put yourself, position yourself.

I'm right into positioning yourself for what God

wants to do in your world.

Okay.

I thought one of you two, you might

agree.

But if you don't position yourself, I find

that these moments, they get away on us.

We can't let anything get away on us

in New Zealand now.

We need a shift of the Holy Spirit

in our nation, guys.

And I don't know about you, but I

am fired up.

Dave, my son-in-law Dave came with

me last Saturday night.

We saw 40 young people give their lives

to Christ and just a real revival meeting

in our time.

And I'm believing right now in our city

for a sweep of the power of God

across our nation in Jesus' name.

And right here at Inspire Church, let's believe

God for a harvest of souls this year.

Hallelujah.

And I don't know about you, but I

think we can, we've got to be very

careful that we keep, we don't get at

ease.

We don't relax.

I think it's hard to relax today anyway,

but keep moving.

Keep moving in God.

Keep being expectant and keep living that life

that believes that God, the greatest, as I

always say to people, the best days are

yet to come.

I said the best days are yet to

come.

And I really believe that.

I believe that stuff.

I tell you, we've got to be believing

that God's best is still coming.

Yeah, I know it might be tough out

there, but just believe for God's best is

here.

Hey, hey, great to have James and Abby

in the house this morning, all the way

from, and your daughter Zoe, from Whanganui.

Can't believe you guys would shift.

They've been to my meetings in Whanganui quite

often.

I can't remember what the church is called

now, but it's a great church.

And, but it's great that you guys have

shifted to Auckland.

Welcome to Auckland, guys.

And welcome to, welcome to, yeah, a fantastic

city, best city in the nation.

We all believe that.

And your little girl Zoe, nine-year-old

Zoe, she's fired up to be in Auckland.

She's had to leave a couple of friends

behind.

And so get them, grab them, invite them

to lunch or something, okay.

And, and, but welcome to church, everybody, meeting

so many new people.

Ellen, it's great to see your face, man.

You're a good man, Ellen.

I see the power of God on you,

mate.

You've got a great heart.

And I, and I really believe this year,

2023 is your year, Ellen.

I believe that God's about to birth fresh

stuff in your spirit.

I believe God's going to awaken some dreams

that, that, that you lost track of along

the way, and God's going to reignite dreams

in your heart.

Yeehaw.

Your beautiful wife started up a business.

Man, go girl.

Speak the blessing.

Let me pray for you two right now,

before we get on with the meeting.

I just feel the need to pray for

you.

Can I get you?

Can I make a spectacle of you?

Can I, some people get embarrassed, but the

power of God are going to come on

you today, I believe.

And I really believe that, Ellen.

I see the love of God on you.

Father, I thank you for this couple.

I thank you for the business that they're

involved in.

I thank you that right now, Lord God,

that your hand be upon them in a

mighty way, that this year be a year

of awakening in their spirit.

I pray right now, Lord God, that Lord,

you would bring freshness on their spirit and

the great blessing of God that overflows you

in Jesus name.

Even on your business, I really believe right

now that God is going to put favor

on you and you're going to see God's

blessing flow in your business.

You're going to see God is about to

pour out his anointing on kingdom minded people.

And I want to tell you, get ready

for what God's about to do in your

lives.

Thank you, Lord God, for freshness in their

lives.

Thank you, Lord God, for the blessing of

God that maketh rich and addeth no sorrow

in Jesus mighty name.

Just feel the power of God on you

guys.

Man, go for that.

Go for that.

Sorry to just interrupt there a little bit.

Sometimes we just need to interrupt it a

little bit, you know.

And I've got about 16 points I've got

to get through this morning somehow, but we

will get there.

And I promise you, we will get there.

Jesus name.

Father, we do thank you.

We thank you, Lord God.

We thank you, Lord God.

Just looking around.

Andrew Michelle.

A good name, Andrew.

I've heard that Andrew's a good name.

It's from Mrs. Piggott.

Because Andrew Piggott was one of the great

interns in this place, now pastoring and leading

in the kingdom, preaching here in a couple

of weeks.

He's following Layla.

But Andrew, a good name.

But Andrew and Michelle, I just see God's

incredible love on you two.

And I tell you, you guys have got

a heart to hear the voice of God.

And in fact, can I pray for you

guys too?

I think it's only about your second time

here, but I'm going to pray for you

anyway.

Holy Spirit, I want to thank you right

now.

Thank you for this awesome couple, God, I

thank you right now.

Jesus.

Jesus, I thank you right now.

Holy Spirit.

I really believe right now that there's been

obviously some shifts in your life.

But I believe that God says, you know,

God said to Joshua, come on, get ready.

I'm about to do something great.

And I'll tell you what, that's a word

in your guys' hearts and a word in

your season.

That's right now.

And I believe right now you guys have

got a heart for the things of God.

Holy Spirit, I thank you right now.

And on Michelle, Lord God, I speak your

blessing right now.

I speak the incredible power of God.

I speak a year, Lord God, of infilling

and overflow of the Holy Spirit.

And I pray right now over your children,

over your family right now.

God says, no, you don't have to worry

about your kids because God says, I've got

them in my hand.

And I really believe that.

It's like God saying, I've got you guys

covered.

And I've got your back.

So Father, I want to thank you right

now for the power of God on this

couple in Jesus' name.

God's opening up fresh opportunities for you.

God's opening up fresh doors for you.

I'll tell you that too.

I feel that on your lives right now

in Jesus' name.

And there's a miracle right here for you

today.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Bless them, Lord.

God bless you guys.

Hallelujah.

Yeah, Jesus.

Jesus.

Anyway, we should probably, I'm struggling, as you

can tell.

But I think we'll go to the Word,

shall we?

I want to speak about the journey today,

all right?

The journey.

I think it's probably going to come up

there soon.

But here, grab your Bibles.

Here's what we're going to, all right?

We're going to Philippians chapter 3, verse 12.

Philippians 3:12

I love it.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible.

They're all favorites, let's face it.

People have favorite verses.

How can you have a favorite verse?

They're all good, and they're all power-releasing.

Not that I have already, oh sorry, Philippians

Philippians 3:12

chapter 3, verse 12.

Did I say that?

Not that I have already attained, okay?

Not that I have already, okay?

In other words, we haven't made it yet,

all right?

And so some of you are wondering, what's

next?

And I want to tell you, what's next

in your life right now is a miracle,

okay?

What's next in your life is that our

expectations go to a new level, we believe,

for the supernatural of God to get involved

in our lives in a very powerful way.

And I want to tell you right now,

God is a God of supernatural miracles still,

okay?

I damaged my knee about a week ago,

and man, I tell you, I could barely

walk.

Julia, is that true?

But kind of, you've got to push through

sometimes.

And I've got a bit of a philosophy

in my life, keep on moving.

Wasn't there a song about that, was it

The Muppets, keep on moving?

Probably, keep on moving.

And I think sometimes we need to keep

moving.

And I kept moving, and I kept believing

God, and I kept believing for a miracle,

and I kept believing for the answer.

And I want to tell you, yesterday, I

even went, I thought of, I went and

pulled up at the doctor's, I was going

to go to the doctor's, and I thought,

nah, pray for it.

Pray for it, laid my hands on it,

I've had many of you pray for it.

Jane prayed for it the other day, no

wonder I'm healed.

Jane Swofford laid hands on my knee, and

now it's totally healed in Jesus' name.

There you go, anybody need a miracle, come

and see this girl after, all right?

I even went, I went to buy some

tight band for it, that was $40, I

thought, nah, believe God.

And totally healed today in Jesus' name, amen?

And so God is still in the miracle

business, all right?

Not that I've already attained, or that I'm

already perfected, but I press on that I

may lay hold of that for which Christ

Jesus has laid hold of for me, okay?

God won the whole lot for you, and

he handed you the keys to total victory

in your life.

And I believe right now we can grasp

a hold of those keys, and we can

live in the victory that God's got for

us, okay?

And I don't care what our economy is

doing, what our world is doing, we live

in a different economy, it's the economy of

the Holy Spirit, it's the grace of God

and the favor of God that's on us.

We need to keep praying, we need to

pray that God brings the right change, and

God instigates change in our nation, and I

think God's doing that right now.

But we need to get into the prayer

room and believe God for the miraculous over

New Zealand, one of God's great countries on

the planet, all right?

Seen out thousands of missionary in years gone

past, but I found out recently that we've

stopped on that, we've pulled back on that.

Time to get into it again, guys.

People who feel the call of God, and

grab a hold of the call of God

on your life, and get into it, and

buy into what God wants to do in

your world.

We can't live ordinary lives, friend, we're supernatural

beings, we've got the call of God on

us.

When Julia and I got born again, it

was, I don't even think we lasted a

year, and we were gone, gone into the

field, because God challenged us, and God stirred

our hearts, and it was the best thing

in the world to be free of the

world, set free to serve God, and have

the grace and the favor of God in

our lives.

We were 25 years old at the time,

and man, we were sharing it with John,

you guys the other day, and you guys

were sharing your story with us.

It was so incredible what God does with

passionate people.

Are we passionate this morning?

That's what that's talking about.

Are we passionate?

We need to live passionate on the edge

of what God wants for us.

We cannot afford to stick in Haran.

When Abraham got to Haran, our father of

faith, the one we sort of follow, we

are the children of Abraham.

We name ourselves, we call ourselves, don't understand

some of that, sometimes we're just God's kids,

okay, but I'll tell you right now, Abraham

got set free, God moved him out of

Mesopotamia, God took all the idol worship at

him, and took all his terrible life of

sin away, and he moved out, and he

started going, and then he got stuck in

Haran, and God said, get out of Haran,

I've got the whole world for you to

possess.

Yeehaw, and so he moved on out, but

God, I think God's going to want to

rattle some of us this year, 2023 man,

my message is keep moving, keep moving, God's

got more for you, okay.

We've got to move in faith, where's Ben?

Ben was up here saying, come on, some

of you need to move onto the stage

and play your instrument, do what he says,

he really does, he wears that funny hat,

he's in that law thing now, but he'll

challenge you, stay in a good relationship with

him, you don't want to find yourself on

the wrong side of Ben, all right, because

that could be kind of rugged for you,

stay on the right side of Ben, keep

growing, I always say to people, keep growing

and keep learning, keep moving, keep growing, and

keep learning, okay, we need to have more

of God, you get some books into you

and fire your spirit up, hang with people

like Layla tonight, put it in your calendar

right now, this is where I'll be at

five o'clock tonight, I'm going to be

here, get Don off the stage quick and

early, so we can all get home and

have our little afternoon nap, if you need

one of those, and then get back here

tonight at five o'clock and invite some

people with you, okay, and get involved, keep

learning, keep growing, Julia and I got born

again man, I tell you, I got invited

to a full, in fact, funny enough, I'm

speaking at a full Gospel Businessmen's meeting tomorrow

night, but we got invited, just after we

got born again, we got invited to a

full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship meeting, okay, and all

of that sort of worked with me, I

was a businessman, full, they had plenty of

food there to eat, and so I went

to the meeting, and God changed my life,

radically transformed my life, on the first night

I was there, somebody pulled me out, like

I pulled a couple people out there and

prophesied over me that I'm going to be

the leader of the chapter, they call them

chapters, they're all around New Zealand, this is

on, I only just got born again man,

we were barely, we were still sinners actually,

and they said you're going to be the

next leader of the full Gospel Businessmen for

Whangarei, and it sort of freaked me out,

anyway, I got baptised in the Holy Spirit,

I remember standing in front of the crowd,

baptised in the Holy Spirit, and I remember,

I don't know whether the room was spinning

or I was spinning, but everything seemed to

be spinning, okay, they prayed for me, that's

when the Holy Spirit came on my life,

and it was a radical, radical shift in

our lives, and man I want to tell

you, we need more of that, we need

more of that, it wasn't long before the

call of God got so manifest in our

lives, I went to the next church meeting,

I went to, there was a guy there,

Barry Smith, anybody who ever heard of Barry

Smith, put up your hand if you remember

Barry Smith, he was a, he was sort

of an old-time prophet, unfortunately he's not

here any longer, he died, and, but, well

he's in heaven isn't he, so he's happy,

he was a true, probably a true prophet,

he was a, he wrote a book about

the planes flying into the New York, into

the towers, the Twin Towers, and he wrote

it 20 years ago, about a plane flying

in, and everybody said oh you're a false

prophet, but it turned out he was probably

more onto it than most prophets I know,

and, but he talked a whole lot of

stuff about Ian Toms, I believe we're living

in those days right now, and it's time

to get fired up again, Barry Smith came

and preached, and while he was speaking he

said he hasn't got a house, so God

spoke to Julia and I, and, and said

go see that guy about a house, I

had a building company, and so we went

up, I went up to see him after

the meeting, and I said oh man you

said you haven't got a house, I'm going

to give you a house, and, and I

want to tell you right now, we'd been

a Christian I think approximately one month, and

that day we unlocked something supernatural in God,

I went to him, I said man we're

going to build you a house, and he

said well how do you see that happening,

I said well mate, here's the thing, where

do you live, he lives in Polaris Sounds,

okay, it's beautiful, Polaris, sorry is that how

you say it, beautiful spot, and so I

grabbed a mate of mine, and I said

will you partner with me, and him and

I flew to Polaris Sounds, and we stayed

there for six weeks, and in six weeks

we totally constructed a house from start to

finish for Barry Smith, and then he moved

in on the day we left, we had

so much fun with him, and it was,

I was a new Christian man, everything to

me was like mate, this is man, what

could be next, you know, what's next, does

anybody still live like that, what's next, you

know, I love living on the edge of

what's next, I think we live sadly too

boring sometimes, and I think God, what have

you got next, what's God got next for

you Dave Pearson, what's God got just around

the corner, I believe you're going to influence

people this year like you've never influenced people

before, I see people right now having their

lives totally transformed just because you were able

to influence them, what's next in every one

of our lives, being God happy and spoke

about our talents and our gifts, what's next

in our lives that God's going to operate

and use, maybe the saxophone up here again,

I can't believe he didn't even mention the

saxophone, my favourite instrument of all time, the

saxophone, and John we've got to get that

up here again man, I just feel like

I'm alive when the sax comes on, but

man I tell you, you've got to get

up, keep moving, keep learning, and keep believing

the best is yet to come, and I

want to tell you right now, we went

there and we built that house, we came

back and I came back in the first

meeting I walked into, we were living in

Whangarei at the time, built that house and

went back there, was meant to go, well

I did, I had a few guys working

for me, yeah I got a present at

Christmas that reminded me of that actually, I

got this incredible present, the notes, lunchtime notepad,

lunchtime notes okay, because one of the guys

who was working for me, see when I

got born again I got kind of radical

and I went down to work and told

them we're all going to hell, so I

gathered all my people, I said we're going

to have a staff meeting, so I gathered

them, I think there was eight of them

at the time, eight people working for me,

and I walked into the meeting and I

said well here's what, this is the day

after I got born again alright, so I

went into the meeting and I said you're

all going to hell, you'd better get born

again, because I got saved about eight hours

before, ten hours before, and they thought I'd

gone nuts, thought I was crazy, but God

radically changed, yeah one guy, his name's Gary,

he went out surfing that night, that's what

we used to do, he went out surfing,

while he's out there surfing he had a

vision, Jesus came walking onto water and told

him Don's right, so maybe I hope you

get that today alright, and Don's right, and

so he came knocking on my door, I

think it was 10.30 the next night,

I got born again 10.30 on, I

think it was a Wednesday night Julia, and

then on the Thursday night Gary comes knocking

on my door and he says man you're

right about that Jesus, we hadn't even read

that verse in the Bible yet, Jesus came

walking on the water today and told me

that you're right and I'm here to get

what you've got, so on my first day

as a Christian I led Gary to Christ

okay, and he got radically born again, and

then he started working, oh sorry he was

working for me, and so but he was

coming to work one day and I and

he used to, he just got married and

he used to bring this, these lunch, you

know his wife would make lunch for him,

how many people here their wife makes you

lunch, not a soul, oh John, John, the

only godly woman in the house, no, no,

no, no, no, take that back, but so

Sue his new wife would make him lunch

and she would put a little note in

his lunch and she'd always, and we'd get

to lunch and we'd all be sitting down,

you know we'd sit down and we'd be

there and he had opened his lunchbox, we

hated it and he would read this love

note from his wife, you're the best husband

in the world, you're such a sweet man,

you're so gorgeous, you're so handsome, and we

got sick of this every day, this lunch

note and so the next day I was

so annoyed, I thought no way and I

said I'd get around there and move some

bricks at the back of the building, while

he was moving the bricks I went and

got his lunchbox out and tore the note,

grabbed the note and tore it up and

grabbed, I was looking for a bit of

paper and all there was was a bit

of old building paper on the side of

the wall and I ripped that off, just

a jagged old edge bit of paper, I

only had my builder's pencil, they're about that

wide and no point on them at all

and I wrote my own note, dearest Gary,

I just want to say that really I

think the best man in my life was

the best man at our wedding, he's more

handsome, he's better looking and I just thought

I should disclose this to you, I was

the best man okay and so of course

Gary and he used to always, you know

he'd open his lunchbox and out it would,

we'd all be sitting there with huge expectation

waiting, what's he going to read today, what's

he going to, all the guys are sitting

around and he opens it up and he

wouldn't read it and we're going come on,

read your note, read your note and then

he says look I need to go home,

I need to leave, I need to leave,

I need to go home early today and

I'm like what's going on mate and he

says I just need to go see Sue,

you know I want to spend some time

with my new wife and next thing he

was gone, he gets home, can you imagine

when he presented this note to her like

written in a carpenter's pencil on a bit

of old building paper, she's like slap, slap,

did you really think I would write that,

look at it, look at it, he can't

even spell properly, anyway, anyway we got so

moving in God, we came back from building

the house for Barry Smith at Polaris Sound

and then a man walked up to me

in the next meeting and he said get

ready to go, God's going to take you

overseas, we'd been a Christian for like a

couple of months, I went home, he said

get ready to go, God's sending you overseas

and I went home and said to Julia,

say goodbye to the new house we got

and she said to me I wondered when

you were going to hear God and within

I think six weeks later we sold the

house, we gave everything away and we shot

through onto the beautiful mission field of Tonga

and we went over there and we served

God there for two and a half years

in Tonga and saw the unbelievable of God.

I want to tell you right now friends,

live expectant for what God's about to do

in this season, God doesn't want us just

to be ordinary, he wants you to be

fired up and God is no man's debtor

and he will keep you and he will

guide you and he'll look after you, yeehaw.

Okay, we better get to a few notes,

I'll give you some of that stuff that

I had for you today, can we put

Nick's light up please, I can't remember where

I am now, here it is, here it

is, in the morning, here read this, in

the morning Lord you hear my voice, in

the morning I lay my request before you

and wait expectantly, everybody say expectantly, next verse

is and I want to call it something

today, so I'm calling it the journey of

expectation okay.