Are You Ready To Be Stretched | Jason Martin

You're listening to a message to go from axt church. We hope this message

will light up your tea. This morning. I was actually praying about what

to share about and I thought I will go. I was actually doing a

summon series in Klang. Uh, so I will give y'all the now we

are. I th think Clang is towards the end, but I thought I

will give you all the right in the middle. So instead of doing it

from the start, and give you something that is right in the middle,

because I just feel that this is something that as a church we probably need

to hear. Our God is speaking to us as well. Okay, So

could I have the first slide up? If I'm blocking your slides? I

know I'm supposed to stand here, but I thought I was stand in the

middle because it's easier to engage y'all. So if if there is yes,

let me move this to the site here. Yes. So actually the first

suspense, I tell you there was one slight before this, right, Okay,

So the sermon series that I was doing in Klang, this was part

of it. Okay, h this was one part of it, So give

you all a bait of context. I was going through my own journey about

discovering God. What is God's presence? There's a manifest presence of God,

There's an omnipresence of God, and then from there once we discover So the

difference within the omnipresence of God is that God is everywhere. Right, He's

everywhere, He's here, he's there, He's everywhere, and a lot of

times when we say prayers right, we may not. When I was doing

this right, I realized that some of the prayers have been praying actually salah

wan no. You know, like God, we invite your presence into this

place. Then God is like, dude, I'm here. You don't need

to invite me here. I am here, I am everywhere. I'm omnipresent.

And that led me to my second part, which is manifest presence.

If God's presence is everywhere, why don't we feel him? Is it because

we are not stepping into his presence? So instead of inviting God's presence to

be here, like God, I want to get into your presence. I

want to experience you, Okay, And only after we experience God, the

manifest presence of God, then we can go into Like God, what is

your purpose for me? Which led me into this, God, what's your

calling for me? So this can be interpreted both ways. God is calling

you or God's calling for you. And there was a summon that I did

on this which had four sees. So God's calling has calling. He will

call you first. After that, whether you answer or not, you have

to be courageous to answer the calling. Once your courageous to and answer the

calling, your capacity will be expanded. Because what got the people out of

Egypt was not enough to get them into Canaan land, right, so God

will cause you to increase your capacity. And once your capacity has been increased,

then only you can conquer the promised land. Okay, So that's just

a sneak peek of what I have the sermons series before, but for today

I wanted to touch on capacity. Okay, So I want to ask you

how many of y'all you want your capacity to be stretched? How many?

Can I see a show hand? How many you want your capacity to be

stretched? Huh? Hey, I thought you'll want the calling. You don't

conquer all this. We're never asking you how many you want your capacity to

be stretched? Huh? You see right? We want to conquer without expansion.

We want to conquer without the stretching, right, Because right, if

you go to work, if I go to work, Hey, your boss

comes to you says that, hey, I want to give you more roles

and respons ability, right, which is which comes to your promotion? Of

course? Okay, not extra work, no payler. But I'm just saying

that if your boss comes to you and say that, hey, you are

getting promoted, what is a promotion. Promotion means you've got bigger responsibility,

You've got higher accountability, and you are going to be compensated at that because

the expectation is higher. Right. But that forces us to expand our capacity.

Right, So if God is asking us to expand our capacity, why

don't we want it? Okay, So ask your neighbor again, do you

want your capacity to be expanded? Yeah? Still not convinced. Still not

convinced that. Okay, just give me a second here, Uh my slides

is a bit shut a wait one minute, one minute, okay. So

the title of today's sermon is next light. Are you ready to stretch?

Are you ready to stretch? For most of us, we may have had

our calling already. God may have given us our calling maybe a year ago,

maybe ten years ago, maybe fifteen years ago. Some may have just

received it, but we have not reached a place of where we conquered it,

you know, or we went to the next level. It is because

after the calling is given, that needs to be stretching. Okay, you

know, like for example, ten to reservice here, y'all just multiplied eight

am has been planted. So y'all as a service, you can feel the

stretch, right, you can feel the stretch. But if you are stretching

in accordance to God's will, that will cause us to grow. Right,

So that is stretch. So stretch. Touch your neighbor, okay, so

most so side yeah, side, track away. So like I remember,

I remember on Easter, so Easter was supposed to was preaching, right,

So before going up, then I tried to button my code. Law,

okay, I try to button my code. Then I went up, right,

I stand up, the button came out stretch. Then my wife laughing

at me, la. So for my birthday, she decided to get me

a new suit. So this is my new s okay. So just to

let you know, I'll be the first preacher to say I'm preaching in my

birthday suit. Okay, sidetrack, sidetrack, side trek. Still get your

get your to see whether you're paying attention. Okay, all right, so

we know talk about stretch, we talk about capacity. What does that mean?

Okay? Could I get the next light? So? How many of

y' all know of Apollo eleven? Apollo eleven? So I was watching this

show, this TV series I've been following. It was like off parallel reality.

You know, what happened if the Russians reached the moon before the American

that was That's the whole context of the shoulder, you know. So when

I was watching that show, I realized that, Wow, actually the feat

for men to reach the moon and plant a flag there and come back safely

is amazing. Because in nineteen sixty one, President JF. Kennedy he made

a call to Congress. He says that I have a dream that we by

before the end of the decade, we will send a man to the Moon

and bring him back safely. Okay, So that was what the President said

nineteen sixty one. In nineteen sixty one, there were no digital watches.

There were no digital watches. The phones that we are carrying now are more

powerful than any commputer that existed on the on planet Earth at that time,

okay, everything that were the computers. I mean the most memory that the

computer had at that time was one megabyte. So how did they managed to

accomplish that? You know? The call was given and the Americans and also

the Russians, they stretched, they had to stretch their capacity, they had

to go above and beyond what they thought was possible. And then in nineteen

sixty nine they managed to place a man on the moon. Isn't that amazing?

You know? And they were saying, right, the average age of

the people who were working in the NASA Command Center was twenty seven years old.

Twenty seven, so you're young. But it just opened my eyes to

see that, Hey, what people think is impossible, it's just that whether

we want to take up that calling and step into it and make it happen.

So if it can happen in the natural, where a president says that,

hey, I want this to happen, I don't care how you do

it, you make it happen. If it can happen in the natural,

why can't it happen in the supernatural? When we serve a god who is

all powerful, right, the only thing that will be stopping us from achieving

what God wants us to achieve? Is us okay? So today there will

be three points even as we I give you my three points straight up,

lat Okay, no suspense. When we talk about capacity, there are three

points that we want to tackle. First one is conviction. What are our

convictions? The second one is are we willing to pay the cost? Pay

the price? And the third one is who are we doing this for?

What is our cause? Why are we needed to stretch? Right? Got

that? Okay, So let me go to the first point, next line,

conviction, What are your convictions? There's the reason why I put this

picture, because right who we see ourselves and who we convince ourselves, we

are well dictate what we accomplish or don't accomplish. Right, So let me

take us to the Bible. This is a scripture from numbers thirteen. Next

night, okay. So this one is when the Israelites they were out of

Egypt and they were on the way to the Promised Land. So Moses sent

out twelve spies. I then you'll know this story. Ten of them were

four were against going into the Promised land, two of them were for it.

Okay, So let's take it from here. But Caleb tried to quiet

the people as they stood before Moses. Let's go at once to take the

land. He said, we can certainly conquer it. But the other men

who had explored the land with him disagreed. We can't go up against them.

They are stronger than we are. So they spread this bad report about

the land among the Israelites. The land that we travel through and explored will

devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge.

We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anna. Next to them.

We felt like grasshoppers. And that's what they taught too. Okay,

let's look at this versus here. So twelve of them went to the Promised

land. Twelve of them saw the same thing. They saw exactly the same

thing, but only two of them were convinced that. Caleb said we can

certainly conquer it. We can certainly conquer it. But the other ten they

did agreed with him, and they say, we can't go against them.

They are stronger than we are. So what did they do. They started

spreading fake news, false report right, bad reports. They started casting souls

of seeds of fear and doubt. You know, when God wants us to

go and take the promised Land. There is a reason why it's a promised

land, because it's a land flowing or with milk and honey. Everybody wants

it. If there's if there's no resistance there, then you go and take

the desert loe, no worries, you can go there. Nobody there nowhere,

don't stay there. But if you are going to take the promised land,

the land flowing with wealth of milk and honey, and God has given

it to us, we need to step in and conquer it. Right so

you can see here they spread the bad report among the Israelites. The land

that we travel through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there.

All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there, the

descendants of Anna. So this one might have been true, because this goliath

was a descendant of Anna, you know. So there were giants all right,

But the next line is more interesting. Next to them we back once

like next to them, we felt like grasshoppers. And that's what they taught

too. How in the world can they know what they think? We make

assumptions. We make assumptions fear is false evidence appearing real. You know you

heard that acronym before. So they kept on planting doubt and doubt after doubt

and after doubt. What were their convictions? You know, what were their

convictions? Next light, so two of the men who had explored the land,

Joshua's son of Nun and Caleb, son of Japuna, saw their clothing.

They said, to all the people of Israel, the land we travel

through and explored is a wonderful land, and if the Lord is pleased with

us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us.

It is rich. It is a rich land flowing with mulk and honey.

Do not rebel against the Lord, and don't be afraid of the people

of the land. They are only helpless. Pray to us. They have

no protection, but the Lord is with us. Can you see that two

groups of people saw the exact same thing, but their convictions were completely different.

Why because right Joshua and Caleb, their convictions were clear about who God

is and that their strength comes from the Lord. The other ten were probably

looking at their own strength. They forgot that this same God is the God

that brought them out of Egypt. This same God is the God that split

the Red Sea. This same God is the God that gave the ten plagues

that caused the Egyptians to just surrender. They Forgod. So this morning,

what are our convictions? Who do we view God as if he asked us

to do something? Don't you think he will go with us? Because it's

very clear he says, yeah, right, the Lord is pleased with us.

When God asks you to do something, he's not setting us up for

failure. He is setting us up for success. He wants us to succeed.

God has a great plan for each and every one of us. Do

we believe it? Are we convicted? Is that our convictions? Right?

You see here the ten said we are like grasshoppers. The two said they

are helpless spray. That means we are on the attack. Versus the other

ten they say that they are but grasshoppers, that they may be easily squashed,

and that God's protection. The Lord is with us. This is the

key thing church, this morning. Are you convinced that God is with you?

When God is asking us to do something? Are we convinced? Is

God with us? If God is not with us, then we do not

go. But If God is with us, then we go. We go,

no matter how scary it looks. We go, no matter how tough

it seems. We go even though there are giants, because God is with

us. Okay. And but this in reality, right, we are giving

the Ten Spies a tough time. We're saying that, hey, this fellerus

no belief. You know, they have seen God move multiple times, but

they still don't believe. They are not convinced. But how many of us

are actually like the ten? In honest fact, I will openly say that

I am probably like the Ten. I wish I aspire to become like Joshua

and Caleb, but I catch myself time and time again thinking like the ten.

I don't have enough talents, I don't have enough time, I don't

have enough money, I don't have enough influence. I am looking at what

I don't have instead of looking at the God who I serve. So that

is the main thing. When God gives us a calling and when we step

into it, we have to check our convictions because the first battle that you

need to win is the battle of your mind. You win your battle first

in your mind by putting our faith and trust in God. If here we

lose already. If what we believe in is no longer is not God,

we have already lost the battle. Okay, So which brings me to the

next verse Romans twelve. So, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with

you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you.

Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find

acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior

and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a person new

person by changing the way you think. Are we thinking like the world or

are we thinking like how God wants us to think? Then you will learn

to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and effect So

this morning, if our convictions are influenced by the world, we can't move

forward into the destiny that God wants for us. But if our convictions are

in God, and we transform the way that we think, how do we

transform the way that we think? What are we consuming? If we are

consuming things of this world, we become like the world. If we consume

things of God, then we change a way of thinking and become more like

God and what he wants us to do in our lives. Okay. So

here I wanted to just share a short story of mind. So towards the

end of last year, we're feeling jazz and myself, we're feeling really stretched.

So in ministry, in work, in fact family, you know,

and we also lead the Young Family Ministry. Okay, we lead the Young

Family Ministry and Chess plant coordinator. That we have both our jobs and our

family life is also very interesting. Let me just put it that way because

some of them are here. But if you if you know, you know,

kind of can you can ask me later? Okay. So towards the

end of the year, I was telling I think we were discussing then saying

that maybe we need to let go of probably one of the things, you

know, like I did a Young Family Ministry because we felt that we're not

doing enough. Uh and we are really I felt that I'm at my max

capacity, you know. So we're like, okay, I think so,

and then we say we wanted to talk to past Can and Passes CenTra in

January, you know. So when we talk to them and we shared with

them, they are very understanding. One they will say yes, I mean

if if that's what you'll want. You know. Then then pray about it

and and see that you know, so uh share with them. And that

is the natural. You know, there is the natural. People should understand

one. You know, understand one. You know you're doing a lot ready,

you know it's okay. If you take a break, it's okay.

One, it's fine, you know it's it's okay. And if you tell

pasten past very understanding, Sure, no problem. Okay. But one day

I was driving back and then I just felt this thing. You know,

if you feel that you are at your max capacity, why aren't you asking

me for more? I was like, oh, man, uh because I'm

scared. I mean, you know that was God's conviction. If you feel

that you are at your max, why aren't you asking me for more?

Because that's what God wants us to do. He wants us to grow.

He wants us to be dependent more and more on him. God will not

lead us to a place we are where we are less dependent on him.

He always wants us to be dependent on him and partner with him to do

great exploits for him. Right, So, Church, this morning, again,

this is my journey. I'm just sharing you my journey. And in

terms of the convictions, right, examine your convictions. What will be totally

understandable in the real world and natural world may not be in alignment to God

will or calling for you because if you understand it, everyone can totally understand,

you know. But is that what God wants you to do? You

know? So there is the first point, conviction. Okay, next line,

Strong convictions precede great actions. This is a phrase, is a callte

by one of the theologians. Right, strong convictions precede great actions. If

we do not have strong convictions, we are just going to be like when

a storm hits us, we will just be floating among the waves. Wherever

the waves push us, that's where we'll go. But if we have strong

convictions and we are anchored in Christ, then no weapon formed against us world

prosper right, Okay, next slide. So this is my second point.

Cost are you all doing? Okay? Okay, second point cost. So

just now, when I ask you all the question how many of y'all want

to be stretched? One of the main reasons why we fear it is because

we know it's gonna cost us. You know it's gonna cost you, right,

that's why your scale are Okay. So that's why cost is very important.

So let me take you to another story in the Bible about somebody who

paid the cost, paid the price. Okay, next line. Yes,

So Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his

brothers, the son of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wife,

and he brought their father a bad report about them. Okay, pass

here at seventeen years old. Joseph was a painter. They all know that

because he's written here in the Bible. You know, he's the tell tale.

You were going tell on all his brothers. Hey, they all didn't

do this, They didn't do that, you know. Okay, this is

Joseph. Then I skipped to verse eight. His brother said to him,

do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us? And

they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Verse nine. Then he had another dream, and he told it to

his brothers. Listen, he said, I had another dream, and this

time the sun, moon, and the eleven stars were bowing down to me.

Joseph did a get the hint he told him the first dream. The

brothers hated him for it. Kay, if most of you, if you

got some self awareness, you will keep the second dream to yourself, right,

But Joseph didn't. He went and shared it even more. Okay,

next, so fast forward. You know what happened to Joseph. The brothers

hated him, threw him into a pit, sold him into slave labor.

And this is when he was bought by party far and he was serving in

Potifar's house. Okay, So the Lord was with Joseph, and he was

a successful man. He was in the house of his master, the Egyptian,

and his master saw that the Lord was with him, and the Lord

made all he do he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found

faith in his sight and served him. Then he made overseer of his house

and all that he had put under his authority. So it was from that

time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had,

that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake, And the blessing

of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the

field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he

did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. This

is amazing. Can you imagine, right, Potifa didn't know anything accept the

bread in the hand which he ate. That amount of trust he had for

Joseph. That amount of trust he had for Joseph. And it was because

the Lord was with Joseph. Okay. But then we fast forward next life.

You know that Joseph was then thrown into prison. So Joseph's master took

him, put him into prison a place where the king's prisoners were confined,

and he was there in the prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and

showed him mercy, and he gave him favor in the sight of the keeper

of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand.

All the prisoners who were in the prison, whatever they did there, it

was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that

was under Joseph's authority because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did,

the Lord made it prosper. Okay. So this was in prison,

he was prospering yourself. Fast forward next, This was when Pharaoh called him

to interpret the dream so Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find such

a one as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, inasmuch as God has shown you all this,

there is no one as discerning and as wise as you, you shall be

over my house. All my people shall be ruled according to your word.

Only in regard to the throne, will I be greater than you. And

Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land

of Egypt verse forty six. Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before

Pharaoh, King of Egypt. Okay, so this is the story of Joseph.

We knew he became the sort of the prime minister of Egypt. And

for the people who was in the Pharaoh's courts, right, what do you

think they thought when Pharaoh suddenly appointed Joseph as the prime minister? What do

you think they suddenly thought? Because if I was there in Pharaoh's court and

suddenly this prisoner comes in and suddenly it's made from prisoner to prime minister,

from prison to the palace, I will be like, hey, how come

this guy overnight's success? This guy came from nowhere and then suddenly he's from

zero to hero overnight, you know. And that's what a lot of us

are looking for. We are looking for a lot of quick scheme chapat gaya.

You're looking for schem chapat kaya right. You're like, I do this

right, tomorrow I'll be rich. And that's probably what a lot lot of

people in Pharaoh's courts taught about Joseph. But did you know that Joseph had

to pay the price. He had to pay the price, and God orchestrated

every single thing. If you were in Joseph's position, after you were sold

into slavery, what would your perception or convictions of God be? Imagine you

are sold in this slavery left or date, what would your convictions of God

be? Would you still believe that God is a good God, God is

in control? Because that's what Joseph did. Joseph did it continuously. He

did not change God did not change. His convictions of God did not change,

although his external circumstances changed. But a lot of us, our convictions

of God is influenced by our external If times are good, God is good.

If times are bad, way is God. God is not real but

Joseph's convictions did not change no matter what happened to him. And let me

bring you true right if you go back two slaves one more So, Joseph

was seventeen years old. How old was he when he became a prime minister?

Thirty? How many years was that? Thirteen years? Thirteen years.

He held strong to the convictions that God is God. No matter what he

was being stretched, he was paying the price although he didn't see anything anytime

he did something good and he was going on the right trajectory. He gets

thrown into prison, and then he interprets the baker and the baker and the

chepherd cup bearer dream and then they forget about him for another two years.

If you were me, honestly, I think I would have given up Ardier.

You know, I'll be like, where is God? I think God

forgot about me. But in the thirteen years, joseph convictions were clear,

and he was willing to pay the price. And if you see here right

next verse, okay, so this is party fast House. So in Party

Fast House, if you at verse five right, So it was from the

time that he had made him overseers of his house, and all that he

had the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake, And the blessing of

the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field.

Where did Joseph learn agriculture? Where did he learn agriculture? If you

are going to solve the world's biggest famine, you better know what you're going

to do. And God orchestrated that he learned, and that everything that he

learned management, he learned agriculture. He learned how to tend the field.

He learned how to manage every single resource that Portifa did not have to do

anything. And because of that, when it was time to be proe motive,

when it was after he learned all that God wanted him to learn.

So God is never early, He's never late, He's always on time.

Is just that? Are we willing to pay the price? Right? Next

line? So whatever he did again prison, what did he learn in prison?

If you need to manage a country, you need to manage the world's

famine, I think your management skills needs to be very good. Right.

If you can manage the worst of the worst and become the top in prison,

I think your management skills are fantastic. Right, if he can manage

the worst of the worst, where people say they are unmanageable, he managed

the unmanageable. That's why they ended up in prison, and he still ran

the prison effectively. Running Egypt was nothing. So was Joseph an overnight success.

He was not. He was willing to pay the price every single step

of the way, and his convictions in God were solid. Okay, next,

no pain, no gain? You know pain? You know gain?

You can ask quantin this. You got in a gym, right, got

no pain? Actually, maybe the weights are light. You're not being stretched.

You're not being stretched, you're not growing. You know, you're probably

there you go last time, right, I think nowadays, I'm not sure

whether the gym still had that last time when I went to fitness first,

long time ago. People will go there for their soft drinks because you got

free flow soft drinks. Yeah, different kind of game. Yeah yeah,

yeah, correct, So they want no pain, but they again laugh.

Wait, you know we know this in the natural that if we want to

grow muscles, we have to feel pain. If you have played badminton,

Paul, you suddenly like your friends call you go out in right, you

haven't played badminton. In two years you go there, you think your leech

ang way. Next morning your hand is like that. Ready, you cannot

raise your hand out. You know why because you have stretched your muscle.

But you need that pain to shoot. And then if you grow on it

and you can hear develop it, it becomes stronger. But we have to

be willing to pay the price. If we are not willing to pay the

price, we are not going to get the success at the end which God

has promised for us. Okay, So I think I'll share with you another

story. So, so this is I think it happened about two years ago.

So two years ago X claim suddenly didn't have a coordinator. The coordinator

went to the land of Mulk and honey, no, just so John and

Ivy they migrated to Perth. They are serving there now. Iv is actually

a pastor in the church there. Wow, you know. So, so

they're doing well there and stuff like. So there was suddenly there was suddenly

a vacancy in ex Clang. There was suddenly a vacancy in x Clang,

you know. And then addink Pengho and then uh past Kenneth. They approached

me say, hey, uh, would you want to consider taking up this

church plan coordinator roll Hey, in my mind, I'm like, for what

why I want to take this up. I'm like dying here already, you

know, like serving so much and so at that time already serving like I'm

charring extreme home leader work is crazy and young family and then uh and then

yes, and then the other other uh uh issues that we had to handle,

your responsibilities, they had to handle at home, the different struggles.

So I was and then I so, I tell you. I told him,

like I don't think Solar, oh, I said, the Christian thing,

I'll pray about it. How many of y'all use that we are pray

about it? Okay. Then then the thing is then when people ask me

in clang right, ask me, so you wouldn't take it out, I

said, Nola, for what you know? And I said for what what

you know? And I'm quite embarrassed to say this, but I said things

right which I actually regret, like for what I'm not going to get paid

more so not actually I'm not getting paid at Solar now, okay, just

like you know, you know, but I was being so there's so much

of pride. There's so much of pride. Or so much of like hey,

what like what's in need for me? You know, in terms of

it? And but then I think God convicted my heart and then uh softened

my heart and I told, okay, I didn't. I will take it

on. Bye. I told him I will time box sailer one and a

half years sneak peak now is more than two years, eadier. So I

tell you one and a half years, I'll take this on, okay,

and then I will hand it over to the right person. Now that the

person who is ready for this role, okay, uh? And then okay,

So what happened after I took it on? I tell you I called

John Rush and the next two years it was crazy. If I'm telling you

the amount of things that we had to deal with, right, I called

John Rush and like, bro, what did you do? What you left?

You better come back here and think over you know, we had to

deal with so much a mess in I mean, there was so much of

people who are discruntled, so many people who are leaving, and then work

was ramping up, and then the at home, right, the struggles,

everything elevated. If at two years ago, I thought I was at struggling,

So I thought I don't want to take it up right right now,

at this current stage, right now, I think it is two or three

times that it's two or three hundred percent increased. So would I have taken

it if I knew that this was the thing? No, how many would

you take if you knew that this is what you're going to face? You

will not. But then when I look at it, right, have I

grown? Yes? Have I grown? Yes? The fact that I can

stand here and speak to you all this morning is because God had mercy and

grace on me to do this. It's not That's why. When when I

caught up with Pasta Kennis, right, I think last month, so I

was sharing with him the different struggles that were going through in the family,

in work and in ministry and stuff like that. Right, So, first

thing he just told me, I think he should write a book. Now

I'm like, okay, that coming from somebody who writes books, it's not

a good thing now because like, like, hey, you got two A

lot of stories, are a lot of so I read. I was like,

I fasted, I don't have time to write book or I got no

time already. But then he said something that was I think, uh,

it's something that that God impressed on him. Uh. And he apologized first,

he said he don't take this the wrong way. And I say,

yeah, why Uh. X Clang doesn't need your strength. X Clang needs

your weakness. And I was like, wow, that actually makes sense because

right when I am weak, then he is strong. I am not leading

ex Clang. God is so when we are weak, that is when God

is glorified. We just have to be their vessel that channels his glory.

You know. And I tell you in x Clang are very good. No,

they come around us, our family. They are really supportive. And

because of that, right, I'm telling you, ex Clang is a young

family. Predominantly young families. Nearly every single one is serving. Nearly every

single one is serving. No one has any excuses. We have a couple

who is going through cancer treatment, the wife, and they open up their

homes for teens, although the next day they have to go for a mammogrammar

and they have their fear. But the thing is, again, God uses

us in our weaknesses. We don't have to be strong then only God will

use us. But we have to be willing to pay the price. If

we are willing to pay the price, then God will be glorified. Again.

I'm not doing this for my glory. I'm doing this because this is

what God wants us to do and I don't want to miss his calling for

my life as well. Okay, So there is the second point, next

third point. Cause so first point was what conviction? Who do you believe

God is? Who is God to you? Okay? Second one is are

you willing to pay the price? Which is cost? What's the cost?

And third for your capacity to be stretched? Why is it for your own

glory? Because a lot of time when we get promoter and it's like,

hey, you know it's for me. But when God asks us to get

our capacity stretched? Why? Okay, So let me take us to the

final story here. So when Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming

toward him, he said to Philip, where shall we buy bread for these

people to eat? He asked this only to test him, for he had

already in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him it would

take more than a half year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to

have a bike. Another of his disciples, Andrew Simon, Peters's brother,

spoke up here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish.

But how far will they go among so many? Okay, let's stop

here first, so we know this story. The five loaves, two fish.

The first thing, right, Jesus looked up, saw the great crowd

and said, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? The

interesting thing to say his where shall we we buy? He didn't say where

shall you? When God asked us to do something, he always partners with

us, So Jesus didn't leave them in the sadly like, hey, you

go figure it out. I got to go and pray where he says,

where shall we buy? Okay? But what did Philip respond? It would

take more than back. Yeah, it would take more than half a year's

wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite. Philip again

was looking at his own limitations a lot of time. This is where we

get stuck. When God asked us to do something, we look at our

limitations instead of looking at our finite God, who is all powerful, all

capable. Right, we just sang the song such an awesome God, so

generous? Is it just a song? Or is something that we believe?

Because a lot of times when God asked us, then we will look at

our limitations. But then Peter right, So there's here's a boy with five

small balley loaves and two small fish. But how far among these will go?

Among so many? So can you imagine? Right? Do you think

out of that whole crowd, there was only five loaves and two fish?

Huh? Only I'm sure there was small food, right, But nobody else

offered it up. Only that small boy who did not see his limitations,

but he saw Jesus for who he is, so he offered everything that he

had so that Jesus can do a miracle. So this question, right,

it was actually is a good. It was a question which I read somewhere

who did Jesus do this miracle? For? Who did Jesus do this miracle?

For a lot of times we think it's for the five thousand. It's

just Jesus fed the five thousand. The five thousand may not have known that

Jesus did the miracle. Know the only people that knew that Jesus did the

miracle were the disciples and the boy. So Jesus needs to use once to

partner with us and do a miracle with us. So that we can be

a blessing to the multitudes. So we are not blessed to bless ourselves.

We are blessed to be a blessing. Next line, Jesus said, have

the people sit down. There was plenty of grass in that place, and

they sat down. About five thousand men were there. Jesus then took the

loaves, gave thanks, distributed to those who were seated as much as they

wanted. When we have a poverty mindset, right, we will keep everything

that we have. When God asked us to surrender, we squeezed like what

past. The Cana says that we squeezed the agunzo until the argon was a

cry right. But the boy just released and he got above and beyond what

he could ask or imagine. He did the same with the fish. When

all that he all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples,

gather the pieces that are left over, nothing, let nothing be wasted.

So they gathered them and filled twelve basket with the pieces of five barley loaves

left over by those who had eaten. This is pressed down, shaken together,

running over. You want this, then you have to be willing to

pay the price, and you have to know who you are doing it for.

If you are doing it for your own self, God will not be

glorified but your If you're doing it to be a blessing to other people,

that is when God will bless God knows that when He blesses you, you

will be a blessing to others as well. Right, So, even as

I draw towards a close, I came up with a simple equation for this.

So increased capacity equals we need to surrender and serve, and we need

to do it with compassion and passion. You want God to increase your capacity,

This is how you need to do it. You need to surrender to

God. What are your convictions? You need to serve him and you have

to do it with passion and compassion. When God knows that you can do

this, he can trust you with so much more because he knows that you're

not doing it for your glory, You're doing it for His glory. I

think yesterday and saw some of us love learned right, righteousness, love God,

love man. That's what we are called to do. So even as

I draw to us the close, I wanted to show us a video which

will sort of I hope that will nail this in Okay to fix your eyes

on the screen. What sorry, yeah, I never think there's nobody no

all right your bed, kay, gonna be your dead. I'm gonna be

what you know, a certain point the world. You know there going back

if you've back home here alright? Good rock us to radio good yeah rock

you got okay you its song little bit left, little left there you go,

brock he's great, thank yeah, big rock. Yet you hear your

but you do happen, don't stop you gonta more two minutes. I'm gonna

don't pick nothing left. He said, you know you broke right brown her

everything and everything people the bron happen happen. People don't want pay, don't

everything take fine? There you know you know he's he's nothing people. The

bron that said that said peg whenever you got flivera rock there you know there

you know I was trying to excution. Okay, you you got play game

or I know you think they know are somety more down? They don't rock

them. They've gone a b don't rock the big black flip and that the

lord to take now still long from getting off, getting off, he go

boy Mark by all he's going give me your FLA. Don't pla no acknowledge

a knowledge, not where, don't pay no rockcast You don't win gacknowledge take

out down Black Valley. You don't play the gag dollar you gag do they

go yeah yeah somewhere yeah yard yeah ga rock don't play nowhere? M h

your w u h. You are the most poem you look around being so

met. I tell you get more see excuse me your hand company and offices

for people in the arms for communition. That's if you do you building,

you should waste h m m h. What is it? Chant? All

right? So you even as I get the band up. So there are

a few things that we can learn from here, right, What are your

convictions when we start off? What are our convictions? What do we believe?

And whose voice are we listening to? If we are listening to the

wrong voices, and that's when we are walking in defeat. But if we

are listening to God's voice, we will keep moving forward with him. But

it's going to cost us. But you know it's going to be worthy because

God has chosen us to chosen to partner with us so that his name will

be glorified. So the theme for this year is that all may know You

want all to know. We need to walk in the conviction and the confidence

that God is God and we are not man. We hope you've been blessed

by this message. For more information on our church, please visit as church

org. We are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that this

week is going to be a good week. I hit for you. God bless