dickbraswell

 2Kings 7: 3 ¶ And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?  4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.

These unfortunate lepers were left with three options.  

Moving is important.  You never get too old, to senile or too helpless to be going somewhere.  No excuse for staying put.    

Newton’s first law of motion states that:

“An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion…” 

If you are sedate, stuck and still, you will tend to stay that way

Jesus said GO.  That’s moving.  He did not say Stay.  He said Go.   Mr 16:15  

In fact, this is the final command and order Jesus gave to us.  GO.

Collectively and personally.     Are you going to stay stuck where you are or are you determined to become the man God created you to be and GO to the place God has prepared for you to go?

The trouble is most of us have become comfortable and complacent.  We have all our ducks in a row.  Life has become an interstate highway and we are running on cruise control.   Most of what we do is cookie cutter stuff.  Over and over.  Again and again.  Same thing week in and week out, year in and year out.  And we are stuck.  Wallowing in monotony.    Locked in a life marked by Lackluster.   Mediocre.  Normal.  Status Quo.  Ordinary.  Do-nothing.  Go nowhere.  Comfortable, indistinguishable, complacent, motionless, and miserable.

It is time for a game changer.   Now.  Tonight.  Not tomorrow or next week or even this Sunday.  But NOW.

Actually, Life has no limits.  Your ministry has no limits.  Opportunity does not have an expiration date.    Every door is open and every light is green.  The time is right and God is waiting on you to seize the moment.  There will never again be a moment like this.  There will never again be a setting like this.  There will never again be a meeting like this.  If you don’t respond to this challenge, you will stay stuck, bound, shackled, restricted, controlled and constrained. 

• The time to break out and break the Limit Barrier is NOW.

RIGHT NOW.  THIS MOMENT.  IN THIS HOUSE and in THIS MEETING.    NOW is the accepted time.  

 Did you know it is never the “right time” as far as the devil is concerned?       

If you are only focused staying where you are, you will miss all the excitement of living life with the volume turned wide open.    God designed life and ministry to be exciting.  He is not the Author of dull.   We are talking about adventurous.  Fulfilling.  Meaningful.  Moving.  Accomplishing.  Achieving.  Attaining.  Winning and not losing.  Living and not doing.

How to have a happy life:

• Dream impossible dreams
• Stay up a creek in a leaking canoe without a paddle
• Climb out on a limb so far you can’t see the tree
• Stay at the end of you rope, tie a knot, and hold on for dear life
• Always live between a rock and a hard place
• Bust the lid off and break out of your box
• Be radical for God
• Stay on the very edge of total disaster
• Refuse to go with the flow (lest you end up in the septic tank)
• Resist the temptation to be normal
• Never give up and never quit never back down
• Sing.  Shout.  Dance.  Run.  Yell and scream at the devil.

OK.  Where does that put us?  We are either sitting at the gate waiting to die (remember the lepers?) or we are up and rushing toward the enemies camp and taking back what the devil has stolen.  We are settled in and hunkered down in the doldrums and dullness of a mundane life or we are on the prowl for better stuff.  We are either at rest or on the attack.  We are stuck or we are moving with God.

 Here are some things to consider when you want to break the Limit Barrier:

1.  Want to

Are you tired of the same old same old?  Do you long for a new beginning?  Are you looking for a way out and a way up?  How desperate are you for a change of direction in your life and ministry?  

You will never do the impossible and see the invisible unless you WANT TO.

God has a bright and exciting future for every one of us.  

Jer 29:11  I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. (The Message)  What kind of future are you hoping for??

 That tells it like it is.  That tells it like God wants it to be.  That tells it like God has planned it for us.

Want to, then

2.  Decide to

You have already made hundreds of decisions today.  You make them all the time.  You are making some right now. 

• Where are you going to do next?  Nothing or something?
• What are you going to do during this year? 
• When are you going to start redeeming your dream?  Kicking the tires and lighting the fires?  Taking the plunge?  Moving out?  Stop piddling in the puddles and being satisfied with catching tadpoles instead of Big Fish?
• What are you going to do now?
• How do you intend living the rest of your life?  The rest of your ministry?

The quality of the life you are living right now is the result of decisions you have made in the past.  Your decisions have defined your life and your ministry.    Where you are going in the future will be determined by decisions you will make tonight.   In this service. 

Right now you have a challenge facing you.  You have a decision to make.  And you will make it one way or the other.  You can decide to stay like you are and where you are or you can decide to kick it up a notch, pick up your stuff and forge ahead.  Breaking the Limits comes out of a personal decision you and you alone can and will make.    And not deciding is really deciding.  No decision is really a decision.   No response is a response.

 Decide to, then

3.  Just do it

When you really want to, and then when you decide to, the only thing left is to just do it.  

God is a NOW God.  The Word is a NOW Word.  The moment is a NOW moment.  Today is NOW.  The time is NOW.  This message is a NOW message. 

2Co 6:2 ….The day you needed me, I was there to help. Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped.  (The Message)

You may ask, “How do I know that NOW is the time and that TODAY is the day for me to do it?”

You know it’s the right time when you “feel it.”  You know it’s the right time when you are being stirred deep in your Spirit.    You feel it now.  You are being stirred now.  You are being challenged now.  You are feeling Something deeper than you have ever felt.  You know that NOW is the TIME.  The Holy Ghost is all over you.  God is telling you “I have made MY MOVE, now it’s YOUR MOVE.  We are surrounded with open doors and green lights.   We have, right now, unlimited opportunities all around us.  

Have you considered the scope of the opportunities that are surrounding us?  Just see what God has wrought in our lifetime and see the advantages and prospects that are present NOW.   All the exotic inventions that are emerging in our present day.  All of which God has made possible as ways and means of preaching the Gospel and Going to the Nations. 

The Word tells us that in the last days, “Knowledge will be increased…”

Dan 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

My mind and imagination are stretched to the max to consider just what may be coming next to make our lives more efficient in reaching the World with the Word.

“What’s that in your hand?”   Nothing but a stick.  A worthless walking stick.  It’s all Moses had.  God told Moses to take the little insignificant thing he had and to USE IT.

What’s in your hand?  Nothing.  Not much.  God says begin with what you have and I’ll turn it into what you need. 

Just do it.

Just do it, then

4. Trust GOD

GOD will see you to your destination.  

God has been my encouragement and support for over a half-century of ministry in my life.  When I did not know what to do or where to go or how to minister, HE always had the answer for me.  The foundation of our ministry has been the initiative to take the whole Word to the whole World.  It was prophesied over 53 years ago that the small Mobile congregation that composed Lott Road Baptist Church, eight miles from Eight Mile, was commissioned by the Holy Spirit to take the Word to the World.    

• GOD took us safely and successfully through the Charismatic Renewal. 
• GOD delivered us from demonic attacks
• GOD took us into new depths of understanding and revelation
• GOD showed us Who HE is, what kind of God He is and What His Will for us is.
• GOD revealed the immeasurable scope of the Redemptive Work of Jesus Christ
• GOD taught us Who the Holy Spirit is and How to be Baptized in His fullness
• GOD opened the door to Miracle-Working Power
• GOD protected us and led us safely through every attack throughout our life-long ministry
• GOD fed us, matured us, inspired us, and sent us
• GOD is working right now as you read this message, touching the core of your soul

And HE will sustain you in your decision to move out and move on.   What do you need to get started?   ONLY GOD. HE is enough and will be more than enough. 

Trust GOD, then

5.  Never Quit

• We experienced a catastrophic church split…. Two thirds of the church left.  (Two thirds of 150 leaves 50)  But we did not quit.
• We were kicked out of our denomination and thrown under the bus.  But we did not quit.
• We got ripped off by crooked contactors and were left deep in debt.  But we did not quit.
• We were robbed by criminally convicted bankers.   But we did not quit.
• We were threatened with foreclosure by those to whom we were in debt.    But we did not quit.
• We got half through building Faith Academy and ran out of money.  But we did not quit.
• We faced imminent financial failure with a 4.5 million dollar debt we could not pay.  But we did not quit.
• And  several years ago, I signed the check that paid the last bill and set this ministry free of all debt…

If there is any lesson I have learned and learned well, it is the fact that we never quit.  No matter what.  No matter who.  No matter when.

 Now, just where does this leave us right now?

What are we going to do?

Go back?

Stay stuck?

Move into unlimited ministry?

DO not wait too long.  Do not hold on where you are too long.  The opportunity is NOW.  This YEAR.  TODAY.   

Break the LIMIT and SOAR through 2022!! 

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