[Music] I'm in 1st Samuel chapter 14 verses 6- 12 context are that Israel is experiencing the oppression of the Philistines they are under their watch under their control and at this point they are without hope hope because in the previous chapter Saul did not have the patience to wait for Samuel he made a move that made him lose favor and so in many ways they are also without leadership at a time where they need direction and strategy Jonathan who is his eldest son and had to have been aware that his household Saul Saul's household has lost favor with the Lord still answers the call to leadership in this moment my text begin in verse 6 it says then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor come let us go over to the Garrison of these uncircumcised it may be that the Lord will work for us for nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few so his armor Bearer said to him do all that is in your heart go then Here I Am with You according to your heart then jonath Jonathan said very well let us cross over to these men and we will show ourselves to them if they say thus to us wait until we come to you then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them but if they say this if they say come up to us then we will go up for the Lord has delivered them into our hand and this will be a sign to us so both of them showed themselves to the Garrison of the Philistines and the Philistines said look the Hebrews are coming out of the holes they were where they have been hidden then the men of the Garrison called to John Jan and his armor Bearer and said come up to us and we will show you something Jonathan said to his armor Bearer come up after me for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel God it is so evident that you're already working in this room God my prayer is that I can step into that flow I ask that you would remove anything from me that would keep me from being pulled in the flow of your Holy Spirit Jesus I ask that I would see your face not the crowds of people not even my notes but that this would be a moment of divine encounter first for myself and then that it would overflow into these your sons and daughters that you love so much God I pray that they will not have to wait for fruit from this message but there will be acceleration of development that will allow them to become like trees planted by the rivers of Living Water fill me up God fill them up and then send us out in Jesus name amen amen don't sit down don't sit down don't sit down I told you don't sit down don't sit down do me a favor turn to the person beside you okay y'all going to help me preach this message I want you to just look at them for a little bit and I want you to imagine something go and tell them they look good ask where y'all eating greet them ask them if they're visiting for the first time tell them that your assistant pastor forgot to acknowledge them but that you love them you're so glad they're here at The Potter's House tell them come back we love them and that they're a part of the family we like distant cousins now okay all right now I want you I want you to imagine something about the person you're looking at I want you to imagine that they are at a stage in their life where they are finding it hard to believe this is just imagination we don't know their business but I want you to imagine that maybe they're finding it hard to believe that God can get any Glory out of their life maybe they're finding it hard to believe that their latter days will be greater maybe they're finding it hard to believe that they can fall back and still have purpose and value I just want you to imagine that imagine that they're having a difficult time believing that this next stage of their life can still be as purposeful as what they have experienced and then and I want you to help me preach this message to them I want you to turn to them and say this I believe I believe what God believes what God beles about you about you say it again I believe I believe what God believes about you I didn't want you to tell them that you believe in them because they don't even know who they are yet but I want you to tell them that I believe what God believes about you I believe you're fearfully and wonderfully made I believe that no weapon formed against you will prosper I believe that all things are working together for the good of you not just the good of them but for your good I believe that God is going to order your steps and go ahead of you and make your crooked path straight I believe that you can do everything that God has put in your heart to do I believe what God believes about you now give them a hug Pat them on their [Music] shoulder and give God a praise if you needed to hear that I want you to give God a praise if you didn't even know that you needed to hear that I want you to think take 10 seconds and thank God that he'll break program and protocol to get you the message you need y'all preach y'all are really good preachers y'all can sit down I told you I needed you to help me preach that message low key we could go home right now low key 10:15 we be early for brunch you know I uh wanted you to say that to the person you're sitting next to to because far too often we have people who are functioning in the world going about the world who have never heard someone directly say to them I believe what God believes about you some of us have been victimized and penalized because other people believed what other people said about us some of us have been restricted dejected depressed because we believed what shame said about us there is something powerful about having someone remind you that God has a belief system connected to your identity that your life is not random it was not a coincidence but God has a belief that you needed to be in this earth in this day and age through whatever means necessary because of what you can do in the earth when you partner with him and I wish that it was enough to just say that to someone and they take off wouldn't that be amazing if all it took was you saying I believe in you and then someone had everything they needed I personally feel like the people who kind of I won't say they get on my nerves because there so many of y'all in here I want you to think I'm a good Christian but some of the people who stress me the most are the people who just can't see what I see in them I don't know if you've ever been that way where you just see so much potential in somebody where you're like if you would just get it together if you believed in you the way I believed in you you would never be in this situation but then God quickly corrects me because I've had people believe things about me that I struggled to believe about myself and I think it just goes to show that it is not enough to just have someone believe in you I think environment environments like this are important where you come into a room and you are surrounded by belief you can come in here and you can feel maybe hopeless you can maybe feel a little apathetic and then you get into an environment where faith is just overflowing and all of a sudden what is around you now starts seeping inside of you but if you don't have a strategy for retaining what has seeped inside of you it'll seep out just as easily that's why it doesn't matter how much we believe in someone if they don't claim that belief for themselves they'll stay stuck in situations that are maybe less than them it doesn't matter how much someone Believes In Me until I lay hold of that belief I could believe for a moment I could get hyped up in a minute but I can eventually be talked out of the very thing that I once had belief for because I didn't have a strategy for protecting what was deposited inside of me it's not enough to have someone believe in you if you don't claim that belief Moses had to claim the belief of his identity as a deliverer it didn't come very easy he argued with God he came up with excuses because God says I see you as this I believe in your ability to partner with me and to save the Hebrew children and yet Moses did not believe that but eventually he had to surrender to believing what God believed about him even if he didn't believe it for himself and he claimed that belief by stepping into the reality of what God was calling him to do oh I wish I could say that better claiming a belief is not just allowing it to sit inside of you it's acting from that new space of belief some of us consume so much Faith so much hope but but we let it sit inside of us and eventually rot and expire because we don't put that Faith to work the angel came to Gideon Gideon didn't believe that he was someone who could be the captain of the army he didn't believe that but for some reason there was a belief placed in front of him and he had a decision to make and he chose to believe that God had given him an opportunity to do something that maybe he would not have volunteered for but he chose to claim the belief that was presented in front of him same thing happened with Mary oh I love when the angel came to Mary is she starts off afraid the angel says to her blessed are you and highly favored amongst women and she was afraid of this manner of greeting but then by the time she got finished having an encounter with God she claimed the belief that God had placed in front of her that she could be the one that carries Divinity in the earth she didn't even think that it was possible possible that she could become pregnant by the Holy Spirit she didn't believe that it was possible but she kept having an encounter with God until the encounter changed her belief it changed her belief so much that before she could even open her mouth and speak to Elizabeth that Elizabeth already knew that there was something different with her her baby Lea because she was walking differently when you believe different you move different when you believe different you talk different when you believe different you start touching people who you never never could have touch because I believe different I'm not the same person I used to be I believe different and Elizabeth knew it was her belief because Elizabeth told her blessed is she who believes for there will be a fulfillment of the things which were told her from the lord it's not enough for God to say it if you're not going to claim it and believe it oh everybody wants God to speak to him God give me a word God give me a word about my situation God give me a word about my destiny God give me a word about my process we want God to give us a word give us a word but maybe God doesn't give us the words that we need because we're not in a position to actually claim the word that he would give us and he's not going to cast his pearls among swine but when you get in a position where you are desperate to believe and you start asking God I don't want you to just speak a word I want to walk into the word word you speak I don't want you to just say something to me I want to start living from that word some of us in this room we are living according to a word it is not the degree it is not the family it is not the intellect I am living according to a word you don't see the word hanging over their life you don't see the word hanging over their marriage if God's ever given you a word about who you were to be in the earth it's your little secret because you said God you gave me a word and I'm going to St step into that word oh I wish I could say that better somebody in this room stepped into a word they said God if you say it I'll run with it God if you give me a vision I'll take it and run with it God if you give me a word about what to do with this child I won't sit on it God if you give me a word about how to show up in this marriage I'll allow it to show up in my actions I don't know who you are in this room but I want to take you a minute and let you know that you are not where you are by coincidence faith without works is dead God gave you the faith to put God put your faith on something but you put your work behind it I want you to take a minute and thank God that you had the strength that you had the wisdom that you had the ability to let us see what it looks like for someone to step into the word connected to their life oh I feel like something's going to happen in this room there's something powerful about someone who steps into the belief oh there's something powerful about someone who says I'm going to forsake what I used to believe and I'm going to choose to believe what God says about me that's what I've been trying to say Mary had to forsake what she believed about how her life should look so that she could step into what God knew her life should look like I don't know who you are but I hear God saying the greatest surrender you may ever experience is you surrendering what you thought your life should look like so that you can lay hold of what God wants to do through your life the greatest surrender that any of you could have is coming to a place where you say you know you know what I'm going to believe what God believes about me oh we spend a lot of time trying to make sure that people believe in God but I believe that that is part of just the basic level of us being in relationship with the Lord I believe in God I believe in Jesus where I struggled was believing what God believed about me we could probably spend the rest of the service talking about his grace and his Mercy because it makes no sense that God hasn't changed his mind about me because I changed my mind about me what kind of God is this that you would still believe that I'm fearfully and wonderfully made what kind of God is this that you would still allow me to to partner with you to do something in the earth what kind of God is this that you would not reject My Worship I came to you in filthy rags and you clean me up you turned me around you plac my feet on Solid Ground God you must believe something about me that I don't believe about myself God help me to believe what you believe about me so power powerful is God's belief in US regardless of what we've gone through that even when Jesus was resurrected and spent 40 days on the earth he went out of his way to go get Peter who had denied him three times he had to go get Peter Cuz Peter had gone back to fishing but he had to go get Peter to let Peter know that even though you denied me even though you made a mistake I want you to understand that I still want you to feed my sheep oh y'all that's real good even though you denied me even though you messed up even though you disqualified yourself I want you to know that I still believe that thing that I believed about you before you ever messed up before you ever made a mistake you see they don't preach this all the time cuz they don't want you to take Grace for granted but it ought to be said every now and then that God still believes in you that God still believes that you're the one he can partner with I know you're messed up but I hear God saying you can still break that generational curse I know you've been betrayed but I want you to understand that God says I still believe in you I know you've been addicted I know you've been heartbroken I know you've been outside but I hear God saying I still believe in you I still believe you could get your act together I still believe that we could let Glory invade the Earth through you I still believe in you I still believe I still believe I still believe I still want to make your heart my home I still want to make your spirit my Dwelling Place God don't you know I'm depressed God don't you know I'm dirty God don't you know I'm filthy God says I got so much Glory that it doesn't matter who you are all that matters is who I am I still I still believe in you and if you ever mess around and start believing what God believes about you you won't have to worry about behavior modification because you will be so obsessed with figuring out what else does God know about you that you won't have time for foolishness you won't have time to let somebody waste your time you can only be connected to me if you going to help me dig into what God is put down on the inside of me because relationship with God is Not behavior modification it is heart transformation if he ever gets a hold of your heart for real you won't even have a taste for the things you used to have a taste for if he ever gets a hold of your heart for real you won't even feel comfortable having the same conversations you used to have if he ever gets a hold of your heart for real can't explain what happened all I know is I just started believing what God believes about me everybody wants to know when was your turning point when did everything change give me the manual give me the tips I I don't even know what to tell you I just once was lost but now I'm found I just started believing what God believed about me it started on the inside and it showed up on the outside and while everyone else wants to show you how to fix your outsides I want to challenge you to come to The Potter's House where we're going to ask God what needs to be changed on the inside you come anywh you are baby you won't leave the same way you came in you don't even know it but the person you're sitting next to was going through a makeover no Glam no hair no makeup is happening on the inside of them there's some people in this room who keep coming in this room cuz every time I come in this room I leave a little different they're watching in South Africa they should be going to bed but something happens when it's happened [Music] to my job is to make you hungry to believe what God believes about you because you cannot be who you were called to be in the earth unless you believe what God believes about you you cannot break that generational curse unless you believe what God believes about you you cannot do it in your own might you cannot do it in your own power it's going to take the spirit of God which means you're going to have to believe differently oh your belief determines your actions I can tell what you believe based on how you act and while most people want you to act different God wants you to believe different oh so strategic is our God that he doesn't just allow Jesus to enter the Earth he sends a forerunner who preaches repentance which quite literally means to change your mind because he recognizes that he's got a position of people to believe differently so that when Jesus comes he doesn't have to work on getting you to believe different and act different so concerned with our belief as God that John 3:16 tells us for God to love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes he recognizes that if they are going to be effective in being connected to him that they're going to have to be willing to confront their beliefs what you believe plays a huge role in your actions I get a lot of communication from people who are trying to maybe leave toxic relationships and they're like how do I leave when do I leave tell me what to do and you can't really really tell them anything that they don't already know you CU if you ask me then you probably know but what I ask them instead and what is it that you believe about what you deserve about who you are or who you aren't that has made you stay in a relationship that you know you need to get out of do you not believe that you can do anything without this person do you not believe there's always a belief connected to an action I'll prove it to you in the Bible I thought that when the serpent was in the garden that his goal was to change what they believed about God and based on his questions he did certainly have an agenda did God really say in my opinion it seemed like he was trying to get them to change what they believed about God but then as the verse continues in Genesis 3 it says that they ate from the fruit and when they ate from the fruit their eyes were opened and when their eyes were open they saw that they were naked so they put on fig leaves so while I do believe that the serpent wanted to change what they believed about God I also see that he changed what they believed about them El because all of a sudden they had no problem being naked but now they see themselves differently and because they see themselves differently they now have fig leaves because the enemy was trying to change what they believed about themselves the enemy may not be able to take your faith from you cuz you had a Praying grandmother because you grew up in church cuz you know all these sermons so he won't mess with your belief in God what I will mess with instead is what you believe about yourself because I need you to not believe what God believes about you because if you were to believe what God believes about you and you believe in God you will be a threat to my kingdom so what I'm going to do instead is put images in the culture and images in your family that make you question what God believes about you if I can change the way you see yourself I don't even have to change the way you see God yeah I can tell you that you can tell what God believes about you by what He commands you to do sometimes God gives us he he drops something in our spirit and yet we feel inadequate because we don't see ourselves the way that God sees us but the mere fact that he put it in our spirit is a sign that he wants to bring it out from us God I wish I could say that better in Genesis 1 When God says let the Earth bring forth fruit he's not asking the Earth to do something blindly he knows what he put in the earth God doesn't ask you to do something that he has not pre-installed you with the ability to bring forth the Earth brought forth fruit immediately because the Earth all the Earth had to do was be who God called the Earth to be oh I wish I could say that better when he looked at the ocean and he told the ocean it's time to put some fish in there and it's time to put some whales and some salmon in there the Earth didn't have to go scrambling trying to figure out how do I do what God has called me to do because God said I already put everything you need inside of you all you have to do is be obedient to what I called you to do I don't know who you are in this room but I want you to understand that God will never ask you to do something that he is not already given you the ability to partner with him and bring forth I know he told you to start the business I know he told you to break the generational curse I know you're wondering how he's going to pull it out of you but I want you to know that God would never ask as you to do it if he didn't already put it inside of you you serve a God who knows what he put inside you he didn't ask me to be an athlete he didn't ask me to be a swimmer he didn't ask me to do some things but one thing he asked me to do was to preach this gospel and I said God I don't know how I'm going to do it I don't have what it takes I don't know if I'm qualified enough if I'm eloquent enough and all while I was talking God was just nodding his head cuz God says I know what I put in inside of you if you get you out of the way then my glory could come up out of you if you get you out of the way then my power could flow through you so I'm not depending on me I'm depending on what God put inside of me I'm taking his command as a sign that everything he wants to do through me he already put in me so [Applause] I'm not going to ask you to do something that I haven't given you the ability to accomplish so I got to protect my belief and what God says about me that's all you got to do you you have to create an environment that protects the belief that God has about who you are that's why you got to be careful who you engage with that's why you got to be sure about where you go to church that's why you got to be sure about what you're listening to because I'm trying to protect this belief cuz I've seen it slip through my hands before worship is a weapon against the things that are trying to rob me of my ability to believe what God believes about my family about my gift about my talent about my anointing worship is my weapon that helps me to protect what God put inside of me if we do not protect our belief we will find ourselves in a situation similar to where we find Saul in my text when I find Saul in my text he is not the same Saul that we see in 1st Samuel chapter n oh man I may come back for that I forgot a point but I'mma flow with the Holy Ghost but Lord that was a good point help me if it makes sense we'll go back to it Saul he fails as king because he was unable to protect his belief 1 Samuel chap 10:9 I didn't give this to them first of all context and I know most of you are Bible scholars but for those of us who are just like learning I'm going to break this down for you the children of Israel are begging for a king they're a tribe of people who live amongst other people and they see that other people have Kings and they want to be like the other people so they say God we need a king we need a king God says you don't need a king if you believe what I believed about you you would see you didn't need a king but because you don't believe what I believe about you I'm going to give you a king I'm going to meet you halfway that's a whole another message about how God meets us halfway and so he gives them a king and this king is not he doesn't think he's qualifying himself he quite literally feels like someone else would be better for the job but Saul has been anointed by Samuel to be king and I feel like we often skip over this fact about him because we always talk about how Saul was such a terrible King he was insecure he was afraid that his um Kingdom would not go on he was afraid of being losing to people so he he was an insecure King is always a terrible King to be under leadership with because they're always threatened they're always threatened period they're threatened by you they're threatened by other people I know y'all have never experienc that like a boss or somebody who's always threatened but I'm just telling you an insecure King is a difficult King to be in relationship with but it says that once Samuel anoints him and prophesies that he will be king and tells him that he's going to partner with the Lord in order to serve the children of Israel 1st Samuel chapter 10:9 says so it was when he this was Samuel after he had had anointed him it says so it was when he had turned his back to go from Samuel so Saul turned his back to go from Samuel that God gave him another heart oh they put it on the screen y'all are we have an amazing team thank you thank you when God anointed him to be king he knew he didn't have the heart for it and he knew that the people didn't need a king but he made a decision that if I'm going to put someone in front of you I'm going to change his heart so that he can be who I have called him to be I'm going to give him a heart for the mission we talk about how he was terrible but we have to recognize that first God gave him an opportunity to believe what he believed about him and so effective was God in giving him this opportunity to believe what God believed about him that it changed his heart as the verse continues as these chapters continue we see that he almost he does have the heart he goes and he prophesies and people are marveling could this be the same person all of the he's changed radically but what happens is he starts losing and it is very difficult to take a loss without losing heart it's one thing to take a loss but to be able to separate the loss from your heart is very challenging that is the moment when everything changes for Saul his heart changed in One Direction but it changed again when it looked like he was failing when it looked like he was losing because he didn't protect the belief that God had placed inside of him and because he didn't try to get back in position again he settled in a state of disbelief God help me he settled in a state of having lost heart we can't always tell the moments where we lose heart that's why there's no scripture in here that says and then his heart changed again it happen so subtly we thought we processed the loss we thought that the failure didn't Define us we thought that we were doing okay but little do we realize that we lost heart and when we lose heart we lose faith and what we have to understand about losing faith is that you don't just lose something without gaining something it's currency what if we see Faith as spiritual currency you didn't lose $5 at Starbucks you got a coffee back you don't just lose something you gain something so when you lose faith you gain something else was it fear was it bitterness was it pride you got to ask yourself if I've lost faith in what area have I gained something and I think it's important for us to understand where Saul is at this point in the text because we have to understand that as Jonathan is entering this text that he is in an environment of people who have lost faith and he's trying to hang on to faith in a world where others are losing faith I just know that this message is so prophetic because we have a responsibility to hang on to faith at a time when other are losing faith and they're losing faith with good reason because the evidence is seemingly all around that they are experiencing destruction that they're going to be demolished that their world is going to be turned upside down but for some reason there is this crazy kid Jonathan who refuses to believe what everyone else believes about the situation oh God if I do this right there are going to be some people who walk out of this room who refuse to believe what the world is saying about the world God if I do this right there are going to be some people who refuse to believe what everyone else is willing to believe about our families about our education about our judicial system if I do this right there's going to be about two or three and I only need two or three I'll tell you who are going to be crazy enough to put their faith into action because we cannot afford to believe be like those who shrink back in the face of adversity we must be people who push forward even in the midst of utter chaos if I do this right it'll be about one maybe two of us who decide that it cannot happen on my watch if I do this right God says that it doesn't matter how many of them you get because it doesn't matter whether God Saves by many or by few it could be just one of us who are willing to say God I refuse to believe what everyone else is willing to believe I'm trying to protect not I'm trying to protect Jonathan must have made a decision that I will protect what I believe I'm sorry that felt good to me because it's a lot of people trying to give up but I made a decision even earlier this year I got to reup my decision every now I got to renew my mind every now and then every now and then I got to remind my spirit that I have made made a decision to not believe what the world believes I have made a decision that I will not give up I have made a decision that if the sink is shipping I'mma hold my breath cuz I don't abandon ship when things get hard I've made a decision I don't abandon ship I'm must stay where God planted me I'mma believe what God said I'm supposed to believe if God didn't switch up I'm not switching up either if God say stay pled I'm 10 toes down on this day God whatever you want to do in the [Music] earth Jonathan I made a decision that it doesn't matter how much oppression it looks like I'm under it doesn't matter how much systemic racism I may be under I've made a decision that if God says that there will be Deliverance for my family if God says there will be Deliverance for my people if God said his kingdom will come and his will will be done I will not give up on what God said I don't care who falls off a thousand on my right side 10,000 on my left side I will stay planted Bishop tutor bismar would have said cuz I'm an old Soldier I wish I had about few about two or three crazy old soldiers in The Potter's House who didn't mind saying I'm a stay planted I don't care who gets divorced I don't care who walks away I'm going to [Music] stay I'm almost finished Jonathan still has faith for something that everyone else has given up on don't let the fact that other people are giving up make you abandon your belief your belief is not a democracy your belief was set in stone the moment you claimed what God said about you you can't turn your back on God he's been too faithful for you to switch up right now you may not believe I'm going to pray for you but I got to keep belie in I went through hell to get to this belief I went through hell to believe again I went through hell to claim this thing I can't give it up easy I fought for this I bled for this I cried for this and God gave me breakthrough I don't just [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] back he took me through too much he brought me from a mighty long way I'm sorry but I can't give up I can't just beat you in the head with the Bible but I can tell you about a testimony of a man named Jesus I know the blood still work one thing I know is that the blood still works one thing I know this ain't even the message no more but I I want to prophesy over somebody I want to have a meeting of the minds with the kingdom real quick cuz I want you to understand that the blood still works and it reaches to the highest [Applause] mountain blood the blood the blood [Music] okay listen Jonathan Jonathan can I tell you what I love about this text I admire the situation that Jonathan is in because I can relate when I look at what's happening in the world oh Jesus 1 Samuel 14 and6 when Jonathan is about to gas his armor bear up to go into the camp of the Philistines can you please put the text on the screen for me says then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor he said come let us go over to the Garrison of these uncircumcised it may be I'm sorry it's just me and the Lord up here at this point when I read that it may be may I realized that Jonathan didn't go into the Philistines camp with certainty he didn't know for sure what God was going to do he just refused to believe that this situation was the [Applause] end Jonathan said I got to put my faith in a position where it's taking a chance on what God might want to do because this ain't it I don't believe that this is it this might be the end but it might be the beginning of what God wants to do in the Earth it may be that God wants to use me in this region it may be I don't know for sure I wish I knew it for sure but I'm willing to move off of maybe I'm willing to lead off of maybe it maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe God says that maybe is enough God says you want to be sure but I'm looking for somebody who will move off of the maybe maybe maybe maybe it's you maybe maybe maybe it's your family maybe maybe maybe I anointed you to do it maybe maybe maybe it'll fail maybe we're not well qualified maybe it's not enough of us maybe I'mma go bankrupt but maybe just maybe God's going to take that seed and turn it into Harvest maybe I hear God saying I hear God saying you let your mind play maybe about what could go wrong but I hear God saying you need to let your spirit start playing maybe about what God could do in the situation you're worried about you need to let your spirit start running [Music] wild in the direction of maybe what's beautiful about moving off of a maybe peep G some of y'all say you want to walk by faith I want to challenge that a little bit because I think some of you want to run by faith you want to swar by faith which means you want to be so sure that you can take off running but when you walk by faith you got to take a step and listen you got to take a step and you got to surrender you got to take a step and you got to look around and assess you see we got to walk by faith in this season I know there were some Seasons where you hit the ground running there were some Seasons where you soared into your destiny but I hear God saying you may know your destiny but you don't know the steps so you got to take this thing easy you got to walk and you got to listen you got to walk and you got to fast you got to take a step and you got to pray you got to take a step and you got to hit your knees you got to take a step and you may have to go back you got to take cuz I'm walking by faith God I don't want to be ahead of you and I don't want to be behind you I want [Music] I'mma step my way into the next Dimension I'mma step my way into Victory [Music] I'mma [Music] step there's nobody crazy enough in this room to take a step right now as a sign to the enemy that I'm going to start walking again I'm going to start moving again it won't be by might it won't be by power but the spirit of God every step you take I will uphold every step you take seek the kingdom of God and all other things will be added unto [Music] you you're not you're not going to get you're not going to get the full plan you're not going to get the full vision one step at a time cuz I'm moving off of maybe I'm not sure I'm moving off and maybe maybe I could raise the child but I'm about to walk by faith to do it maybe I can build the business but I got to walk by faith to do it Jonathan would have been a fool to just run up in the camp he said let's go [Music] maybe maybe and maybe is enough okay maybe oh Jesus Jonathan I'm G say this I'm G get out of here listen Jonathan tells his armor bear who is with him according to his heart I think I overstudy cuz I don't have enough time but some people are connected to you according to your heart it's not about what you have it's not about your strength it's about your heart he's got somebody who was willing to go to war with him outnumbered and all because he believed in what was in his heart that's why you got to get your heart right cuz if people will follow you according to your heart you might lead someone to destruction when you could have led them to Elevation God help me to get my heart [Applause] right tells okay Jonathan tells his armor bear he says this is how we'll know we don't know we don't know we moving off of maybe but this is how how will know when we get to the Philistine Camp if they say to us come up we'll know the Lord has delivered them in our hands but if they come down then we'll know that this wasn't our fight oh gosh I just have so much to say can you imagine the level of selflessness the level of Pride you would have to be willing to lose to take a step of faith and also be willing for the outcome to not be what you desired oh I wish I could say that better he left the camp to win but he was willing to not let his definition of a win to stand in the way of what God wanted to do so he said here's here's our sign if they come to us it's not our fight and that's okay it doesn't diminish my faith I'm still glad I stepped out I'm still glad I did it you can't step out on faith if you must insist on having Victory your [Applause] [Music] way cuz I trust God more than my plan so you stepped out on faith and you didn't get what you wanted so you you lost heart and you lost faith but faith is not just about your hope it's about what God is hoping for too and if God didn't deliver on your hope then he has a hope that will help you to let go of what you thought you needed and receive what he had in mind I Marvel we got to go I Marvel at the fact that Jonathan said we'll know that it's God if we have to climb up I would think that we'll know it's God if it doesn't cost me energy if it doesn't cost me exhaustion if it doesn't cost me scrapes and bruises if I don't have to risk my life that's when I think I know if it's easy but Jonathan says God says he Jonathan puts in his spirit that if it cost you the requirement of going higher of scaling a mountain if it's hard then he'll know it's God and that's when I realized that Jonathan was the perfect candidate for us to understand what we are in in this world in this day and age and generation because God is not looking to back up someone who can only have it if it is the easy way God says this is going to be an uphill battle the thing I've called you to do this is going to be an uphill battle you're going to be exhausted you're going to have to carry your armor it's going to cost you some things to do that thing to get that victory that Victory is not going to come easy on you but it's going to be easy on him because when he gets finished when Jonathan gets finished exhausting all of his energy there is nothing left but room for God's glory to shine oh God help me to say it so we can close and go home Jonathan was looking for the pth that would get God the most Glory not the path that would get him the most [Music] Glory I know it's God because I won't have any more strength left if I got to climb up hill I know it's God because we'll be outnumbered and I'll be tired and when it's time to actually fight I won't have anything to work with but I have faith that if God uses everything that I have then he'll add everything that he can do and it'll be a partnership because I gave it all and God gave it [Music] all and the Philistines do exactly what Jonathan suspected he tells them to come on up here and Jonathan knew at the moment that they said come on up that the Lord had delivered them into their hands man I want you guys if you get a chance as you protect the belief that has been unlocked in this room I want you to read this whole chapter because if you read the whole chapter you'll see that when they finally scale the mountain and it's time for them to face off with the Philistines that the Lord sends an earthquake that the Lord confuses the enemy and all of a sudden the Philistines are fighting the Philistines that they did everything that they could do and then God did everything that he could do and when God God finished doing everything that he could do there was no denying oh God I'm about to close but I want you to understand that while Jonathan and his armor Bearer were fighting an uphill battle on the their own that word got back to the Hebrews that the Philistines were on the run that word got back to the Hebrew children that they don't have to be restricted anymore word got back to those who were confined that victory was on the way I want you to understand that it may start off it's just you and whoever God puts beside you but I hear God saying when it's all said and done that you are opening the floodgates for everyone who is connected to I hear God saying that faith is contagious if you bust a move God will bust a move too if you take a leap God says I'll put wind behind you and I'll push you and I'll send word back to the people who were afraid I'll send a word back to the people who didn't have the faith that you had that there was someone amongst you who had enough belief on your behalf I don't know who you are in this room but I hear God saying just because everyone else is losing faith doesn't mean that all faith is lost if you protect your faith if you act on your faith you will give other people permission to do the same don't be alarmed when it's just you don't be discouraged when it's just you it may not be an army with you but God says you got enough Faith to act on by yourself I don't know who you are I'm going to say this then I'm really finished maybe you took a step of faith and you climbed an uphill battle and you're tired I hear God saying help us on the [Music] way that wasn't in my notes but there had to have been a moment when johathan was wielding his sword where he felt like I don't know if I have what What It Takes I don't know if me and God are enough and all of a sudden he looks beside him and the people he thought he left behind were fighting right there with him it may just be you and one stage but when it's all said and done God says you don't hear the footsteps that are trailing behind you help us on the way Potter's House [Music]