Hello Friends, welcome to Sunday2Monday. The place where we say it again!

As my pastor says: Repetition brings revelation! 

This week Pastor Lynn was very passionate in his preaching. He pretty much preached two different sermons in our 2 services, while still hitting the main points for the message. I will endeavor to combine the two as best I can.

He opened up with a scripture from Ps. 105:16-24 in the Passion Translation:

So God decreed a famine upon Canaan land,
    cutting off their food supply.
¹⁷ But he had already sent a man ahead of his people to Egypt;
    it was Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
¹⁸ His feet were bruised by strong shackles
    and his soul was held by iron.
¹⁹ God’s promise to Joseph purged his character
    until it was time for his dreams to come true.
²⁰ Eventually, the king of Egypt sent for him, setting him free at last.
²¹ Then Joseph was put in charge of everything under the king;
    he became the master of the palace
    over all of the royal possessions.
²² Pharoah gave him authority over all the princes of the land,
    and Joseph became the teacher of wisdom to the king’s advisors.
²³ Then Jacob, with all of Joseph’s family,
    came from Canaan to Egypt and settled in Goshen.
²⁴ God made them very fruitful, and they multiplied incredibly
    until they were greater in number than those who ruled them.

There comes a moment of convergence where the dream God gives and the character that is being formed in you comes together. It is the awakening to a God-sized life. When we become enlarged in the eyes of people like Joseph who rose to power in Egypt, we don’t see it and we still just feel like normal people. Yet God has made a place for us. Like Billy Graham whose platform was bigger than life in America yet, he didn’t see himself that way.

The Forerunner Principal:

Before God does anything in His unfolding plan, He first prepares a person or people to partner with Him in that Prophetic Purpose.

Before God can accomplish something THROUGH us, He first must accomplish something IN us. -Pastor Lynn Furrow  Tweet That!

Another example Pastor Lynn gave us was a woman named, Amy Carmichael. She was a Christian missionary in India for 55 years. She opened several orphanages and saved over a 1000 girls from temple prostitution. Elisabeth Elliot a Christian author and speaker said of Amy Carmichael, “She was more than a role model, she showed me the shape of godliness.” Amy Carmichael said of the process of preparation that, “We win victories step by step!” It is a process. How was Joseph raised to power? How did Billy Graham get so big? How did Amy Carmichael become such an example? It certainly didn’t happen overnight. They submitted to the process. We want to emphasize results, not processes. We get a vision from the Lord and we think this ought to happen right now. We are focused on outcomes and we think that 2 weeks later we should have the results and that others should recognize it too. But God has to accomplish something in us first. We are in a hurry, He is not. What we need is a character that is able to partner with the anointing of God on our lives. While we are focused on results, God is waiting for us to walk the daily steps of obedience. – Pastor Lynn Furrow Tweet That!

Philippians 3:12-13 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. 

 THE PROCESS OF PREPARATION:

Preparation is 1 component but 2 facets –

1. Call to Destiny: We all have a call to destiny. We must destroy the mindset that destiny is just for “those special people,” it’s for you! Will you respond to the pursuit of God? He chose you! Don’t lose sight of the high call of God on your life. We were made for more than living a mundane life.
2. Fruitful Suffering: There is a process of learning how to handle adversity. You can go through things and just gut them out. Just because it over doesnt mean you grew! We will have trials. We live in a fallen world. Will you learn to endure? What God wants to do is grow your character to match your call.

It’s your gift that will get you there but it is your character that will keep you there! Pastor Lynn Furrow  Tweet That!

Pastor Lynn dug in a little deeper into a heart issue of American Christians and he repeated a phrase he used last week. You can find that here in last weeks post. He said, “The American Church has an allergic reaction to any discomfort.” He continued saying, “We can’t have a shallow ability to persevere when things get difficult because how we get to destiny is based on how well we go through suffering!” – Pastor Lynn Furrow  Tweet That!

 

 

There are no shortcuts in preparation. So, don’t be an escape artist – don’t opt out! You are being set up by God, not to fail, but to grow! God is training you for greatness. Preparation is the hidden work of God in the small things of each moment. The trial you go through is often comparable to the call that is on your life. Take a look at the end result of Joseph’s life whose character was prepared by God. If he had not been prepared he would not have saved a whole nation. He would have simply killed his brothers with the power that he had for what they had done to him.

Genesis 50:19-20 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?²⁰ As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

You can measure your growth by the unusual response that you have toward the people who have done you wrong in every circumstance you go through. We will be cut off by other drivers. We will have many uncomfortable situations. You may be betrayed, lied about, and treated unfairly. The scripture says, “first the natural then the spiritual.” If the first natural response of your flesh comes right out of your mouth. You have some growing to do. The Holy Spirit is at working in you to bring out His fruits through you, so that you will have a supernatural response to people when the moment of convergence happens.

A CHARGE TO SPRINGS OF LIFE:

I have seen enough death in this world! Have you seen enough death in this world? It is time for the life givers to arise! It is time for us to be ambassadors of hope! Most people are not change agents, they are reenactors! God is doing a new thing. We are change agents, city shakers, pacesetters, and history makers! I pray for our church to have a holy discontent, so that, we will respond to the Lord and step into the holy destiny that He has for us.

– Pastor Lynn Furrow

Thanks for Listening,

Starla