Don't Settle For Less

Pastor Joel @ Lakewood Church

It's easy to water down what God pronises us when things are taking longer than you thought. "Good enough" is not what God promises you.  The enemy can't take away what God promises but he can convince you to settle. 

Pull up your stakes and pack up your belongings because mediocrity is not your home. You shouldn't settle for less than what God promises.

Don't move the goal post to fit your circumstances. Know that God wouldn't have promised it if it Werent possible.

In Genesis 15 God promised Abraham and Sarah a baby even though they were passed the biological clock. Sarah watered down the promise by convincing Abraham to have a baby with her servant. That's what we do sometimes...instead of rising to God's thinking we adjust the plan to fit our limited belief.

You don't have to take up for God or try to help God not look bad...He doesn't need that type of help.

Don't let what you don't have talk you out of what God does have. 

Shadrach, Meshach, abd Abednego. You may feel like your hands are tied but God's hands aren't tied. God isn't limited by what's limiting us. He's the 4th man in the fire.

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell into the roaring flames. But suddenly, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers, "Didn't we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?" "Yes, Your Majesty, we certainly did," they replied. "Look!" Nebuchadnezzar shouted. "I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god !"

Daniel 3:23‭-‬25 NLT

Ishmael represents a spirit of Good enough. God isn't going to give you a substitute blessing, the real thing is coming.

And I will bless her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will bless her richly, and she will become the mother of many nations. Kings of nations will be among her descendants." Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. "How could I become a father at the age of 100?" he thought. "And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?" So Abraham said to God, "May Ishmael live under your special blessing!"

Genesis 17:16‭-‬18 NLT

Just because you've settled doesn't mean God has.

And Sarah declared, "God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!"

Genesis 21:6‭-‬7 NLT

"Who would have ever thought?!" blessings are headed your way. 

And may the Lord , the God of your ancestors, multiply you a thousand times more and bless you as he promised!

Deuteronomy 1:11 NLT

But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living.

Genesis 11:28 NLT

You have to say "yes I'm hurt but I'm not settling here"

One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram's wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran's child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.

Genesis 11:31‭-‬32 NLT

Terah was the first one called to go to the promised land but he settled.

The enemy would love for us to settle.

Many of us are next door to our promised land.

"Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes." 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 we traveled 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 Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that's what they thought, too!"

Numbers 13:2‭, ‬30‭-‬33 NLT

"Good enough" is not good enough!

Until we rock again,
🤘 P E A C E, L 💚 V E, & R⚡P S T⚡X 🤘

-Pound Pro Jenny

Disconnect From Discord

Pastor Joel at Lakewood Church

We all have people in our life who are professional troublemakers. If you hang around them long enough then you'll be upset. These people don't have your best interests in mind.

And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people's faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them.

Romans 16:17 NLT

Before you get riled up consider the source. Your time is too valuable to let people poison your spirit. Some people aren't healthy enough to give you advice.

Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked [following their advice and example], Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit [down to rest] in the seat of scoffers (ridiculers).

PSALMS 1:1 AMP

(How well God must like you— you don't hang out at Sin Saloon, you don't slink along Dead-End Road, you don't go to Smart-Mouth College.

Psalm 1:1 MSG)

Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.

Proverbs 13:20 MSG

Don't be a participator with sowers of discord. 

EVEN IF IT'S TRUE, CONSIDER THE PURPOSE IT WILL SERVE. Love covers a fault. Love covers a weakness.

Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8 NLT

Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble. But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.

Proverbs 6:14‭-‬15 NLT

DON'T COMPARE YOUR LIFE TO ANYONE ELSE'S

There will always be someone ahead of you.  Don't let people talk you into being sour.

Joel egged his friend on to disrespect the referee of the basketball game. The coach eventually kicked his friend out of the game and Joel got to play. That's what happens when we let people sow discord into our hearts. They continue to enjoy the game while we're sitting in the locker room.

One day Korah son of Izhar, a descendant of Kohath son of Levi, conspired with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, from the tribe of Reuben. They incited a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 other leaders of the community, all prominent members of the assembly. They united against Moses and Aaron and said, "You have gone too far! The whole community of Israel has been set apart by the Lord , and he is with all of us. What right do you have to act as though you are greater than the rest of the Lord 's people?"

Numbers 16:1‭-‬3 NLT

If you are unhappy, then the best thing to do is to go to the people in charge and Express  your concerns not to sow discord trying to get others on your side.

A sower of discord isn't happy until others are poisoned.

When Moses heard what they were saying, he fell face down on the ground. Then he said to Korah and his followers, "Tomorrow morning the Lord will show us who belongs to him and who is holy. The Lord will allow only those whom he selects to enter his own presence. Meanwhile, Korah had stirred up the entire community against Moses and Aaron, and they all gathered at the Tabernacle entrance. Then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared to the whole community,

Numbers 16:4‭-‬5‭, ‬19 NLT

God doesn't play around when it comes to discord.

And Moses said, "This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things that I have done—for I have not done them on my own. He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned. All the people around them fled when they heard their screams. "The earth will swallow us, too!" they cried. Then fire blazed forth from the Lord and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense.

Numbers 16:28‭, ‬31‭-‬32‭, ‬34‭-‬35 NLT

When you become a troublemaker you step out of God's protection.

Instead of exposing something, we cover it up.

Saying, "Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm."

Psalms 105:15 NKJV

After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard. One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked. When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham: "May Canaan be cursed! May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives." Then Noah said, "May the Lord , the God of Shem, be blessed, and may Canaan be his servant! May God expand the territory of Japheth! May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant."

Genesis 9:20‭-‬27 NLT

You can't stop people from sowing discord but you can stop ot from getting in you. 

My enemies have set a trap for me. I am weary from distress. They have dug a deep pit in my path, but they themselves have fallen into it. Interlude

Psalms 57:6 NLT

Don't fight battles that don't matter.

There happened to be a troublemaker there named Sheba son of Bicri, a man from the tribe of Benjamin. Sheba blew a ram's horn and began to chant: "Down with the dynasty of David! We have no interest in the son of Jesse. Come on, you men of Israel, back to your homes!" So all the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba son of Bicri. But the men of Judah stayed with their king and escorted him from the Jordan River to Jerusalem. Then the king told Amasa, "Mobilize the army of Judah within three days, and report back at that time." And Joab replied, "Believe me, I don't want to devour or destroy your town! That's not my purpose. All I want is a man named Sheba son of Bicri from the hill country of Ephraim, who has revolted against King David. If you hand over this one man to me, I will leave the town in peace." "All right," the woman replied, "we will throw his head over the wall to you." Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off Sheba's head and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the ram's horn and called his troops back from the attack. They all returned to their homes, and Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 20:1‭-‬2‭, ‬4‭, ‬20‭-‬22 NLT

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If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude, don't complain.
Maya Angelou


Vision without action is a daydream.
Action without vision is a nightmare.
(which one is worse?)

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