If You Can Survive the Process, The Progress is Guaranteed! - Sermon 2 of 4
Deuteronomy 8:18 - But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
Sermon:
Last week we looked at the fact that increase is not what you have in your outward possession, but rather what you have in your inward possession. Money and the acquisition of material things do not change you, but magnifies who you always were. We used the analogy that the same hundred-dollar bill could feed a crack habit or feed a family. You had the addiction before you got the money. You had the responsibility before you got the money. Only difference is now you have a resource to fulfill it. Increase is not what you have in your outward possession, but what you have in your inward possession. Paul said it this way, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all you can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”
Today, the first thing that we must understand is that there are stages to success. The problem with most of us, young and old alike, is that we go through these stages voluntarily blind-folded. We take on this attitude of know-it-all when in actuality, we don’t know a thing at all. When we transition into the next stage, it is always unfamiliar to us, but we make face as if we got everything under control, when we don’t. We pretend that everything is ok when it is not, and if truth be told we struggle to survive.
We struggle to survive in a new position on your job.
We struggle to survive in a new relationship.
We struggle to survive in a new marriage.
We struggle to survive when we first become parents.
We struggle to survive in a new school.
We struggle to survive in a new grade.
We struggle to survive in a new community.
We struggle to survive in a new church.
But today we draw a line in the sand and stop the madness. Today, we throw away the blindfolds and open ourselves to the resources God has given us. He has given us his word, and every stage of life is depicted in the Old Testament, by example, and in the New Testament, by principle. When the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt, they were economically dependant. Pharaoh didn’t even give them enough to survive with. God them out of Egypt through the Red Sea, and though the wilderness and for forty years they depended on God.
Forty years of God’s provision
Forty years of unemployment
Forty years without income
No steady income
No fixed income
No income
Forty years of Jehovah Jireh showing off in their lives.
Water from rocks
Manna in the morning
Quail in the evening
Clothes that fit no matter how much they grew
Shoes that never wore out
The Bible says as thy days are so shalt thou strength be. No leftever quail and dumplings for lunch. Just enough to make it through today, and measured up to his resume’, he supplied their every need according to his riches in glory. But the will of God is for you to do what you can while he does what you can’t
That’s why I like Bartimaeus, because he kept doing what he could, until God did what he couldn’t. I Mark 10, the Bible called him a beggar, but just so you know he was a hustle man from the fifth floor.
He had a flow that could make you melt like butter.
He had a rhyme to blow your mind every time.
He had game that left you calling his name.
And even though he couldn’t see, he had an ear that could what no one else could her so he could say what no one else said and get results no one else got. What am I trying to say? I’m saying there is something in you so unique, so personal and profound that if you use it, it will get results that no one else can get. You’ll be like Joseph telling Pharaoh to find a man to govern and Pharaoh telling Joseph you are the man.
I can’t quite put my finger on it but…
You have the flare I need
You have the creativeness I need
You have the type of forecasting I’ve been looking for
You have the ideas that can turn us around.
The key to getting from not enough is something you already possess. When Moses got to the Red Sea he already had the road. When you get ready to go from not enough you already have what you need, but it is buried under the munk, gunk, and junk that is been clogging your blessing valve all this time. Because not enough allowed you space to mope and complain, and host your pity parties, you whine because just enough is still a struggle but it is better than not enough. So God sends you into the wilderness to weed out that junk and wane you off of the milk.
If I can survive the process, the progress is guaranteed.
If you can hold on to that marriage through the process…
If you can hold on to that job through the process…
If you can stay in school long enough to make it through the process…
If you can hold on to that relationship through the process…
If you can hold on to God’s changing hand through the process…
I guarantee there’ll be anniversaries that you’ll celebrate the fact that you didn’t kill each other.
I guarantee there’ll be bigger raises and better promotions than you ever expected.
I guarantee there’ll be that moment that you’re name will be called and you’ll hear you’re family and friends in the stands cheering as you march across the stage to get your diploma.
I guarantee there’ll be a day when you’ll have love for each other more than you ever thought.
If you can survive the process, the progress is guaranteed. You can’t die because you can’t see progress. Don’t give up and think you should stop believing in God and in yourself because you failed. Sometimes it takes loosing the battle to win the war. Slap somebody a high five and tell them, “If you can survive the process, the progress is guaranteed.”
In our text, we see a prophetic vision of the people of God healed, delivered, set free, and prosperous. This vision was to give the people hope as they marched out of the wilderness into the Promised Land. In fact the Bible says in verses 7 –9, that this new home would be “a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it.” They had survived the process and now the progress was coming. God was bringing them from being sterile, bringing forth no fruit, to fertile, bringing forth much fruit. Can’t you imagine the expression on their faces after having every kind of manna possible?
Baked manna
Boiled manna
Broiled manna
Deep-fried manna
Steamed manna
Grilled manna
Barbecued manna
Manna soup
Manna stew
Manna Gumbo
Manna pot pie
Can you imagine the expression on their faces after hearing of this culinary buffet.
And I’m here to tell you today, God wants to do even greater for us, but the seed of greatness cannot grow without you using your faith to stretch yourself beyond your past. It takes you forgiving yourself to move forward. Most of the time God has already forgot about the situation and ready to move you to the next level, but because you won’t let your faith go and forgive yourself, you remain stuck at the door of the blessing.
You made a bad choice, move on
You made a wrong turn, move on.
You got into a situation that you couldn’t control, move on.
This is no place to die.
You got to understand that you and God are business partners, and if you work your natural, God will work his super and you’ll end up with supernatural results. When you begin to use the gifts and talents that you have on the inside of you, the Bible says in Proverbs 18:16, “A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great man.” Tell somebody, “Work your gift.”
Find something that you can excel in.
Find something that you can do well in
Find something that will open you up to new things.
Find something that will expand your horizons
Find something that will stretch you till you exhaust everything
And do it. “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth fruit in season; his leaf shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. God is going to bless and increase what you do, not what you think, dream, or fantasize about. He is going to bless what you do. In you lies the greatest success and potential the world has ever seen, but you got to snap out of it and get with the program. Alice, this isn’t wonderland. Some of you have gifts in your dreams that stay buried in your soul. Even when you are awake, you’re dreaming. You are a day-dreaming, water-walking, bridge-building time-bomb waiting on you to light the fuse. But the moment you connect your dreams and your gifts and your faith and put some actions with it, you will have unlocked the power to do anything your hear desires.
I am almost finished, but I’ve got to tell you this. You have to make up your own mind for increase (we’ll talk about that next week). You can’t wait for opportunity; you need to begin moving toward your destiny right now, today. Achievers start now.
Wait for what?
Procrastinate for what?
Hesitate for what?
Waver for what?
Delay your destiny for what?
Defer your dreams for what?
Langston Hughes wrote:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Can I tell you the truth? It don’t make a difference to me what happens to a dream deferred because if I can survive the process, progressed is guaranteed, and if progressed is guaranteed, I might as well…
Procreate my future
I might as well generate some funds to finance my future…
I might as well produce some fruit…
I might as well originate some ideas…
I might as well create some new avenues of revenue…
I might as well get started on my brighter tomorrows today because the opportunity is the breath in my body and the strength in my mind. Dr. Haynes, this isn’t proper English, but I’m getting happy bout this thing. There ain’t no telling what I can do, cause God is going to bless what I do. I got power to get wealth.
I’m closing, but when you understand what you got down on the inside, you’ll start changing.
You’ll change the way you walk
You’ll change the way you talk
You’ll change the way you live
You’ll change the way you give
You’ll change the way you deal with people
You’ll change your attitude
You’ll change the way you see things
Because I heard Paul say, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.
Cause can’t nobody do me like Jesus can
Can’t nobody love me like Jesus can
Can’t nobody hold me like Jesus can
Can’t nobody bless me like Jesus can
Can’t nobody heal me like Jesus can
Can’t nobody bring me out like Jesus can
Nobody but Jesus would take a nail in his hand for me
Nobody but Jesus would take a nail in his feet for me
Nobody but Jesus would take a spear in his side for me
Nobody but Jesus would take 72 thorns in his head for me
Nobody but Jesus would lay in a grave for me
Nobody but Jesus would get up with all power in his hand for me
Anybody decided to make Jesus your choice
Lord take my heart and mold it
Take my mind, and transform it
Take my will, and conform it
To yours Lord
Because my soul says Yes Lord
From the bottom of my heart
To the depths of my soul
Yes Lord
Completely yes
My soul says yes
I’m yours Lord…
Everything I am…
Everything I’m not…
Everything I’ve got…
I’m yours Lord…
Try me now and see…
See if I can be…
Completely yours…
And when you tell God completely yes and I’m completely yours
The bad attitude had got to go…
The spirit of laziness had got to go…
The word’s I can’t had got to go…
The bad habits had got to go…
Those folks that ain’t bout nothing has got to go…
Those nay-sayers have got to go…
Those crabs have got to go…
Those haters have got to go…
Jay-Z said get that dust off your shoulders
I’m like Chamillionare – they ain’t going to catch me riding dirty.
I’m like T.I. – I got motivation.
And as long as I can survive the process, progress is guaranteed.
So hold on to God and he will hold on to you…
I heard the song writer say…
Though the storms keep on raging in my life,
and sometimes it’s hard to tell my night from day.
Still that hope that lies within is reassured
as I keep my eyes upon the distant shore;
I know He’ll lead me safely to that
blessed place He hs prepared
But if the storms don’t cease,
and if the wind keeps on blowing,
my soul has been anchored in the Lord.
I realize that somtimes in this life
you’re gonna be tossed by the waves
and the currents that seem so fierce,
but in the word of God I’ve got an anchor;
and it keeps me steadfast and unmovable
despite the tide.
If I can survive the process, the progress is guaranteed
Destiny Child Keep on singing
Now that you’re out of my life
I’m so much better
You thought that I’d be weak without you
But I’m stronger
You thought that I’d be broke without you
But I’m richer
You thought that I’d be sad without you
I laugh harder
You thought I wouldn’t grow without you
Now I’m wiser
Thought that I’d be helpless without you
But I’m smarter
You thought that I’d be stressed without you
But I’m chilling
Thought I couldn’t breathe without
I’m inhaling
You thought I couldn’t see without you
Perfect vision
You thought I couldn’t last without you
But I’m lastin’
You thought that I would die without you
But I’m livin’
Thought that I would fail without you
But I’m on top
Thought it would be over by now
But it won’t stop
Thought that I would self destruct
But I’m still here
Even in my years to come
I’m still gone be here
I’m a survivor
I’m not gon give up
I’m not gon stop
I’m gon work harder
I’m a survivor
I’m gonna make it
I will survive
Keep on survivin’
