I have a One word Sermon today:
Stretch
Philippians 3:13-14 KJVS
[13] Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, [14] I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Most of you know that this is one of my favorite scriptures, you’ve heard me speak from it at least a few times.
The reason I love it so much is, these 2 verses carry an attitude. There is a spirit, there’s an anointing in them.
This one word sermon is not actually found in these 2 verses, but the spirit of this word is amplified here. Reaching and pressing mean the same thing as stretch. As I have been contemplating and meditating on the first sermon of the new year, I felt stirred in my spirit.
Let me see if I can describe it. I felt like God has let me feel a feeling that is like a consensus of America.
In other words, I feel in my spirit that that God has let me sense what is an overarching feeling and attitude that has settled down over most of the country. In Particular, decent hard working, God fearing, country loving Christians and Patriots.
And it is a spirit and an attitude of... What's the use? In essence it's a feeling and attitude of... What difference does it make, We can’t change anything. Nothing we've tried has worked.
This attitude says…The left has out maneuvered us, and over powered us on every hand. And then here's the big exclamation mark, It's hopeless! We give up, we give in. We surrender. We quit fighting. They're going to do whatever they want to do anyway, so what’s the use.
This is a terrible sentiment and feeling, and attitude-anytime, but it is especially hurtful and injurious at a time when we should be excitedly, passionately, and expectantly, celebrating a new year, filled with potential, and possibilities, and opportunities.
You have to understand that this expectancy that rises in our hearts at the threshold of a new year, is a God thing… it’s called faith.
The devil has robbed faith from the hearts of millions of good hearted, decent Americans, but the sad truth is, he has also drained the faith reservoir of millions of Christians, or we could say… believers.
I not only sense the frustration, and the feelings of hopelessness that have infected our country, I also sense in my spirit the disappointment in the heart of God.
God is disappointed that we who are his children, born of his Spirit, born of faith, washed in the blood of the lamb, bible thumping, pew jumping, isle running, sin hating, devil stomping Christians, have let this spirit of “what’s the use”, get ahold of us.
I hear the Lord saying… You better shake it off.
This spirit is no less deadly than the viper that fastened on to Paul’s hand, and he shook it off into the fire.
Tell your neighbor… You’ve got to shake it off.
The Holy Spirit spoke a word to me, and I kind of tried to shirk it off, but it wouldn’t shirk. So here is the word he gave me….
Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man “draw back,” my soul shall have “no pleasure in him.”
So that is what I heard the Holy Spirit saying, then I tried to counter him with, yes Lord but your people have been through some real hard times. We’ve been slapped down over and over. We’ve been disappointed over and over. And Lord, it seems like they can just run right over the top of us, and do anything they want.
So there you go Lord, now you can see why we have hung our harps on the willow trees. And now you can see why we don’t want to sing anymore. Now you can see why we’re so down in the mully grubs.
Then I said, so I guess that scripture isn’t really speaking to us right? And the Holy Spirit said… no that’s not right, you’re exactly who I’m speaking to.
But I continued… Lord, let me remind you, we’ve been beat up, locked down, muzzled, jabbed, lied to, cheated, and stolen from...
And the Holy Spirit says… And So? Well Lord surely we must be justified to slack off and feel sorry for ourselves, and draw back just a little, right?
That’s when the Lord said, I want you to understand this. I didn’t say that if you draw back I wouldn’t love you. I said I wouldn’t have any pleasure in you.
The Lord said, my love for you is as strong as ever, but when you draw back, I am not pleasured in you. Because when you draw back, you are telling me that you believe more in the world, and in the works of darkness, and the power of the devil, than you believe in my word.
Because if you believed my word, instead of drawing back, you would be reaching up, and stretching out, and celebrating, and the darker it gets the more you would praise me.
Then the Lord said,… Without faith it is impossible to please me.
The Lord says, to tell you, as you enter this new year, I want you to shame the devil, by taking everything that he has said and done in 2022, and use it as proof, that you are on the thresh hold of the greatest, miracles, and blessings, that you have ever experienced in your life.
So lift up your head, and square your shoulders back and prophesy. What do I mean by prophesy? I mean praise God. Your praise is prophetic. In fact your praise is a prophecy.
What are you doing when you do this? You are stretching. You are shaking off that draw back spirit, and you are reaching up and reaching forward. You are activating your faith. You are pleasuring God.
To tell the truth, God is angry at the devil, but he has also been very disappointed in many of the saints, because they have been more influenced by what the devil is saying than what God has said.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want God to be disappointed in me. I want God to take pleasure in me.
So this is the one word sermon, I heard the Holy Spirit preach to me. He said, the word for 2023 is stretch.
The dictionary defines the word stretch as, to straighten ones body or a part of ones body to it’s full length, typically so as to tighten one’s muscles in order to reach something.
The part that really got my attention is that part about, to tighten ones muscles in order to reach something.
To tighten ones muscles means to activate and to engage your muscles. Then I heard the Holy Spirit say, when you stretch you are doing spiritual warfare.
Wow,! I never thought of that. But in the natural when you stretch you are pushing yourself. You are going beyond a normal limit, you are pushing the boundaries.
Have you ever stretched for something and it hurt? Thats because it was pushing the limitations of your muscles.
God said, in 2023 the word for my church is… Stretch.
Everything around us is saying, back down, settle down, no use fighting, relax, go with the flow. Don’t rock the boat. Don’t be a trouble maker. Just accept the new normal.
But the Holy Spirit is saying just the opposite. He is saying… Stretch. He is saying wake up those muscles, get in the fight. Let the devil know you’re still here, and you’re still in the fight, and you’re still a threat to hell.
Look at your neighbor and tell them, I think you need to stretch.
In 2023, the Holy Spirit is saying, don’t settle for battles already won. Don’t settle for victories already in the books. Don’t rest on your laurels over past accomplishments. Don’t ease up on the throttle.
In fact the Holy Spirit is saying, wake up the warrior, put some stretch into it. Reach for what you’ve never had. Believe bigger. Expect bigger. Turn your faith loose. Push for a new anointing. Stretch out for new opportunities, new doors. Get your fight on.
I hear the Holy Spirit saying that in 2023 God is wanting to show off in your life. He is wanting to make you a spectacle, and a undeniable example and evidence, and proof of his goodness.
The Holy Spirit is saying, expect the unexpected. Expect God to do the unbelievable, the ludicrous, the ridiculous.
Expect God to go beyond any limitations or restrictions, of the secular, and even the religious.
God says, expect to hear these words again… In Mk chapter 2 vs 12, When the lame man, picked up his bed and walked home, they said… We never saw it on this fashion. God said, get ready to hear those words again, only today it will sound like this… We have never seen anything like this before.
The Holy Spirit says, prepare to be amazed, and prepare to be surprised. God says that he is getting ready to bust through some barriers, and some obstacles, and some old paradigms.
But he says to tell you, there is something we have to do… We have to stretch. We have to let our faith soar. We have to actively participate with his power.
I have to warn you. The devil has had a pretty good grip on much of the church, for quite awhile. So when you stretch, it will be considered an act of war.
Stretching is a sign to hell that you are waking up, and you are not going to let the devil blind you, and bind you, and muzzle you, and confine you, and tell you what to think or not think.
Stretching is an activation of spiritual resources. Stretching is a notification to heaven, that you are ready to co-operate with heaven. When the angels see you stretching, they know that they are going to be getting assignments to work with us.
When we stretch it is a notification to heaven that we are ready for the anointing to be poured on us. Because the anointing is only for those who will work with it.
2023 is the year for jumping out of the boat. From 2019, we’ve had boat riding faith. The kind of faith that held on to the boat, for dear life.
But 2023 is the year for stretching. It’s the year for water walking faith. It’s the year of jumping out of the familiar, into the unknown.
Let’s be honest about it, some of you have already got a jump on us. Some of you are already walking in the unknown. Some of you already feel like you’ve been on the old medieval torture rack, and you’re being stretched.
But what the enemy meant for evil, God will cause it to work out for your good.
Remember the old song, through it all. If I never had a problem, I’d never know that God could solve them, I’d never know what faith in God could do.
Greater trials mean greater victories. Greater tests mean greater testimonies. Greater fire means purer Gold. Greater tribulation means greater consolation.
So if you see me laughing when I should be crying. Or dancing when I should be dragging. Or singing when I should be moanin’. Or shouting, when I should be pouting. Don’t call the crazy house, I’m not crazy. I haven’t lost it, I’m just stretching.
Why don’t you tell your neighbor, I think you need to give me some room, I feel a stretch coming on. I feel something telling me, I need to stretch.
Tell your neighbor, this boat may get a little rocky for awhile, because I feel a stretching anointing.
Stretch is the DNA of God. God said to Abraham, lift up your eyes from the place where you are.
This is God saying… this is not it. There’s more. I want to give you more, but you’ve got to want more.
So God says… look to the North, the South, the East, and the West, and everything you see, I’ll give it to you.
In other words, everything that stirs you up. Everything that ignites a fire in you. Everything that wakes up the anointing in you. You can have it.
This is what God is saying for 2023. No matter what happened in 2022, 2023 is a brand new land of promise, with blessings, and breakthroughs, and opportunities, beyond anything you’ve ever known.
Then God says to Abraham… Now start walking. Stretch those legs, stretch that faith, start reaching, start believing, start pressing into the new. Get moving.
Where did Abrahams promise land begin? With his first step. Where did his property line end? With his last step.
Tell your neighbor… I’ve got some stretching to do.
Now tell them, I’ve got some walking to do.
When you stretch God will stretch with you, and when you walk, God will walk with you.
What the devil has been trying to do, is to manipulate and intimidate you, and make your life so miserable, that you’re afraid to move. He is trying to kill the pioneer spirit. Kill the spirit of expectation, and exploration, because that is the spirit of faith.
Why has the devil gone to such extremes to intimidate us, and manipulate us, and bring us into captivity?
I will tell you why… It’s because he is afraid of us. He is afraid of the power the church possesses.
He knows the only thing that can stop his globalist new world order, take over, is the church.
He knows that he that is within us, is greater than he that is in the world.
He knows the power of the blood of Jesus.
He knows that resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead.
He knows that we have the power to cast him out, and cast him down.
But none of that matters if he can keep us all huddled up in a corner in fear, sucking our thumbs and waiting for the rapture bus.
I can’t speak for everyone else, but I feel a fresh anointing being released from heaven, and it’s a stretching anointing.
And when the church starts stretching again, she is going to bust loose, and start destroying yokes that have been upon her neck. Because the yoke is destroyed by the anointing.
Come on now, just reach up and start stretching. Put hell on alert. I’m waking up. I’m in it to win it.
