Sermon - Experiencing The Next Level of Increase
Scriptures - Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Isaiah 43:18-19 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
Genesis 1 lifts the idea of fruitfulness and multiplication. Isaiah 43 lifts the idea of something completely new and different. Can you imagine increase in a desert and ways in the wilderness. How many of you are ready to go to your next level? How do we move our lives forward with God? How can we move to our next level of increase and fruitfulness?
It is God’s desire for us to be fruitful and to multiply. If you are going to multiply, it means you are going to move forward. It means you should be accomplishing or going into new levels of fruitfulness all the time. As we move forward in obedience to God, we should bear more fruit. God always wants us moving forward and bearing fruit.
This message is talking about moving forward and making progress in this new year. God wants to increase you from where you are right now. You might be at a certain level of fruitfulness right now, But God wants to increase that. I want to increase!
3 John 2 “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.”
When your soul is in alignment with God’s will for your life, align with God’s promises then you will manifest that which you are aligned to. Here are the keys to experiencing your next level of fruitfulness and increase.
1. Believe that Increase is possible. Since the promises of God are true, can you believe increase is possible for you? We need to develop a positive approach to every aspect of your life, including your thoughts about how you will achieve your goals. You and I must believe that if God is for us, nothing can stop us. Increase is possible. Believe in God’s promises and believe in your own abilities. Work on your own attitude at every opportunity. Deuteronomy 1:11 says, “May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are, and bless you, just as He has promised you!” Believe that increase is possible for you. I don’t know what a thousandfold more looks like, but I believe. It is hard to imagine a thousandfold more than eating manna from on high, being led by a cloud to houses they did not have to build, eating from vineyards they did not plant, but God promised more, a thousandfold more! Can you believe it is possible for you?
2. Visualize What Your Life Could Be. What is your dream of the future.
You must have a dream. If you have no vision of what tomorrow looks like you will have nothing to move toward. You must have a vision of what your tomorrow should look like. All throughout the bible, you will see examples of God planting dreams into people’s heart to make sure that they have a dream so they can move forward into that dream. God challenged Abraham by giving him a vision of what to move into. God promised Abram that he would be a father of many nations before Abram had a child. God used the stars to paint a picture in Abraham’s heart. Abraham kept moving forward. God gave him a vision for a new future. God planted a dream into Moses to deliver the children out of bondage. Moses made many mistakes, but he kept moving forward because he saw himself as a deliverer. Moses visualized what His life could be before he had an army or a following. Moses never saw all the problems he would face or the difficulties of His journey, he saw himself as God’s deliverer. What does your future look like? What will your life be like? Can you see it? Visualize what your life could be and go after it. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keeps God’s law, happy is he.”
3. Write the Vision and Make it Plain. See it, clarify it and share it with others who encourage you and build you up. If you are in a transition place and it’s a difficult transition, you need a dream. What is ahead of you? Write down your dreams. What does it look like? What would you like to have in your life if everything is better? What would your life in Jesus look like? What would you like to have in your life? What would your relationships, family, workplace look like? Get a dream. Envision. Ponder. Dream. Write it down!
Habakkuk 2:2-3 “And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee.”
Writing the vision down, clarifies it in your mind, it means you have a clear form, a clear conception. You move forward in the right framework, move toward the thing framed. It means having a clear imagination, a right thinking mind, and a clear direction to work. Isaiah talks about perfect peace, which means God will keep the person who has creative dream ability in perfect shalom. If you have creative imagination, thinking ahead, put something visual out there in front of you.
God made dream boards for his people. When you look upon it the vision of what God promised gets inside of you. He told Abraham to look up at the stars. They were too many to count. That is what I’m gonna make your descendants like. God was planting a dream inside Abraham’s heart because he did not have his son yet. So every night Abraham saw the stars he remembered the promise and the vision. Write your 2024 dream board!
4. Cut Away the Clutter. What needs to be pruned or dealt with in your life? Your thinking, attitude, doubts, fears, negativity? John 15:1-3 Jesus says, “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.”
Ask the Lord what needs to be pruned–or dealt with in your life? As I sense a transition into a new season, I ask the Lord, “What do you want to take care of in my life? Sometimes we get cluttered with things, and we don’t even realize it unless we ask the Lord. And it can sabotage us moving forward. God wants you to bear fruit and as part of his process for bearing fruit he will prune or take things out of you. Even things that started in him, if they are no longer bearing fruit, he will take care of and remove.
As we go to our next season, ask the lord, what do you want to take care of in my life. There are some things that when the season is over needs to be cut off. Sometimes we get cluttered because we never allow the conviction of the spirit to convict us. Over the years I have known many people with tremendous gifting and tremendous potential that never break through because they never allowed the pruning to take place in their life.
They never allowed the conviction of the Holy Spirit to go in and show them what needed to be removed from their life. And what needed to be pruned down and cut off. There are some things that God will call you to do for a season but when that season is over, if you keep trying to make it grow and it doesn’t grow maybe it’s time to let it go. Cut off the things that need to be cut off. For example, Cut off sin issues. We cannot expect to move forward into greater degrees of fruitfulness if we have sin issues. Sin separates you from God. It is going to hinder our ability to move forward.
Sin issues these separate us from God. These are sins of Commission or Omission. These will hinder our ability to move forward. Speaking doubt and unbelief will keep us from moving to our next level. Everything that is not of faith is sin. Unbelief is sin. Gossip and negative talk will keep you from moving forward. Doubt and unbelief will keep you held back. Sin will keep you from going to the next level. Sometimes sin is omission, it is when God has spoken to you to do something, and you haven’t done it. If you fail to believe God’s truth, it can keep you from moving to the next level. God is for you. He is not against you. He wants you to move forward.
Another thing is dishonor. Dishonor will hold you back. I have met some people who were tremendously talented and gifted. In fact, they were way more talented than me and yet they were held back. I asked the Lord “Why aren’t they on a platform?” and he said it is because of dishonor. They have thought of and spoken evil against authority. They have talked about authority behind their back. They have dishonored their leaders and complained. They have been negative. When you are negative and complaining, and all you ever see is the problems and the negativity and you never give affirmations you will be held back. I have never known a negative person who prospers and moves forward in the nature and character of Jesus Christ. You are not aligned to God if you are like that. This hinders many people from moving to the next level.
In the United States we think we have a right to speak negative about the government. This is not Godly. If the church is cursing who is going to bless? We do not affirm the negative things the Government does, but we can’t speak curses. Out of our mouth needs to come blessing. We have the freedom to petition the government. You do not have to badmouth the country and if you do you will not move forward.
5. Embrace God’s discipline. Stop running from correction. At every point the Lord will attempt to lovingly discipline you for your good. Discipline means to disciple. The reason he disciples us is for our good and it is good for us. Some people go through life year after year without breakthrough and no growth simply because they did not embrace the discipline the Lord was trying to give them. When God is trying to get rid of the hindering issues in our lives, it is because He want us to be fruitful. Many Christians have such low emotional intelligence, their feelings get hurt and they refuse to change. Discipline is necessary for growth. God wants us to grow in his character and his nature. Sometimes he will even use your enemy to test you so he can promote you. He wants to prune off our immaturity, embrace the discipline. When God is dealing with you, don’t point your finger at what the others are doing. Embrace God’s discipline, the end results is fruitfulness and increase.
Hebrews 12:11 says, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
6. Sow into your future. Sow the word of God deep in your heart. You can frame the next season with the word of God. You can step into the framework you have created. Use the power of affirmation. God is for me, on my side, prospering me and increasing all I do, etc.
Sow your time and effort into your dream. Be willing to come to work a little early, stay a little later, and do a little more while you are there! If your next season requires new skills, sow the time and effort necessary for learning, growing, and mastering the needed skills.
Sow tithes and offerings. Sow extra seed in times of transitions. When you are sowing a seed for a specific purpose, name your seed. You will always reap what you sow. Sowing additional time and energy for the benefit of others will come back to you. Today’s seed will produce tomorrow’s harvest. Sow into your future.
7. Expect Something New. God is moving you into a new season. We have just finished a season of warfare, pandemic, and economic challenges, but we must get ready for a new season. Successfully dealing with the warfare, pandemic, and economic challenges of the past has prepared us for the future. We may have to face bigger giants tomorrow. But, I am ready! I go into my new season today with confidence in God. We have a God-given dream in our heart. God wants to fulfill all of our dreams. God has answers for all our difficulties. Yes, it is time to move into your new season. Make sure you have clarity about your dream. Allow God to prune your life and cut away every hindrance. Sow God’s word in your heart, sow your time and best efforts into developing yourself and your ministry. Work on yourself more than your dream. In doing so, you become more valuable to those around you. Sow finances into the kingdom and see your dream come true.
Keys To Experiencing Your Next Level of Increase: Believe that Increase is possible. Visualize What Your Life Could Be. Write the Vision and make it plain. Cut Away the Clutter. Cut Away every hindrance. Embrace God’s discipline. Expect Something New! It’s on the way. Amen.
