THEME: “FAITH – VISION – FOCUS”
TEXT: HEBREWS 11:01 – 10; GENESIS 12:01 - 04
TOPIC: “HOW TO GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL” PART 1
Introduction:
One of the most frustrating and confusing things we encounter in our earthly journey is those times when we seem to be moving…without making progress. You understand, those times in your life when you have motion but no momentum to propel you forward, to cause you to advance and move to the next level of the abundant life that God has for you.
The Bible although not directly but certainly indirectly indicates that God’s desire for His Kingdom People is for us to be growing, advancing, moving from one level of grace to the next level of grace; from one level of victory to the next level of victory and from one level of abundant living to the next level of abundant living. There is nothing static, stale or stationary about our God and thus there should be nothing static, stale or stationary about your Christian journey. We are to grow from glory to glory and from faith to faith.
However many believers and certainly all unbelievers are frustrated to some degree or another by the fact that as they look back over their lives as we enter the 21st century, they realize that they have made very little, if any progress. You may have been busy but made no progress. You may have been moving but there has been not advancement. You have given effort but there has been no improvement. You have been diligent but there is still no development.
In your marriage, you have been faithful but still there is no forward movement. In your relationship with that special some one you have been patient but there is no advancement. With your children…you have been gracious but there is no growth. On the job you have been precise but there is no promotion. Yes and even in the church you have been committed and concerned – but there is seems to be no calling on your life.
Let’s be real – this can be frustrating and this can tempt us and try us and influence us to give up, to walk away from our loved ones, our friends, our relationships, our jobs, our church and our futures. Many unfortunate men and women – unfortunate because they made themselves losers – have given up and quit because they did not understand what it takes to get to the next level.
Listen, it takes more than time on the job to get the promotion to the next level. It takes more than being married to make a happy home and take your relationship to the next level. It takes more than showing up at church every now and then…showing up at Bible Study periodically…when things are not going right for you – to advance in the Kingdom of God and grow from glory to glory and move to the next spiritual level of faith and abundance.
So what does it take to get to the next level? How can I…how you advance, go forward, improve, grow, and experience an entirely new level of miracles, signs, and wonders. How can we march toward our ultimate goal and achieve victory over nagging sins and see our families and loved ones win in life – over the challenges, trials and tribulations of this old world? What is it that you need to know, do or be – in order to get to the next level on your job; at school; in the church or in your relationships with others?
Well, there are three questions I believe that are significant, vital and urgent for you to answer if indeed you are going to advance to the next level of spiritual, supernatural Kingdom living.
1. Where are you?
2. What is the next level for my life?
3. How do I get there?
a) Faith
b) Vision
c) Focus
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A. WHERE ARE YOU NOW? – GENESIS 12:01 “Your country, your family, your father’s
house…”
1. Will you overcome your past and current circumstances or will your circumstances overcome you? Listen to me – some of you are never going to be delivered from mess and move to the next level to a higher state of abundant living – because some of you are living in denial. Denial is not a river in Egypt – it is a dam that blocks the rivers of reality from flowing through your brain…so that you can face the circumstances of your life and get a vision for your future.
Denial is: D-don’t; E-even; N-know; I-I; A-am; L-lying (to myself). Watch this…accepting where you are has nothing to do with where you use to be (when times were better), where you wish you were, or where your friends and family members think you are. If you want to rise to the next level of your ordained destiny, you must overcome the demons of denial so that you can deal with life in spiritual, supernatural terms.
Listen…if your career is in a funk…stop perpetrating and trying to pretend like you got it all together and that everything is fine…face the reality of the situation and deal with it. You can never advance until you admit where you are. If you need to get some training – go to school. If you need to finish your degree – get to it. If your marriage is in a mess – admit it and get some help! If you cannot seem to raise your children properly – that’s why the church has parenting classes…it is not an embarrassment to be in class to become better and go to the next level. Listen…if you are Biblically illiterate and the church offers Bible classes and New Members training and you don’t take advantage of them – then you like being Biblically illiterate. If you are financially in debt and about to go under – this is the time to admit where you are and ask for help. Whatever the situation is in your life…it is vital that you stop denying the fact that you are where you are. It is only then you can move to the next level.
2. However, once you admit to where you are – you must determine to make a difference where you are and make a significant contribution to your current environment…be that their family, their church, their community, their school or their company. Each and every one of us are on a life-long journey.
We are all headed Listen – unless and until you make some significant contribution to your environment – at the level you are now – you are not ready for neither can you advance to the next level of joyful, victorious and abundant living.
People who do not deposit seed and make significant contributions to life at the level they are right now cannot be trusted with more of the blessings and beauty of life because they will not appreciate them and they will not share them nor care for them. Watch this…whatever you want in life and out of life…is already in seed form in you and God will bring it forth only as you “walk by faith” and trust Him for the impossible. But if that seed stays hidden in you and is never sown out into the lives of others…it will die in you as unfulfilled potential. If you can believe in your heart that you can contribute and make a difference in the lives of others at the level you are living. You have to see it in your mind and if you will have conviction for the level of abundant living you desire and confess it with your mouth…your change will come and the impossible will become possible.
B. WHAT IS THE NEXT LEVEL FOR MY LIFE? – GENSIS 12:02 - 03
1. Many people talk about going to the next level. It is a fancy way of saying that we are poised for greatness, ready to rumble, prepared to advance, to prosper at a new level of living, to grow in our faith walk and to move forward in the Kingdom of God. To go to the next level is to say that you are willing to pay the cost to get closer to your divine destiny being fulfilled. Your divine kingdom destiny is your calling from God.
Where is the next level? That is the question that I have had some “New Negroes” ask of me. Well the answer is simple…it depends on where you are and where you are ultimately destined to be.
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2. In order to get to the next level of your destiny…you need two things:
a) First you need to know where you are.
b) Second, you need to know where you are going. What is your God-given Kingdom destiny – your calling?
I don’t know your particular calling – but I do know that you are called to greatness. “There are two great moments in a person’s life: the first is when you were born; the second is when you discover why you were born.”
Calling is a difficult concept to explain. It is something like Louis Armstrong’s description of jazz: “Man, if you can explain it you don’t know what it is.” Your calling – you will know it when you see, hear and feel it. Until then, it’s like a very dim light in a dense for that you must follow until you find its source.
Now understand when I say your calling I am not talking about a “call to preach” or a “calling into the ministry” although I am not ruling those out. I am talking about a total reawakening, a Calling to realize your full potential in every aspect of your life! Your calling is that moment in your life when your mind, body and spirit are all aligned with God’s purpose for your life. It is like a lunar eclipse only it’s not the sun or the moon but optimal alignment of everything in you with God’s plan and purpose for you. Listen here is how you discover your destiny…that is your calling.
First there will be an “a-ha” moment in your life – in every one’s life there is this “a-ha” moment when an alignment will occur. An alignment of everything within you with the will of God and you will know that you are destined for this career, this city, this marriage, this adoption, this field of business, this ministry, this church or this office of deacon, deaconess or elder…teacher, etc.
Now I could tell you the story of Martin Luther King, Jr. and how he found his calling to be a great orator, leader and man of courage who changed his generations and generations to come. I could tell you of Booker T. Washington and his calling; Frederick Douglass and his calling; Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and his calling or Colin Powell and his calling. We could look at the calling of the many great saints in the inspirational passages of Scripture such as Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Daniel and Paul.
But allow me to tell you of a young man who did not know where he was and thus could not go to the next level. His life was interesting yet not challenging…it was fun but not fulfilling. He was quite and shy, but very observant. Inwardly he was timid and afraid; outwardly he showed little emotion but put on the macho image and identified with the boys in the hood in order to be accepted. But there was one thing that no one knew about this young man…he had a thirst for knowledge and an inner drive to always be the best he could possibly be…no matter what he did. It showed early in life in the way he played to win, the way he dressed – not like the other kids…but rather more like the adults around him.
This young man lived with and was involved with the drug scene. He saw lives taken over gambling debts and he observed those who were both winners and losers in life. He went to private high school and college and graduated – and during those years saw many hard times and devastating events. He married and stated his career in business with a desire to become an entrepreneur…owing his own business and providing for the community in which he lived. Something else happened however during his college days, not only did he get married but he got saved – Jesus Christ laid claim on his life.
After college this young man went from job to job. Never able to move to the next level, never able to get over the hump and move to a new level. In fact things got worse rather than better. Debts pilled up, cars broke down…he and his family lived from day-to-day, struggling to make ends meet. There was a sense of restlessness in his soul…because he knew he was saved but he was not experiencing God’s best and fullest value for his life.
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That is until one day in May of 1978…when his calling began to call him and manifest itself. This is my story…you see it was that day in May of 1978 when God aligned my mind, body and spirit with His ultimate plan and purpose for my life. It was then that I acknowledged and surrendered to His calling to the ministry. My calling represents the point in my life where God positioned me to create the greatest value to my family, my world, and myself. Now I am not saying that prior to the Call I did not add value. I am saying that the Calling positioned me to contribute optimal value, to be the best that I could be.
Listen, your calling, whatever it is (father, mother, businessperson, computer operator, lawyer, doctor, engineer, teacher, barber, beautician, banker, cook, nurse, child-care operator…etc.) whatever your calling may be – it will combine, germinate, and package the best and highest possible use of your life. Any other use of your time and talent will be a lesser application of your God-given abilities and resources. So you must ask yourself, what God want you to do between the cradle and the grave.
So first you need to know where you are…I was nowhere…I was wasting my time and talents trying to be a businessman when I was supposed to be preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God. I had to admit where I was so that I could move in the direction of where I was supposed to be. If I kept moving in the direction of business, I may have made a decent living and I may have been able to take care of my family eventually…but I still would not have been able to contribute the best that I could to my self, my family or to society.
Once I knew where I was going…to become a pastor/teacher and spiritual leader of people I then had to once again ask myself, “Where Am I?” That is am I prepared to move to the level? No I was not prepared. No I did not know what to do next or which way to go. So I got help from my pastor, from mature Christians and from others who had gone this way before me. What do I need to do to get ready for my next level? I had to study, pray, fast, and most of all trust that God knew exactly what He was doing when He called me.
If you follow your calling, you will eventually be able to apply everything that God has already placed within you to make a singular difference in your world. I began to use the business skills and training that I learned in school and in business – as my wife and I, started our first church and as we started NFCC and Alpha Community Church and Queen City Bible College and on and on. God does not waste His training simply because He takes you to another level. The reason you get to go to the next level is because you are found faithful in contributing significantly at the level you are right now!
C. HOW DO I GET TO THAT NEXT LEVEL (MY CALLING)? – HEBREWS 11:8, “By
faith…”
1) Now once you know where you are and know where you are going…the ultimate question is what will it take to get there? How do I get to that next level? How do I get to that next level of a loving marriage relationship? How do you get to the next level of career advancement? How to you get to that next level of academic excellence? How do you get to that next level of musical accomplishment? What is that separates those who are high performance achievers from those who are just in the field? Is there any real significant difference between those who go for the gold and those who don’t get out of the starting block? What separates you from those whose names we remember as God’s heroes and sheroes? What separates one parent from the next? What is it that keeps some people at the level of mediocrity and boredom with life and others excel and advance in the Kingdom of God and prosper in all that they do?
2) Three things separate the winners from the also ran. Three things are essential to you and I advancing to the next level of our individual journeys…whatever level the next level is for you…it is different for me. But all of us should be advancing to our next level individually as well as corporately as a family and as a church.
3) Those three things we must master are: FAITH – VISION – FOCUS.
And over the next several weeks we are going to explore “Faith for the next level,” “Vision of the next level,” and “Focus on the next level.” It all begins however, with your response to God’s general call – that is His call to you to repent and by faith received eternal life through Jesus Christ.
