Discover Life Podcast | Episode 10: Get Ready

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Our youth just came back from a great weekend at Forward Conference in Georgia, and this is our second year going. It's. It was amazing to see over 12,000 kids worshiping Jesus. I mean, I never seen anything like it. And if I go again, I'll still say the same. I never seen it. He said, if I go again. [00:00:34] Speaker B: I did see some videos, which, like, was very impressive because I saw some of the young people. Not ours, I'm just saying, just a specific video. And there was young people going, oh, my God, I can't believe what the. What the gentleman was saying. Like, it really struck something in my heart. Like, I heard it, and it struck me deeply in my heart. And so I started seeing a couple of those, and I'm like, that's awesome. Like, when a young person could really get what the preacher is preaching to them and know that it's something good. [00:01:04] Speaker C: For them. [00:01:07] Speaker A: They really target the kids, the youth, from the speakers to the music, and they really target them. For them to really think about God and how. How God really cares about them and loves them and. And it's all for them, this. I mean, you go there, you won't hear anything about marriage or, you know, it. It's directly towards them. So. So the setup from beginning to end, it's really for them, and it really gets them ready. [00:01:41] Speaker C: Yeah. That's Franklin. What's his name? [00:01:44] Speaker A: Jensen. [00:01:44] Speaker C: Franklin. Jensen Franklin, who is, you know, a hero in the faith for so many people. And. And this conference is so powerful. I went last year with. With this group, and it really was incredible to see that many kids giving over to God. And sure, you got a couple of kids that are looking around, but the vast majority. Oh, yeah, they go in and they praise God. And I think it's. It's such a culture shock for most kids that serve God in their own little world. And they don't see God at school. They don't see God. You know, they'll see God at their local church. But. But when you see 12,000 kids. [00:02:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:23] Speaker C: Worshiping God, you all of a sudden feel like you're in the in crowd. [00:02:27] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:02:27] Speaker C: And it's popular, and I can let go here. And I know that growing up, going to those youth conferences, one of the things that made me really strong in. [00:02:38] Speaker A: My faith the last session, which was on Saturday, they call him Uncle Reggie. [00:02:44] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:02:45] Speaker A: And he went. When the conference starts, he tells the kids, welcome home. We're a family here. And he goes, and if this is the first time here, welcome. And that's why they call Me, Uncle Reggie, because we're family. [00:03:01] Speaker B: That's good. [00:03:02] Speaker A: And I remember one of the things he said to the kids on the last session was he told them a story about a wise man somewhere in the world, and nobody could trick him. And everybody was trying to get him to try to, you know, to ruin his wise man reputation. And one day, a kid took a little bird, and he said, I'm gonna get the wise man. And he takes that little bird and puts it behind him and goes to the wise man and tells the wise man, wise man is the bird that I have in my hand alive or dead. And the kid said, if he says he's alive, I'm gonna let the bird, you know, fly. If he says, no, no. If he says the bird's alive, I'm going to squish him and kill him. Oh. [00:03:55] Speaker D: So he tried to trap him. [00:03:56] Speaker A: Yeah, to try to trap him. And the wise man says, only you know the answer to that. You have to make the decision. Oh. And he told the kids everything that happened this weekend is all up to you now. [00:04:11] Speaker D: That's good. [00:04:11] Speaker B: That's real good. [00:04:12] Speaker C: That's good. [00:04:13] Speaker A: Really good. [00:04:14] Speaker D: I love it. All the kids, when they came back, I mean, they were all excited to share their matching Forward conference gear. And I heard quite a few of the stories, even though they pranked us with their. [00:04:26] Speaker B: That was hilarious. [00:04:27] Speaker C: What's that? [00:04:28] Speaker D: They did a prank call to some of the parents. [00:04:32] Speaker B: He was like, yeah, that's my review. [00:04:34] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:04:37] Speaker D: The beauty in it for me was when the phone came. When a call came through, it was a guy's voice. Oh, hey, I found this phone. Oh, okay. Where'd you find it? I'm in a restaurant. Okay. That might be my daughter's. And then he started talking over me. I was like, oh, this is a voice recording. [00:04:55] Speaker C: Oh, see, I can. [00:04:56] Speaker D: I could tell. [00:04:57] Speaker C: I played right into it. [00:04:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:04:58] Speaker C: When he stopped, I spoke and even answered me, like I thought. [00:05:02] Speaker A: Yeah, Yeah. [00:05:02] Speaker D: I told. I was telling my wife. [00:05:04] Speaker B: I was like, this is fake. [00:05:05] Speaker A: And she wanted this thing. [00:05:07] Speaker C: That's a good prank. Yep. [00:05:09] Speaker D: But you. But I love that. I love the fun, even just in that. Just them being able to spend time together and do some stuff. [00:05:14] Speaker C: That the real question, the one million dollar question for me is, how great was it flying and not driving 17 hours? Oh, he loved it. Come on. [00:05:24] Speaker B: How great was it? [00:05:26] Speaker A: It was amazing. [00:05:27] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. [00:05:27] Speaker C: Oh, wait a minute. [00:05:28] Speaker D: Do you remember the flight? [00:05:29] Speaker A: Do you remember the flight? [00:05:31] Speaker C: He didn't drive the last. He didn't drive the first Time. That's your. I drove. He didn't drive. Oh, God. That's funny again. [00:05:42] Speaker A: It was amazing. [00:05:44] Speaker C: Did the kids love it? [00:05:45] Speaker A: They did. [00:05:46] Speaker C: They like flying. A lot of kids, first time they flew, right? [00:05:49] Speaker A: Yes. My. My niece Mel, that was her first time and some other ones. It's been years that they've been on the plane, so it was a smooth ride both. Both ways. So it's wonderful. It was good. [00:06:00] Speaker D: What a great time. [00:06:01] Speaker C: Well, we got a great show for you today. On the other side of our intro, we're going to talk about getting ready, being ready. Let's start the show. [00:06:20] Speaker A: Ram. [00:06:45] Speaker C: Welcome, everybody, to a new episode of the Discover Life podcast, where we can explore the depths of God's promises and equip you to walk fully into your divine destiny. My name is Bishop Person Gonzalez, and I am honored to be with my incredible co hosts, Pastor Axel Ramos. [00:07:06] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. God bless. [00:07:07] Speaker C: Over there is Minister Louis Acevedo. [00:07:10] Speaker D: Let's go. [00:07:10] Speaker C: And my main man, Deacon Eliud Hidalgo. [00:07:13] Speaker B: What's up, everybody? [00:07:14] Speaker C: We're excited to be with you here today. [00:07:16] Speaker A: Greetings, everyone. It's a blessing to be with you today. We're about to dive in into a powerful message that can transform your life. Getting ready for what God is about to do. How about that? [00:07:29] Speaker C: Amen. [00:07:30] Speaker D: That's right. Really, today is. This entire episode is really about awareness and being spiritually alert and prepared for fully trusting God with his timing and plan. We're talking about a move that is happening, a shift that is happening right now that we're experiencing. [00:07:47] Speaker B: Yes, this is a prophetic move that God is calling his people to get in position to get their hearts ready and to step into the new season that God is about to unveil. [00:07:58] Speaker C: That's right. So our first point for you is we want you to have an urgency of getting ready. Now let me just start today, speaking prophetically to you, it's time to get ready. Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now. God is moving. And the question is, are you prepared to walk into what God is about to release in your life? Question for me is, if God were to answer the questions and the petitions that you have for him right now? My question is, are you ready right now for him to answer your greatest petition? Are you ready or should you be getting ready now as you ask God to do what he. What you want him to do? See, sometimes we wait so long for breakthrough that the blessing. We're waiting for a blessing, we're waiting for a miracle. And that we lose our sense of urgency You've waited so long, and now you just don't know or don't really care. When God does it, you still believe he will, but. But to you, it doesn't matter. When I'm here to tell you that you've gotten complacent. I want to remind you that God is a God of timing, and his timing is perfect. And he sent us to tell you to get ready. [00:09:18] Speaker A: Think about how often we get caught off guard. Like when a friend calls you saying, I'm two minutes away, and suddenly you. You realize your house, and you're still in pajamas, haven't brushed your teeth, and your heart is starting to raise. [00:09:34] Speaker C: This guy does that to me all the time. Say, yo, I'm here. What do you mean, here? You said you're going to be 20 minutes early. I'm like, let's go. [00:09:43] Speaker D: I'm hungry. Yeah, exactly. That's. That's the moment of panic. Right? And the. The moment of panic, really, that's a sign of us not being ready. The Lord is telling us at that moment, get your house in order. Spiritually, that means aligning ourselves with his word, his promises, and his purpose. [00:10:04] Speaker B: And isn't that interesting how that little moment of being unprepared can reflect on how we sometimes live our lives spiritually? [00:10:12] Speaker C: That's right. [00:10:13] Speaker B: Right. And let's go there. Because sometimes the thing about being prepared is that you're ready, but when you're not ready, how can you receive what's coming? Right. So waiting on God, but not actively getting ourselves ready for what he's about to do. [00:10:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:10:28] Speaker B: So. So if you're not ready to receive, you won't receive. When you're ready is when your arms are ready and it's wide open and ready. I'm ready. Give it to me. Give it to me. You know what I mean? And so. So sometimes we will get lazy. [00:10:42] Speaker A: We'll. [00:10:42] Speaker D: We'll. [00:10:43] Speaker B: Oh, God will do it anyway. Like, we want God to do everything. But God puts us in positions for us to get ready to receive something that he wants to give you so he can bless you. [00:10:52] Speaker C: That's a powerful point, Deke. This is what I feel God saying to you. This is your moment. The world may be in chaos, but God's people are called to be ready. Standing in faith, expecting in obedience. Are you ready for the next move of God in your life? Yeah. [00:11:13] Speaker A: That's awesome. This leads us to our second point and is leaving the old behind and entering the new. [00:11:20] Speaker C: Amen. [00:11:21] Speaker A: I believe the Lord want. Wants us to understand that we're leaving behind the old things that hinder us. Depression, poverty. [00:11:30] Speaker C: Come on. [00:11:30] Speaker A: Sickness, broken relationships, confusion, addiction, greed and gluttony. God is calling us to pack our spiritual bags with faith, joy, hope and expectation. And he's saying, it's time to move forward. [00:11:46] Speaker C: Man, I hope you hear that. Yeah, I hope you're hearing what God is saying. Take this. Prophetically, I don't know why you clicked on this video, but you did. It was God's providential timing for you to catch this video. When we are speaking directly to your life, the Lord is warning you. He's telling you, I'm about to do something, and you don't want to be caught off guard. [00:12:07] Speaker D: It's funny, because I think that sometimes people think that moving forward means to move, specifically means to move out of something. But sometimes it just means to. It just means to move into something you're in. And I just want to bring that up because sometimes we might consider ourselves in a season that seems prolonged, and we're like, man, but I don't want to be in this season anymore. I want to be in a new thing. And God is telling you, but. But if you keep moving, I can do a new thing in the season you're in. I'm not done with what I'm doing here, but it is going to happen in my timing. So I love that point about how it really is in God's timing. You know, Isaiah 43:19 captures this beautifully. He says, behold, I am doing a new thing. First of all, recognize who's doing the new thing. God is in control right now. It springs up. Do you not perceive it? Do you not perceive it? Can you not see it? This new thing isn't just an idea. It's actually a divine moment. Are you perceiving it? Are your spiritual eyes open to see what God is doing? For many of us, I think sometimes what our biggest problem is is that we have sight, but we don't have vision. [00:13:13] Speaker C: Right? [00:13:13] Speaker D: We can see with our eyes the thing that's in front of us. And yet God is telling you to move. And you say, well, how can I move? We talked about it last week. I talked about it in my sermon where, okay, the Israelites get up to this water, and he says that they're free. They're supposed to be going into this promised land. They see water and he sees promised land. And for some reason, what gets in our way is that we cannot perceive in the situation we're in what it is God's taking us to. But I Love how that scripture brings that to life. [00:13:41] Speaker B: I mean, that's good, because it's about seeing beyond the natural. I mean, sometimes we get so caught up in our current circumstance that we forget that God specializes in making streams in the desert and pathways in the wilderness. You see, you can't stay stuck on what you're in. [00:14:02] Speaker A: Now. [00:14:02] Speaker B: God is saying, I got you, but he wants you to take steps. You have to prepare yourself for it because you can't just sit there and let God do it all. God can do it. We know that. But you have to move beyond the circumstances that you're in and trust God in what he's going to do so that he can get you out of it and make a new way for you, a new path. Like he says, streams and in the wilderness, he will make a way. Way. God always makes a way. But are you ready for the way? [00:14:30] Speaker C: You need to have a shift in your perspective. You know, a lot of times we tell folks when you come to church, your expectation puts a demand on God. [00:14:38] Speaker A: That's right. [00:14:39] Speaker B: When you. [00:14:39] Speaker C: When you perceive, when you can get. When you get into the right perspective, man, when you faith moves God. And. And if you get into the perspective of faith, I believe what I'm hearing today. I believe that God is speaking to my life. And that means you're shifting your perspective. We're not just moving on our strength, we're moving on with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is telling you, get ready. Because when God moves, you gotta move. When God moves, you move. [00:15:09] Speaker B: That's right. [00:15:09] Speaker A: I remember when we were in Forward the night before the conference, one of our chats that we had that night was we need to build expectations into our youth. Because expectations kind of gives you a reason to move forward, a reason to move, a reason to get ready. And that's what we wanted them to have in the conference. We wanted them to have an expectation because God was gonna meet them in that. In that point. And it's so important because like we're saying here, if you get ready, you start creating that movement and putting that demand on God. And that the man is what it's pretty much faith. When you get ready, your faith goes into action. And that's what creates that movement, and that's what moves heaven to meet the expectation you have. So as you listening, think about the things you need to get ready, the things that you need God to move in. But he requires you. He requires you to move. He took the biggest step already, and that's sending Jesus and dying for us in that cross he took, the biggest move came from him. And now it's our move. Now it's our move to make that step so we can see God doing the things that we want him to do in our lives. [00:16:33] Speaker D: One of the things that. That we talk about often is that what you need is faith, right? And you have to activate faith. And I want to say this. Romans 12:3. It reminds us that each of us has already been given a measure of faith, right? So many of you right now watching the episode might be saying, you know, I just. I don't know. I don't have the faith to believe that he can move me from where I am. But the question is not whether you have it. It's whether you're activating the faith that you have. And so what you're in currently as a situation in life actually is supposed to be working in your favor to activate faith. And so whether you're struggling with something big or small isn't the question. It's how much faith are you activating, activating in that very thing. And so if for some reason you feel stuck, I think the best thing that you can do is test God with the little you have. Everybody goes, I don't know if I can give today. I don't really have much. Well, the good thing is you could have nothing because our God is a God who makes something out of nothing, right? He'll literally make something out of nothing. And so test him in this. Not, do you have the faith? The faith has already been measured to you. The question is, are you using the faith you have and are you pulling that out so that God can do what he can do in your life? [00:17:49] Speaker C: The faith you have equals the life you have. [00:17:52] Speaker A: That's right. [00:17:54] Speaker C: If your faith increases, your life increases. If you feel like you're living a diminished life, it's probably because your faith is where that. That's where your faith is. It's okay. [00:18:06] Speaker D: So true. [00:18:07] Speaker C: But. But I'm. I'm promising you that according your faith, it shall be done. Increase will come. God's gonna move, but you got to get ready. [00:18:16] Speaker A: Our third point today is trust in God's perfect timing. Yes, and trust is the key here. Because Proverbs, chapter 3, verses 5 and 6 say, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your path straight. Trust in God means surrendering our timeline. [00:18:40] Speaker C: Yes, that's huge. [00:18:42] Speaker A: Just you surrender that timeline to him. Surrender your plans Your expectations. Sometimes we want God to do things on our schedule, but his timing is always perfect. [00:18:53] Speaker B: We're always worried about, I ain't got enough time. It's not your time, it's in God's time. We want to push things sometimes too fast. And when we do that, we mess up God's plan because you go outside of his plan, you know, so his plans are perfect and his timing is perfect. [00:19:12] Speaker D: If you think about it, really, he did it with Abraham, right? Despite his age, despite the impossibility, Abraham trusted God's promise. Hebrews 11:8 says by faith. Let me say that again. By faith. Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went. Let me say that part again. After he was told, he obeyed, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. [00:19:39] Speaker C: Crazy. [00:19:40] Speaker D: That's the kind of faith we're called to in obedience, trusting, and being ready to step out even when the full picture isn't there. And I don't think you can. I think faith really is best tested when the full picture isn't there. You need that, you need that, that question mark in your future in order to know, am I actually trusting God or is this just what I understand it can and should be. [00:20:06] Speaker B: And that's where many of us struggle. We want the full plan before we move. But God is calling us to trust that he's leading us even if we don't see the full staircase. The, the point of that is God's the only one that knows your future. So if he's sending you, all we got to do is trust that what he's going to do, he's going to do it and he's going to do it right now. [00:20:30] Speaker C: You don't have to be super spiritually or overly insightful. You just got to pay attention. You can pay attention now. Now, there's a little story a lot of people know about the first miracle that Jesus did at that wedding in Canaan. But recognizing God's movement is essential to getting ready. Right at this wedding at Cana, Jesus mother recognizes the right timing for a miracle. So she told her servants, do everything he tells you. She was getting ready. She was getting everybody around him ready because she sensed that this was going to be a next or his first great move. Being able to tell she. She knew her son, she knew the God she served so well that she was able to prepare everybody around Jesus so that when he said go, they were already ready to go. Right? And that's what we need to do be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's promptings, prophetic words and the divine nudges. Because at any moment he's going to say now over and over the Bible says and suddenly and all of a sudden it happens in an instant. Are you ready for it? [00:21:40] Speaker A: So awesome. God is always speaking. The challenge is tuning our spiritual ears to hear his voice. [00:21:46] Speaker C: There's. [00:21:47] Speaker A: This brings me forward again. [00:21:50] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:21:51] Speaker A: You know, I was so impressed in how the way God is speaking to, to, to our church here and being a forward to hear kind of like the connection of what we've been talking about here and then going over there, it was a, like a, a continuation of what's been happening here. And, and that just tells you how God is talking to the church in general of, of move, of get ready, of it's time, you know. And, and one of the things Pastor Jensen was, was telling the youth is how there's a sequence that only the youth can hear. And he used the story of Samuel and, and, and, and the priest and he's, he's preaching. That's good. I don't have to say anything. [00:22:40] Speaker C: They do you do. You have to finish it for them. [00:22:42] Speaker A: He was, he was inspiring our youth to say listen you. There's a sequence from God, a frequent frequency. [00:22:49] Speaker C: Frequency. [00:22:50] Speaker A: Thank you. Frequency that only the youth can hear because during that time only Samuel hear God's voice and the priest did. So I'm here to tell you God wants to, God wants to tune you so you can hear that frequency that only you guys can hear. [00:23:07] Speaker C: It's phenomenal. [00:23:08] Speaker A: And he's telling them to get ready and just pushing them to really tune their ears to that frequency that God wants to speak to our youth because it's, and he compare into how two generations these, you guys are a generation that, that unfortunately we can't, you know, hear anymore. That, that's that frequency that only you guys can can hear. Because if we hear it, if we hear it, we're going to say things like no, that's not God. [00:23:41] Speaker C: Right. [00:23:42] Speaker A: But you guys won't. Because you guys are that new generation and you guys are gonna run with it. [00:23:47] Speaker C: That's great. [00:23:47] Speaker A: But us, we're gonna question it because like wow, God, we've never seen that, you know, so God is gonna have to fight us. But you guys won't. You guys are gonna run with it. It was powerful. And I think that's, that's so important for us to, to, to hear and tune our ears to, to God's voice. [00:24:05] Speaker B: And that just works out Even for the believer who's really tuned into God's voice, because there's. There's a scripture in the Bible that it says he has secrets just for you. So if we're not paying attention, we'll never know the secrets he has for us to move us forward. Because those secrets are to, to propel us, to move us the mysteries. Yeah, to. To shift our thinking, to. To move us, to propel into the calling of God that has. That he has for us. [00:24:30] Speaker D: I think it's important too, that. That the young people didn't just hear that, but that the leaders that are leading the young people that took them there heard that. Because it can be so hard for us sometimes to understand why they move in the manner they do. Yet if we know that what we're doing is leading them to hear his voice, not to do just what we say, then we will trust God and His timing to do in them what he's going to do. And so I love that. But, you know, I think what's important for us in our response is that when we hear him move, that we don't hesitate. Hesitation is one of the. It's the big. It's probably one of the biggest problems. You hesitate for a moment, you miss the. You miss the message, you miss the. You miss the event, you miss the ride. You don't get there. Right. And so we have to be like. The disciples immediately leave their nets to follow Jesus. When God calls, we must respond quickly. It's interesting, too, because the message, the request that he made of them, they had never heard before. And yet they dropped their nets probably faster than any other request they've been given. They could have been told, hey guys, we're going to do a different job today. And they'd have been like, I'm a fisherman. I'm going to stay here. This is what I do. This is what I know. This is my profession. And here comes Jesus and he says, just drop your nets. I'm going to make you fishers of men. And they without hesitation decided this is what we're going to do. And little did they know that because of that lack of hesitation, because of that quick response, the rest of the trajectory of their life was changed forever. They were able to walk with Jesus and witness the greatest acts on earth that had ever been seen. But it was because they didn't hesitate. If there had just been one or two that hesitated, they wouldn't have been there. They wouldn't have seen what God was about, what Jesus was about to do. But because they didn't. They could walk with him. [00:26:17] Speaker B: That's right. Because delay can sometimes mean missing the divine moment. We got to be spiritually alert. Let's not get distracted. Sometimes we get so distracted we miss the moment that God had for you to use you. And especially like in a. In a powerful moment moment, because you were distracted, you missed it, and we got to be alert. [00:26:42] Speaker C: When we preached this, we talked about the concept of standing at the ready line at a race, being in the stock, setting your feet and doing everything you can. You put your hand just at the edge of the line, as close to that line as you can without getting a penalty. And then all those people are lined up with you and. And they say, ready? They say, sit. And you gotta wait for a split second until that gun goes. And what happens often is that's gonna. There's gonna be a. A false start. Somebody's going to go ahead of the gun and they. And, and what happens is everybody jumps. [00:27:13] Speaker B: That's right. [00:27:14] Speaker C: Because of a false step. And. And so what happens is that everybody has to start over, not just the person that did the false start. Everyone has to go back. So you got to be. You got to be prepared. You got to be obedient, you got to be listening, and you got to be willing to go inside when God says go. Because sometimes you'll go ahead of God and you'll mess up the plan, the timing of God. I'm not big enough to mess up God's plan, but I sure can mess with his timing. [00:27:45] Speaker B: That's right. [00:27:47] Speaker C: So we got to be prepared. [00:27:51] Speaker A: Are you ready to be used by God? That's the big question today. Are you ready to be used by God? And if you're not, that's another question. Are you getting ready? [00:28:02] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:28:03] Speaker A: Are you getting ready? Because that's important too, that if you're not ready, we want to encourage you, we want to inspire you. We want to push you to start getting ready and all the areas that you need to get ready. It's not just one area. There's so many areas in our lives that we can work on, that we can become better. And are you willing to step out of your comfort zone and obey his voice? Because his voice is so important. Because that he's going to give you the directions. He's going to give you the guidance you need. Need. He's gonna tell you there's. There's nothing that you need to do. All you need to do is listen and obey. And that's how we get ready. That's how we open the door for God to start getting us ready to what he has called us. [00:28:45] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. And preparation means spiritual disciplines. Worship, prayer, right? Fasting. Are you observing a Sabbath? Are you, are you finding rest? You know, when we prepare our hearts, we're positioning ourselves for God's power to flow through us. Preparing. If you want to prepare for anything, prepare in your spiritual disciplines to hear the voice of God. Because if you can't hear his voice, you can't take his direction. [00:29:10] Speaker C: That's right. That's plain as day. [00:29:12] Speaker B: And remember, preparation time is never wasted time. I'm going to say that again. Preparation time is never wasted time. Every moment spent in prayer, worship and obedience is building you up for the next level. And just to give you more clear, it's like, like an athlete, an athlete prepares himself for what he's going to do. If he's a baseball player, he's practicing all the time. Basketball, shooting, shoot. They're preparing themselves for the time that when they get ready to be in the game, they're effective because they put time to it. So the same way here now spiritual praying work. It prepares you for the next thing that God wants to speak into your life. [00:29:53] Speaker C: I, you know, the, the, the next point for us is the power of a ready heart. And, and this sermon, certainly not original. Everybody's heard Jake say, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready. [00:30:06] Speaker A: Here we go. [00:30:09] Speaker C: So the, the idea is not original, but the re. The way it came to me was on a Wednesday night we do, after our life group cycles, we do a worship night. We'll sometimes do a prayer night. We call the prayer nights the hour of power. And I was praying in front of the altar there, and I'm. As I'm praying, I just begin to get emotional because I kind of get this, this vision, this idea of, of what God is getting ready to do with our church. And the big word for me is get the church ready. I'm praying. And I have this vision and I, and I saw this altar, our altar right over there, this altar filled with people hungry for the move of God. I believe we're on the brink of a fresh outpouring. And it was a callback to the times when we called youth to this location, men to this location, women to this location. All the conferences that we've done over the years. It's a callback. God is saying, for a little while, I took you out, I protected you, I hid you. But get ready. I'm getting ready to put you back in the sphere of Influence. This is what I heard the Lord say to me. And for this ministry and for that, we need to get ready where we are right now. We couldn't possibly do what we used to do. We're not that church. No, because we. We. We. We're. We've just lost that muscle to do a lot of the things that we did. My God, it used to be that if you looked at a calendar year of our old church, people would look at that and probably just faint because every month it was a major event, a major thing. It was insane. And I think that, you know, we could have managed it better. We kind of burnt people out and. And things happened, but then God strategically kind of took us down. But, man, if I feel in my bones that those days and even greater are coming again, that there's a river that's flowing from this altar. [00:32:14] Speaker A: Yes. [00:32:15] Speaker C: That is flowing to nourish and feed the people of New England, this is what I feel God's saying to us. This is why we're getting ready. The question that Pastor Axel is asking you is, what is God getting you ready for? [00:32:29] Speaker A: I was. I was in the room for all that. When that happened, that Wednesday prayer night. It was powerful. And we all felt the Holy Spirit just. Just screaming to you, Bishop. [00:32:44] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I was screaming. [00:32:45] Speaker A: I mean, that was just the Holy Spirit just, you know, like the Bible says, he. He gives that. The utterance he gives us that. You know, that. The hunger. And, and that's what we felt. So it was this. This is a powerful message that, that we're going over with you guys, because it's still touching us. It's still doing things in our lives, and, and we believe it could reach you where you are and it could do the same to you. And. And because God is still restoring. He's. He's restoring our. Our reach. He. He's restoring our influence in this region. I think it's. We. We are in a region that. That. That's tough ground. Let's call it like that. It's. It's a tough ground. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's very hard to. To. To see revival on. On. On this ground. But we're believing God. [00:33:38] Speaker C: Yes. [00:33:39] Speaker A: And. And as long as we believe him, that's all He. That's all he needs, and that's all he wants. That if we don't give up and, and we continue to believe, suddenly that's. That. That's what we're looking for. We're looking for that suddenly moment that, that, that, that the disciples had in the upper room and it happened for them and they were patient. Many, many have, have probably left the city, has, have left one socket and, and have gone to better states. I don't know where there's more movement, action and, and, but, but we're believing God. [00:34:16] Speaker B: That's right. [00:34:16] Speaker A: And, and, and, and that's what we're trying to tell you. That if, if you're from the city and you're listening, we're praying for you and we're believing that God is getting ready to do just amazing things on this region and pray for us. [00:34:30] Speaker D: That's funny. So when I was in my previous career, I remember having conversation after conversation with my store leader and he knew all of the things, the lines I wouldn't cross. He knew all of the dreams and desires I had for this region. And so we talk and I'd say, hey, you know, I can't be available for that and I have got church things and I can't be available for that and I've got church things. And he, I said church, but really my mind is on the kingdom. It's kingdom. I'm on a kingdom assignment. Right? And he would always go, man, but you know, why don't you just, why don't you like, move down south to a church that can pay you a boatload of money so you can do it as a job and you can do all. And he just wouldn't understand the fact that it had nothing to do with how much I could get paid to do what God wants me to do. I trust God with that whole part of the process. You know, for me it's more about there's a move of God up here. I am waiting to see and I believe is coming soon. And when it happens, I want to be here when it happens. And I'll say this and this is truly my heart and thank God. I know I'll be a part of it. But there was a worshiper that I followed quite a bit and one of his lines just, just really minister tomorrow. He said, I don't need to cause a move of God to happen. I just want to be in the room when it happens. And I just believe that that's my heart even for this region now. But today, you know, if you're a leader or if you're a new believer, if you're a seasoned believer, it really doesn't matter where you are in your walk of faith. There's more for you. There's a deeper level. There is a Higher level, there's a new dream. And I really want to charge you with this. Take a step forward in faith. Whatever that thing is, whatever that impression God has put into your spirit, into your heart, where you can dream it and see it, but what you're lacking is motion. I want you to take a step. Take a step of faith and trust that God has already ordered your steps, that he's not just living with you where you are, but he's also in the place where you're going. That's the beauty about God, is that when he's the one that's leading us, he actually already exists in the place. He's prepared for you. He's with you, and he's waiting for you to get to him, where he's taking you. And I want you to walk in that kind of faith, knowing God has prepared this for me. It is a promise with my name on it. And I want to get to the place where God is taking me and say, this is what I want you to say to him. I want you to say, yes, Lord, I am getting ready. [00:37:07] Speaker B: That's awesome. And let this be a tangible act of faith. [00:37:10] Speaker D: Faith. [00:37:12] Speaker B: Whether that's kneeling, raising your hands, or simply making a decision in your heart, it's time to get your shoes on, spiritually speaking, and move into the new thing that God has for you. Listen, get ready for a praise like you've never praised before. Get ready of the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon you like never before. If you never felt it like that before, it's going to it. Get yourself ready. Don't miss the moment that God is ready to do. It's going to be amazing. And I always go back. God made a promise to this church, and I remember it. He said, revival's coming. I believe it. And you know what? I'm not going to miss it. I'm going be ready. And that's why I'm on my knees. That's why I praise. The way I praise. That's why I worship God the way I worship God. That's why it doesn't matter what it is I'm going to get here. Because I'm not gonna miss not one moment or a minute of what he's getting ready to do. [00:38:15] Speaker C: So the time, my friends, is now. Now is the time. Remember the word of God that you've heard today. This word is directly for your heart and for your life. Get ready. [00:38:30] Speaker A: Yes. [00:38:31] Speaker C: You don't want to miss it. When God moves the people of Israel, when they were taken out of the out of Egypt and put into the wilderness. There were two things that helped them to move. A cloud and a pillar of fire. [00:38:44] Speaker A: That's right. [00:38:45] Speaker C: Each time that thing moved, they moved. Now, the cloud was comfort, shade from the sun. The fire was heat for the cool night. So they needed both of them, but so much they needed them that when they moved, they needed to move in that burning sun. When that cloud moved, they moved with the cloud because they couldn't live outside of the protection that God's cloud gave them at the night time. That fire was their light. So if the light moved, they had to move. They were depending on the light. My question to you is, are you depending on what God is giving you? Are you okay watching God move away from you and you staying where you are? You stay outside of the cloud and you start to get far from that fire, what's going to happen to you is you're going to die in the wilderness if you don't move. [00:39:40] Speaker D: When God moves, there's a beauty in that, in that. In the last part of that verse that says. And the pillars never move from in front of them. It was always in front of them. It's beautiful to know that all you have to do is follow. He will be in position at all times. God is always in position, ready to lead you. The question is, are you ready to follow? Amen. [00:40:04] Speaker A: God's promises are yes, and amen. God is calling us to move. God is calling us to get ready. He doesn't want you to die in your comfort zone. And that was one of the reasons why he was telling the Israelis to move. [00:40:17] Speaker D: Yep. [00:40:18] Speaker A: Think about it. If you, if, if, if, if we can just go back to that time and there was over a million people that Moses was. Was shepherding. Now think about. There was no, no bathrooms. No, no, no. There was no sewer system the way it is now. So. [00:40:42] Speaker D: And it was. And it was 430 years. They had probably been a generation that didn't even know what freedom felt like. [00:40:47] Speaker A: So they got comfortable. If, if we, if we think about it, God was protecting them from. From other bacteria and other viruses and everything. So God, you know, God was telling, move or you guys are gonna die in your own stuff, in your own stuff. So. So God, when he moves you, it's because you, you. You gotten so comfortable in, in, in your. In, in. [00:41:14] Speaker B: In your mess. [00:41:16] Speaker D: This is where we start to preach. Is this where everybody starts to preach? [00:41:20] Speaker C: I tell you 10 minutes. [00:41:23] Speaker A: When, when you see the hands go up like this, it's because we're about to. But that's what God was, was telling them, move because I don't want you guys to die in your mess. And that's what God is telling this, this generation. That's what God is telling us in this time. We need to continually move because movement brings fresh water of the Spirit. It brings fresh things into our lives and that's how we see the new things of God in us. [00:41:51] Speaker D: Truthfully, the Bible tells us that the Spirit is always moving. He moved all his waters. He's moving in our lives. That that is a sign of where power exists. It exists in movement. And to be honest with you guys, we believe with you that God is about to do something in your. We're not believing that if he's moving for us, he's not moving for you, but that if God is moving here, man, we believe that there's something happening in your life right now. And, and, and as a body, if there's something happening on one end of the body, it's to bless the entire body. And so get ready because God is about to move. And in exchange extraordinary way in your life. [00:42:29] Speaker B: And listen, even in your time, now God wants to do something in your prayer time. You're getting ready. You're getting ready. And we look forward to hearing testimonies on how God moved. When you got ready, when you got ready, God moved and how he moved in your life. [00:42:49] Speaker C: Thank you so much. This is the end, boys. We did. We hit it. We're at the end day of the another episode. [00:42:54] Speaker A: Yes. [00:42:55] Speaker C: Thank you so much for joining us at the Discover Life podcast. Stay alert, stay faithful and keep your heart open because God's about to do a new thing in your life. We just want to tell you, get ready, have your go bag ready because at any moment God is going to do it. [00:43:13] Speaker B: Don't forget to subscribe, like and share. We'll see you on the next one. [00:43:18] Speaker D: Bless you all.