Receiving Divine Strategy

Hi, this is Pastor Daniel Bracken. You're listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. I hope the Word encourages you and you get a touch from God that brings transformation and equips you to experience life with people, power and purpose. Thank you for joining us. Enjoy the word Acts, Chapter nine.

We'll read it in just a little bit.

An introduction. Wars are won or lost based upon strategy. And we are passing out notes. So the first point in the notes right there, you'll see it. Wars.

Wars are won or lost based upon strategy. If you don't have the right strategy. Battles are. Battles are won or lost by strategy. If you don't have the right strategy, you're not going to win.

Well, the same is true in God. You know, we've had these graduates and I've reflected upon a time of intense study and graduation for myself. My wife and I were married. Just a little story before we get into acts, the book of Acts. My wife and I were newly married and we made a deal.

An agreement was your idea. And whatever finances we received as a wedding gift, we were going to take and push into my education so I could fit, finish my degree and get my accreditation and my license to preach. And so we received just about the exact money to go ahead and get the classes. And I got my classes. There's 22 of them.

22 classes, correspondence courses. They didn't have Internet back then.

And I committed to finishing those classes, except I had a very challenging time doing it. I had dysgraphia, dyslexia, and a whole bunch of other excuses for why I couldn't do my education. Even though I was trying, I couldn't get past the first class. And I went up and I got prayer and a whole year goes by. I still didn't.

Didn't even finish one class. I remember at the end of that year making a New Year's resolution, I'm gonna do it this year. Anybody ever made a New Year's resolution, I'm gonna do it this year. Well, a whole nother year goes by. I fought, I battled and failed.

And now in the second year, I'm committed to do it. I make another year's New Year's resolution. This year. I'm going to do it this year. I make an attempt and couldn't really get moving on it.

Began to do life groups. God is raising us up in ministry and I've got to finish my classes. And they're sitting there on a shelf in the kitchen, all 22 of them. And I. I just felt so handicapped and and afraid of just moving forward, I'd start studying. And it was just like my brain just get blocked up.

I just couldn't. Couldn't seem to do it. Well, a series of events took place where I realized if I was going to get it done that year, I had to start right away. I only had 90 days or so to finish in time to get the credentialing and move forward and all of that. So when I realized I only had 90 days, I began to weep because I'd been disobedient again.

Anybody know what I'm talking about? Everybody. Again. I like, again. I. I've blown it.

How could I. It's impossible. In my mind, I'm thinking, I remember coming to the front, just so broken. I had Dr. Morocco laid hands on me. Was actually after a service, I told him I got to do my classes.

I've prolonged it. I'm just. I can't seem to do it. He says, daniel, you could do those in 90 days. I'm like, yeah, you can do them in 90 days.

He's like, you can, too. And I lifted my hands. He stepped back, laid hands on my head. The power of God hit me. I saw like a bright light.

Just a light shined. I don't know how to describe that other than saying what I said. I found myself on my back. And while I was on the floor, I had this picture of me worshiping God in my kitchen. And the power God coming on me and looking over at all these 22 classes and seeing one of them light up.

I went over in my vision that I was having. I pulled the class off the shelf, I sat down, and I finished all of my 22 classes. Miraculously, in this vision, that same way I'd worship God's power. I'd look, I'd pull a book, and I'd move forward. Well, that Monday, I walk into my kitchen.

I had all the classes lined up. He gave me a strategy. I felt completely inept. I felt, like, totally inadequate to be able to do the job. So I got my little CD player.

Anybody remember those? It's not. It's. It's a. Okay.

Had a CD player. I put the CD player on, and I put on some of my favorite music from Morningstar Ministries, as I recall. And I worshiped and worshiped and worshiped. And then the whole atmosphere shifted. And the power of God, what I would say, a measure of the glory of God, came on me in my kitchen.

Was on on Monday, after my 10 hours of construction. It's a laborer and a worker painter. Glory of God. A measure of his glory came on me. I looked at the classes, and exactly like in my vision, I saw one of those classes just light up.

I went over, I pulled the book. It was the Life of Christ. I sat down and the clock spun. It was one something in the morning, 1:32 in the morning. And I had gotten to the midterm, took the midterm test and got a straight A.

And I got up, I was weeping, going, oh, God, I just got to do this every day. And I'll get them done. And do you know what happened? That's exactly what happened. And in 90 days, I finished 22 college classes by an act and a miracle of God.

I never want to do it again. However. However, it's a strategy. God will give you strategy. Throughout the Scriptures, you'll see God gives strategy.

He gives strategy. He gives vision, and then he gives a strategy on how to fulfill it. He gives a vision and his to his people, and then a strategy on how to fulfill it. Come on, how do you have a vision for your life? All right?

You need to have vision or you have a tendency to drop out of life. We have an incredible vision here. Currently, in the next four and a half years, we'll see 2,300 extensions. 2,300 congregations. We only have 900 down.

We're going to reach 2300. You said. Well, we didn't reach the last one. Yeah, but we came close.

Acts, chapter nine. Would you stand with me, please?

Acts, chapter 9 and verse 10. Let's read the first text. Now, there's a certain disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And to him the Lord said in the vision, ananias. And he said, here I am, Lord.

So the Lord said to him, arise and go to street called Straight and inquire the house of Judas, one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he's praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight. And Ananias answered, the Lord said, lord, I Lord, I've heard many from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority, the chief priest, to bind all who call on your name.

But the Lord said to him, go, for he's a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. And then Ananias went his way, entered the house, laying his hands on him, said, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And be what? And be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales. And he received his sight at once. And he arose and was baptized. Father, thank you for your word. A lamp into a feed.

Light upon our path. We give you glory. We give you honor and praise for what you've done in the first service and what you'll do now in the second. In Jesus name, Amen. Turn to your neighbor and say, he's given me strategy today.

Come on. Turn to your other neighbor and says, he's going to. He's going to teach me how to receive divine strategy.

So it's. It's amazing that God will quicken you to receive his strategy. That's what happened to Ananias. That's what happened to Paul. And we'll look at that in a little in depth here in a moment.

My wife and I are in a brand new season. Our children are. Have gone. Daniel soon to be married in January. We've got one grandchild, one on the way.

And we find ourselves at home all by ourselves. It's glorious. It's a brand new season. Hallelujah. And there's a strategy.

There's a new strategy for a new season for the Bracken home. There's a new strategy and a new season for the church. And God wants to give you a strategy for your life so you can fulfill the vision. Without a vision from God and a strategy to fulfill it. Then you're going to hear, well, what happened instead of well done.

How good and faithful servant. And what's amazing to me, I'm writing your notes. What's amazing? The amazing thing is we serve a God who speaks and gives his strategy. He did it to Moses.

Just take the stick, Moses. Raise the stick above your hand. What? Do what with the rod, the shepherd's rod. Do what with it?

I mean, it makes no sense. Many times a strategy from God is contrary to logic. Gideon, think about that. Your army's too big now, Lord. How.

How is it possible that my army's too big when we're facing like innumerable. And you want me to go with 300? Yes, 300. Send everybody home. Just 300.

It's a strategy. Or you think about Jehoshaphat. Just send the choir.

No, no, Lord. What? Yeah. Believe the prophets and prosper. Send the worship team and send the Levites worshiping in.

And. And they do that. And God sends what the King James says. Ambushments. They all kill each other.

It's crazy. I know. The things of God are many times painful to the logical mind. Reason. Yet we're not supposed to throw away our reason and our logic, but we are supposed to get a strategy from God.

And you look in the Book of Acts, which we're going to look at, and you see this very unique strategy. The text we read, Jesus had revealed himself to Saul. And I will say, Jesus reveals himself to Saul. How many of you know he got born again when Jesus revealed himself to him. Now he's passionate.

He was a persecutor of the church. He believed in the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He believed, but he didn't have the full revelation until Jesus appears to him and says, saul, Saul, you're persecuting me. Who you persecute, I'm Jesus. Oh.

All of a sudden he realizes, can you imagine? I can imagine the apostle Paul, the learned apostle Paul, who's called the Saul here. One preacher said he got hit so hard by God that God knocked the S off and put a P on. His name became Paul. Paul is his Greek name.

But I imagine being so learned. A disciple that sat at the feet of Gabilio Camille. It's another pronunciation on that. One of the greatest, one of the greatest scholars. He sat at his feet.

He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. Can you imagine? Jesus appears to him and all of a sudden he realizes it's Yeshua, he's the Messiah, Isaiah 53, and all the scriptures coming together. Oh, you better believe. He said, oh, God, I believe.

And he got born again. But now he's blind and he goes back to. To. He goes to the city and God speaks to this Ananias. Jesus appears to Ananias and tells him to go to Saul and bring healing to him.

And not only bring healing to him, but for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, if you were filled with the Holy Spirit from salvation, then why. What is this about? I believe he got the baptism of the Holy Spirit Ghost and began to pray in tongues. And I. I can prove that and have it other times.

But he received Jesus while he was on the. On the road to Damascus. Now he's blind for three days. He has a vision. Paul has a vision and Ananias has a vision.

Paul knows that there's a. A purpose for his life. God reveals his purpose for Saul, write in your notes. God reveals his purpose for Saul. He sends Ananias as a strategy to move Saul into the plan that God has for him.

Go to Acts, chapter 10, verse 1. There was a certain man. Are you ready, new king James? There was a certain man of Cesarea called Cornelius, a centurion who was called the Italian regiment. A devout man and one who feared God with his whole household, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed always to.

Prayed to God always. Verse 3, Acts 10, verse 3. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, cornelius. And when he observed him, he was afraid. And he said, what is it, Lord?

And he said to him, your prayers in your alms have come up as a memorial before God. Would you say that with me? Your prayers and your alms have come come up as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa and send for Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.

And he will tell you what you must do. He gives him a strategy. First of all, it's. It's really amazing. This Cornelius is Gentile.

Genders Jews and Gentiles. There's Jews and then everybody else is Gentiles. So he's a Gentile believer. He believes in God. He.

He gives, he prays. He's a devout man, but he doesn't have the way of salvation. He's. He doesn't have it all together, but he's God fearing. He's a God fearing Gentile.

In fact, it says that his giving and his prayers and his alms have come up. Arms are giving. Alms are not letting your right hand know what your left hand is doing. He gave to people. It was a blessing.

Come up as a memorial. Everybody say, memorial. Memorial. I have outside the front door of my house a rock. And on that rock it says, as for me and my house will serve the Lord.

That rock I picked up actual fact. My mother, who's on the front row, soon to be 88, picked up a rock out of the front yard of her house in Hana after a flash flood that almost washed the whole town out to the ocean. Picked up the rock and wrote on it the scripture from Joshua. She had it in front of her house. And then when she went off to revival at Brownsville, she gave us.

She gave me the rock. It has been by the front of my house ever since. I see it every day that I walk in to my home or when I Leave. And it's not every day that I notice it. It's one of those things.

But I noticed it just the other day. As for me and my house will serve the Lord. And I remember, oh, that flash flood, who we could have died. Oh, he saved us. I serve you.

It's a memorial. It's a little rock outside my house. If you go to the Washington D.C. you see the Washington Memorial. Anybody ever seen the Washington Memorial? Abraham Lincoln is memorialized there, the Great Emancipator.

You go there, there's scripture emblazoned over the entire thing. I mean, it's scripture everywhere, all over that. And I think about Abraham Lincoln, who went to office, he went to Washington not as a believer. He was not born again. But a pastor in the New York Presbyterian Church felt impressed to witness to him.

And he got born again, he got saved, and he became the Great emancipator. And that memorial memorializes the Civil War and our great president, Abraham Lincoln, who stood for righteousness and it's scriptures and blaze it there. It's just absolutely amazing. It remembers what took place. So here, the centurion from the Italian regiment, a devout man, his giving, his prayer came up before God.

So much so that they said, let's do something there. I'm going to tell you, your prayers are powerful, your giving's powerful, your devotion is powerful.

Cornelius. A Roman army officer has a vision, and an angel tells him to go get Peter. I love how it says, don't be afraid. If an angel ever visits you, you're going to be afraid.

And if you're not, there's something wrong. And if it receives your worship, it's not an angel. It's a demon.

God prepares Peter's heart because he had an experience. While he's praying, you can go and read the text. And a sheet is let down. And God threw this sheet with all these unclean animals. For a Jew, theologically unclean.

God breaks his theology so that he could be prepared to be as a vessel to bring healing and to bring the outpouring of the Spirit to a gentile home. He could not go into a gentile home until he had this encounter. The sheets let down, and there's. There's Black Eyed Peace and ham hocks. Come on.

Bacon and eggs, Spam. I mean, it's just filled with all. Come on. My name, next door neighbor has two pigs. One is named Pork and the other one's chop.

As a Jew, you can't eat pork chops, okay? Unless God removes the dietary restrictions he Breaks his theology to bring them into an outpouring. It's a new strategy that God had. Wow. So he goes and he goes to the Gentiles and God pours out his spirit on the Gentiles as he did in Acts chapter 2 and X where there's 120 disciples of Jesus.

It's a strategy. Go to Acts, chapter 13.

Acts 13, verse 2. Are you ready? As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, now separate to me, Barnabas and Saul for the work of which I have called them. And having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and they sent them away. Churches started in Antioch that reached out to Gentiles.

It's the first Gentile church is the church in Antioch. It was a multicultural church. A revival broke out with Jews and Gentiles. It's both all in one church place.

First multicultural missionary church in Barnabas goes to get Saul. Acts 11. You can read Acts 11, verse 25. Barnabas departed from. For Tarsus to seek Saul.

Now you've got to catch this. Barnabas goes and gets Saul to come help for the work of God in Antioch. In other words, God's pouring out his spirit so profoundly that they need help. So they, they, they bring a recruit. He's like, there's this guy, I heard about him, his name's Saul.

And they go, he goes to Tarsus to get Saul. Do you know how many years it is since he got his prophetic word and the scales were lifted from his eyes and he was filled with the Holy Ghost. 14. So he gets a prophetic word from God that I'm going to use you. You're going to be my chosen vessel, Ananias.

All that baptism, the Holy Ghost, he goes back to Tarsus 14 years. Now that's astounding because most people, they get born again within six months that think they should be the next bishop over the entire denomination or something. God's prophetic word over you and the fulfillment are two separate things. There's a strategy. I just have a feeling that God was working some things out in Saul.

I think for 14 years as he was a life group leader, as a tent maker, I think he was serving, I think he was praying, I think he was giving, I think he was being discipled, he was being used by God. But then the call comes 14 years after. Wow. And then what happens? The Holy Spirit calls him to go around and establish churches throughout Galatia.

And it's, it's truly amazing. It's a strategy. Lift your hand to heaven and say, God, I need your strategy. Come on, say it again. Say, God, I need your strategy.

God's calling and timing for fulfillment are two separate issues, which I just said in a series on David. David had to wait. Moses had to wait. Backside of the desert goes a Midian. He's being groomed, he's being trained.

Then the burning bush. There's a strategy. His promises are instant, but fulfillment not so instant. Ask Joseph when you get to heaven. Joseph was at these dreams of the sheaves bowing before him and them all coming to him.

And he has the dreams of the stars bowing before him. And he tells his dream to his family, who don't think it's too cute. They don't like him yet. Then he goes into sold. Goes into a pit, which means prophet in training.

Then he's sold into slavery. Then he's auctioned off, and Potiphar becomes his boss. But God was with him, and he's promoted everywhere he goes. Everything, everything was a grooming. I don't like the preparation process, but we all need to be prepared.

You're. Come on, bump your neighbor and say, brother, you're in preparation. Yeah, you're in. You're being prepared.

God, are you ever going to bring about my. The plan that you have for me? I wonder if Saul ever said that. It's 14. God is 14 years.

I'm here. I'm making. Thanks. I love you. What about the chosen chosen vessel, Lord?

Do you remember the chosen vessel? I'm here. Your chosen vessel. 14 years. Whoa.

Ministering to the Lord. All right. Acts 16, verse 9. You all there? Acts 16, 9 on the screen now.

And in a vision. And a vision appeared to Paul. He's now Paul. Paul is his Greek name. In the night, a man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, come over to Macedonia and help us.

Now, after he had seen the vision, he immediately we sought to go to Macedonia. And concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them, he wanted to go. He wanted to go to Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit would not allow him. The Holy Spirit would not allow Paul and his companions to go to Bithy and Asia. And you wonder, well, why is that?

Because he does end up there. But the timing was wrong. Right thing, wrong time. It's the wrong thing. The timing was wrong.

And if you read First Peter, chapter one, Peter is there, and he writes to those who are in Bithynia, because Peter is in Bithynia. At the exact same time, Paul is praying about going there. And without email without text, tick tock or any other platform. The Holy Spirit speaks. And Paul doesn't build on another man's foundation.

There's a pause there. So he's praying and he's asking and he's in troas. And he has this vision of this Macedonian man. And Paul concludes from that. And Paul goes with his companions to Macedonia.

And that whole pattern, this direction establishes a Paul's ministry for the rest of his life. And in preaching in the first service, I was reminded of this and I will share it again on my mother's side of the family, the McCall family, MC capital A L L. They're. They're preachers and ministers and worship leaders and one particular pastor, and I've forgotten the dates. Mom, I'm so sorry. Was pastoring in England.

He was in his 60s and the church sent him on a vacation. He went on holiday to Paris and when he was in Paris with his wife, they were there and they had an experience with one of the blue collar workers who begged them, please come and help us. We have no one. We have no one to teach us about the kingdom. We have no one.

They were witnessing.

We have no one to teach us. They went back to England to their church and they were absolutely riveted by this blue collar worker kept coming to them and he writes in his journals. It was like a Macedonian man. They resigned their church and gave it over to another. They then became missionaries to Paris, moved to Paris and God gave them a strategy to use the canals around Paris and in France to plant 173 churches all through Paris and France.

And there was called the McCall Mission Society. It's still in existence today except for the fact it's become a social gospel. I want to tell you that I'm believing that God is going to open up Paris and France to us. I'm believing. Come on, you missed a great place to say Amen.

I'm believing that God's going to open up Paris in France. It was a strategy. Use these boats, these canal boats go to these towns, stop off, use storefronts that were empty and start churches. And that's exactly what they did. 173 churches.

Paris and France needs another move of God. Can you say, Ben, God is speaking to us this morning. I mean he's a master strategist. Really he is in review. He.

He calls Saul, who's later Paul, and he uses him to reach the Gentiles. Acts 9 and 10. He sends Peter, who had an encounter with the sheets. He can now have pork Chops and he goes to the Gentile home and the Gentiles are filled with the Holy Spirit. Gentile churches started the Antioch.

I mean, just totally different than you would normally think that maybe the church should move forward. God has these strategies. And I, I should say also that Paul with his companions goes to Macedonia and there's. There's this woman there and her name is Lydia. In fact, let me, let me say that in Philippi, it's a Roman city and there's no synagogue.

Now that was his tradition. He'd go to the synagogue and he'd find some Jews and he'd talk to them and teach them about Jesus as a messiah. But there's no synagogue. And because there's no synagogue, scholars say that there's less than 10 Jewish men in that city. So it's a Gentile Roman city.

Because whether it's 10 Jewish men, you could have a synagogue. So it says that Paul goes to the river and he finds some people praying. And it is said that Jews would go by bodies of water and by the sides of river, by the river of Babylon, Goes to the river and he finds this lady Lydia. She's a businesswoman, she's a seller. Any businesswomen here?

She's a businesswoman, a seller of purple, which is very rare. She's a prosperous Jewish businesswoman there. And she becomes the first believer in that. That town. And she says, if you believe me to be a believer, come back to my house.

She persuades them and they go and the church has started in Macedonia, which becomes the most giving, supporting, praying church for the Apostle Paul that supports him later on in his ministry and through his journeys. Instead of going into Asia, which is Turkey, it's not Asia as we know it now. Meets Priscilla and Aquila and gets an apostolic team, gets a team of leaders, eventually is able to hit Ephesus. Which is the greatest New Testament revival is in the city of Ephesus, for which the book of Ephesians is written to. And it never would have happened without his team.

And the support wouldn't have taken place had God not directed him where he said no. You know, God's no is a strategy.

All right. God is speaking to us. By the way, the churches of Ephesus are the churches that are written to. John becomes the bishop over the churches of, of Revelation or the churches of Ephesus. They're one and the same.

That's why John the Revelator receives the. These letters to the churches there and he sends it off because he's over them even after his boiled in oil on the island of Patmos. Tie things all together for you. God speaking to us. God has a vision and a strategy for us.

Come on, say that. God has a vision and a strategy for us. He knows us. He has a purpose for us. And in his time, he will bring about fulfillment.

Now, why did you put that? Because I know some of you too. I know me. What's amazing is that God would choose you. God would choose me.

God would choose us. I know us. We're. We're frail in many ways. We don't have it all together.

Raise your hand if you have it all together. Okay, you don't. That's pride. You're in sin. We're all.

We all need help. And God chooses the likes of us. He takes the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Well, I'm not smart enough. Nobody is.

I was with Headmaster Susie this past week and the person that's helping us with accounting, we were going over the accounts, which is just amazing. The school is so blessed. We're believing for next steps. And as she was going through the accounting, I'm just looking at her like, man, accounting to me is like a superpower. Does anybody know what I'm talking about?

I do not know how they're able to, like all those columns and all that, all organized and all that, and tax law and on and on and on and put it all together and just make this incredible report. I'm just like. That's like a superpower to me. Why is that? Because I'm good at addition, kind of pretty much division.

I do pretty good at.

I got into like, calculus. I beg to get out of the class. It's like a superpower number. How many of you good at math? Okay, some people good at math, some people good at English.

It takes a whole. A whole body. A whole church. Administrators and pastors and preachers and those serving from all different walks of life. That is how this has happened here.

Come on, look around. Red and yellow, black and white. They're all precious in his sight.

Get some educated, some under and uneducated. God use all of. He uses all of us. And it is astounding that God would choose us to be a part of this vision. God's given us a vision and a strategy.

He knows us. He knows our rising up. He knows our setting down. And yet he's chosen us to fulfill it. Wow.

Lord. Amazing. Another thing I see here is that not only does as he chosen us, even though we Feel weak and inadequate at times. Oh, I gotta. I gotta harp on that just a minute longer.

Reinhardt Bunkey, how many heard of him? He's like the Billy Graham of Europe and Africa. He's gone to be with the Lord now. While he was helping to do a large crusade, hundreds of thousands of people in Africa. And the big powerful guest speaker, the evangelist, was coming to do it.

And it was a night before, and the evangelist said, I'm leaving. It's. It's on you. You do the. You do the crusade.

I've got to go. He's like, what are you talking about? You're going to do it. You preach your crusade. I've got to go.

The Lord told me to go. Can you imagine? Can you imagine just being like, you know, the little guy that. That supported, and now you're the guy in front of hundreds of thousands of people. So he was in anguish.

I mean, he prayed and he prayed and he prayed, and he got a word from the Lord. And you can read in his book of this biography, it's Life of Fire. It's absolutely amazing. I don't know if he was on the platform or it was at some point God spoke to him and said, my word in your mouth is the same as my word and my mouth. Go preach.

And he went out and preached, and that started his crusades all over. No one has reached more people individually like that than Reinhardt. Bunkie. They had 3 and 4 million people in some of these crusades at one time. I had the privilege of meeting with them.

And he just talked about how God just uses simple things, simple people that will just say yes. He said, the curvature of the earth. You lost the people through the curvature of the earth. Four million people. You can see some of those on YouTube.

Wow. We're at war. Come on, someone say, we're at war. And there's a great battle on for vision. We're at war.

You can read Ephesians. We're at war. We're a war. It's between good and evil. And we're here to enforce God's plan.

We're at war. And we desperately need God's strategy. We desperately need God's strategy. I can't help but think in my own life back to that story I told you about my education, how it was just a little thing, but that put something in me, that if God could help me finish 22 classes in 90 days, which a person who's highly intelligent and great scholarly skills could do, but somebody who's, you know, dyslexic and dysgraphy and whatever excuse I want to use. How's he going to do it?

By the power of the Holy Spirit. God can touch you. God can anoint you. And it did something in me. It did something in my wife.

I remember just sitting back going, it's like a miracle. It was a total miracle. God can anoint you to bring forth his plan. In this war, there is a strategy. We desperately need God's strategy.

And if you look around, you've seen that God's strategy has been used here at Kings. God gives vision for us and strategies to bring about his fulfillment. But we must position ourselves to receive them. Must position ourselves to receive them. Well, how do you do that?

You'd be like Cornelius. He's devoted. Are you devoted? If you want a strategy, it doesn't come to your. To a slacking, half hearted servant of the Lord.

That's not how that comes. It comes through being like them. Be devoted. Cornelius is devoted. He was, he was a giver.

He was a man who prayed. You want strategy? You're gonna be. Have to be devoted. You, You've got a hunger and thirsty.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They shall be filled. You said, well, Pastor, I'm not all that hungry. Okay, well, ask God to make you hungry. Ask God to give you a strategy.

Be devoted. Be a giver. Be a man who, A man who prayed. Or be like Ananias, who willingly obeyed God even though he was afraid. I've had moments of fear that have gripped me, gripped me.

And the building of this building was not all that great, but to me, it was a pretty major miracle. And we're still in the midst of it. And there'll be greater things we do going on into the future. But in the building of this building, we had no money to do it. We had bankers that laughed at us.

We had all kinds of situations that happened. And as I told my staff last Friday, we have a time of mentoring. I was standing on the corner, on that far corner. It. We had done the, the, the, the groundwork.

The building was staked out. And I'm standing with our contractor. And he says, do you see the end of the building? I'm like, yeah. He says, no, you're looking at the lobby.

You're looking. I can see where you're looking further. I thought I saw the stake way off. I knew some of the obstacles in the natural. And fear just came on me like a trench coat.

He says, you see it? I said, yeah, I see It. He said, it's big. I said, I know. Amen.

Praise God. Big glory to God. He said, okay, hey, I gotta go. I'm like, great. Praise the Lord.

Thank you, Jesus. I walked away. What have I done? Oh, my God. I walked away, just going, you've lost your mind.

Oh, Lord. Oh, Jesus. I walked around praying and praying in the Spirit, and then I'm just. I'm. I don't like yielding to fear.

I don't like it. I hate it. Because I understand that. Come on, faith. Say this.

Faith. Faith receives every. Faith receives everything. Fear gets nothing. And so I know that.

Say it again. Faith receives. Faith receives everything. Fear gets Nava. Nothing.

So I walked off.

I was right around in this area, actually, except there was no building. And I just started saying, God, you called us to do it. Lord, it's you. Oh, God. Golden oil of Zachariah is going to flow.

Oh, I just started speaking faith. You can be afraid at times. Think about the price that Ananias had to pay. He's going to go and minister to a terrorist, the Christian killer. Excuse me, Lord.

Did you say that correctly, Saul? I've heard about him. Yes, he said it correctly.

Seek God's vision. Come on, everybody, say, seek God. Seek God's vision and strategy like Paul did. So the Holy Spirit says, no. Then what is the Holy Spirit saying?

I don't know. So what did he do? He prays. And when he prays, boom. He has a vision of a Macedonian man.

Be open to receiving fresh vision and strategy. Be open to receiving fresh vision and strategy. We're. We're applying this text now to us. And there's a number of ways here how you receive fresh vision and strategy.

God gives vision. That's wonderful. He gives a strategy to fulfill it. The first one in your notes, God's written word.

God has a strategy for your life. There's. Read it many times. I've been reading the Word, and then God would just immediately speak to me. I think you should read the Word every day until something jumps off and really touches your heart.

It's called the rhema word. Just like you would get fresh manna every day. Get fresh manna from God every day. Read. Somebody said, well, I read seven chapters a day.

I can appreciate that. I think that's great. It's good discipline when you're reading it, make sure that God's speaking to you through that. God wants to speak to you every day through His Word. So if you never read it, oh, my.

He wants to visit you in the quiet. Time that doesn't necessarily have to be quiet. He wants to visit you in the quiet time you're not having. If you get in the word, it'll deeply affect your life. And right out of the word.

We've had strategy for our. Our marriage, Pastor Karen, for our children. Right out of the word, God can give you revelation. Moving on. Number two.

God can give you revelation. Dreams, visions. Pastor Karen had a. Is one who gets dreams and visions, and I'm so grateful for that. She had a. I think it was a dream that we had this snowstorm and wind, and we needed to go get a generator.

She wakes up and says, we're gonna have a big snowstorm. I'm like, big snow and wind. It's gonna be bad. We need a generator. I'm like, okay, well, I didn't go out and get a generator.

So a little bit more time goes by, maybe two, three weeks. Three weeks. She wakes up and she says, the gen. We need a generator. Daniel need generator. I had a dream.

I'm telling you, we need generator. I'm like, okay. Couple days, generator. I'm like, okay. And we went and we got one, and then we got slammed.

And that thing. Man, I remember turning that thing all my fridge and my freezer. We were a few days without power. Power. And thank God for a generator.

It's very simple. That's how it works. God speaks to you. Trust and obey. He speaks to you.

Obey. Obey. God can give you revelation. That was a revelation. I can tell you on and on, different stories that have happened that have saved this building project, that have saved the church over and over, some through fasting, prayer, dreams, on and on and on.

God will give you a strategy. God will give you a strategy. Be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. In John, chapter 16, verse 13, it says, when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you. That word guide is very powerful.

The Holy Spirit will guide you. He will guide you. Too many stories to tell of how we were in the right place at the right time. Stories and testimonies I've heard from so many other people. He guides us.

Come on, lift a hand to heaven and say, oh, God, guide me. Yeah, let him guide you. He guides us. Lord, is this what you want me to do? Will God confirm it?

Show me. I don't do anything. We don't do anything without peace. I make no decisions, big or small, without peace. If we don't have peace, we're not doing it, period.

It's one of the main ways that God guides us. Never made a mistake on large decisions when we fasted and prayed. Notice when we fasted and prayed. I've made a lot of mistakes when I didn't fast and pray, but when we fasted and prayed, never made a mistake that I know of. God will guide you.

He will guide you. Be open to counsel. Be open to counsel and be in agreement. Oh, my.

You know, if you're going to come and get counsel from me or from some of my staff or go to some of our counseling, the bridge, we have a whole counseling department. Be open to listening to what we say. You're just going to get biblical counsel. I'm not going to give you my opinion. I'm going to give you biblical groundings.

And I don't do most of the counseling anymore. It's not really my primary gift. I counsel our leaders, those who need it. My staff and I do believe that God gives a spirit of wisdom and revelation. I ask God for it, and it seems that he does, and I'm thankful.

But be open to listening to counsel. Why would you get counsel from your uncle who smokes two packs of. Of cigarettes a day and drinks a fifth of Jack Daniels? And you're going to get counsel from somebody who has no victory, does not know. I'm going over here.

Doesn't know the Lord.

Why, why, why are you. Why are you. Why are you reading astrology charts? You go and read your horoscope. I mean, horoscope would be an indication of horror.

Don't go read your horoscope. I have friends of mine that flow in tremendous prophetic insight. I will call them. I'm like, you got a word from the Lord for me? And they'll always say, we do the same thing to each other.

Call me, hey, you have a word of Lord for me. And I'll say, yeah, I'll pray in the spirit, and I'll give them whatever the Lord's given me. I'll call them. I say, you got a word from the Lord? They'll say, yeah, and they listen.

You can, you can get a word from the Lord yourself by opening your Bible. But there's counsel, wisdom and counsel, and be in agreement.

Be in agreement. My wife and I don't do anything out of agreement.

It says in Psalm 133 how good and pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity. For it's there that God commands his blessing. The blessing of God is commanded over believers when they walk in unity. If you don't have unity, you don't have an agreement. There's a problem, so you better hurry up and get it.

And I, I have a policy here in Kings. We do not have us with no strife here. No strife. We're going to be in agreement. There's going to be agreement.

We have to be. We might argue in the back room, we might, we might hammer things out and discuss things. But in the end, we're going to be in agreement. We're going to move forward.

God can lead through circumstances. Maybe some of you experienced this where you're, you're living your life and you're praying about which way to go and all of a sudden doors just start closing. I mean, doors closed. Doors closed. Doors closed.

I've known people that have very high power jobs. They thought they'd be there the rest of the life and God's been speaking to them about doing something else. And then all of a sudden they get fired like that. All of a sudden there's cuts and they find themselves without a job and they can't find a job. And all of a sudden doors close everywhere.

But one door opens that moves them forward even to their dream. God can lead through circumstances. He can lead us without us knowing it.

He can lead us without us knowing it.

I was in my late 20s. I had received Jesus. I was on fire. I was walking through a lot of challenging loss and I didn't have a car. Mid to late 20s, didn't have a car.

I was living in my mother's house. Thanks, Mom.

I had a job riding a bike. Rode a bike as a tour guide. I remember riding that bike. And I got up there. One was just down a volcano without telling you the whole thing.

I remember getting up there and I've just realized you're a loser. You are in your. I mean, you are a loser. You're riding a bike. You have no car, you live in your mother's house.

You failed at this. You failed at this. You failed at this. You failed at this. I mean, just how many of you know the devil's a mean, ugly.

You're dumb. You're. You're dumb in there in a box of rocks. Oh, yeah, the Lord loves you, but you a loser. Loser.

And I'm just sitting there overwhelmed. You lost this. I was divorced. Kids, two kids that don't talk to me still to this day. But that'll come to pass in Jesus name.

If you're listening right now, we'd love to welcome you into our family here.

All this, all this evidence of being a loser. So I'm on my bike. I'm riding my bike and I start crying. And I'm leading this tour down a volcano. I'm crying and I start from just sort of sniffling and feeling sorry for myself to full blast.

Anybody know what I'm talking about? Like snot, you know, weeping, crying. I can't hardly see. I'm bawling and I'd, like, get a hold of myself and look back. There it is.

Great. Then I go back and as I'm on my bike, I'm interrupted by this bird.

And it. I just. It doesn't go away. And I'm like, what is going on? And I Look, I'm going 15 to 20 miles an hour.

I look, I'm like, where is this? And I see this bird. It's literally 15ft away and it's flying right next to me and it's singing this song. I'm like, what's going on? I've done that tour hundred times.

That's never happened. This bird is singing next to me, flying next to me. I'm thinking, Lord. And it's like the spirit of God comes on me and say what you want, but I've got biblical precedent for it. God spoke through a donkey to a rebellious false prophet.

My heart was right, except I was feeling sad for myself. And this bird sang the song of the Lord to me. And he began to tell me how much he loved me and how God was working it all out and his plan was going to take place and to don't be weary. And it's going to be. Going to be all right.

And all of this depression and heaviness and sorrow and the loser, the loser came off of me. And all of a sudden I realized, yeah, God's with me. Come on. God will give you a strategy. I'm not riding a bike anymore, living in my mother's house.

And if you are, it's okay. I said it's okay. God can raise you up. I don't care how much you've failed or what you've done. God can take your life and change you.

Oh, you might be deep in debt up and over your head. You might be in a place where you just don't know how to make it through. But if you'll trust in God and lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge him. He will make your path straight. And he will raise you up.

He'll raise you up. He'll give you vision and he'll give you a strategy how to fulfill it. Come on, lift your Hands to Jesus.

Release, living, understanding. Right now. I break hopelessness off of people. I didn't sense that in the first service. I sense it today, right now.

I break that off of you. It's a lie. You are not a loser. God doesn't make junk. The enemy tries to get you to believe that so that you.

If you believe it, then you'll live it. And the way that you think is what you will is the way that you will live. And if you think of yourself a loser, then you, you are acting like one. But that's not God's plan. I'm a winner.

I'm a champion. Oh, I'm the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

You need a vision and you need a strategy. Our current strategy to fulfill the vision of Kings.

Current strategy. This is it. The first thing is services. We will continue to have services. And as we grow and our growth exceeds the amount of parking and that exceeds the amount of seats, we'll add services.

You're going to add a service? Not yet. When. When we need to get to 80% of our capacity, then you add a service. That's how you do that.

Because after 80%, it's uncomfortable. You can't find parking. Just a show of hands for my, my own leadership and instruction of the church. Were you able to find parking this morning? Is that relatively easy?

Raise your hand if you had a problem. If you had a problem. Come on, be real so I can fix it. All right, so parking is decent right now. We've adjusted it.

Some people, couple people raising their hand. So you got to come early. Of course we come in late. Okay. Pastor Karen told me to say that.

We've got some challenges with parking. We're going to have services. We will never just be online. We're going to be online also. Welcome India.

Welcome to Philippines. Welcome. All around the world, we're going to have services. Powerful, spirit filled preaching from God's word, flowing in the gifts of the spirit. Every service is different.

You know, I realize some people, Pastor Tim, people don't even know that on Sunday night. I've had so many people say this to me last week. Oh, so Sunday night's the same message? No, no. This message and the first service are totally different.

Different stories. I can't help myself. Sunday night is a totally different message than Sunday morning. Sunday. Sunday night is fire.

How about Wednesday? Wednesday is a totally different message, totally different service. So we're going to continue to do that. That's part of the strategy. We will not stop.

Come on, somebody say Ben, if readout blows and you can't drive, I will be here. I'm having service no matter what happens. Trying under Clovis or whatever they're going to try to do. Ain't strapping another mask on me as long as I live. Can I get an amen from Nate and his lovely wife?

Let's move on. King's Christian School King's Christian School and the King School of Ministry. It is vital to what we're doing. That school has won national awards. It's in its second year and we won the the national competition for reading.

Maybe you didn't hear that. The school is in its second year and we won the national competition for reading nationwide. I mean, how does that happen? How does that happen? And then, and then we won this, this award for the Christmas ornaments and all the King's Christians Christian School Alaska students made ornaments and it hung at the White House.

The, the tree. I mean even if it is a pagan symbol, it's still awesome. Come on, somebody say amen. It's also a Christian symbol. We don't worship the tree.

We worship the King who hung on one picture of resurrection evergreen. Anyway, gifts underneath the tree. Greatest gift is Jesus. King School of Ministry of graduation Tonight we hope that you participate. I'll be preaching and we'll have a commencement service for all of our graduates.

It's vital to seeing people released into marketplace as well as in the church. We the only reason we're not planting more churches. You want to know why? We need more leaders and that King School of Ministry and the King's Christian School is raising up kids and people, adults alike that can rightly divide the word. I'm so grateful for the King's Christian School.

April, thank you for coming. Thank you to headmaster Susie and Mr. Sarah, the whole team, all of our teachers. We're adding staff. We'll be up in over 200 students in Jesus name. And I'd suggest if you're going to put your kids in, you better hurry up and do it because otherwise it's going to be a waiting list.

And we're praying about what to do because we've outgrown this building. We'll be here one more year and we'll see what happens after that. Would you pray for that? Groups and teams, life groups. Roy Stock still from Louisiana said as I was in a service with him, he was in his late 90s and he said this.

The best way to be discipled is in a small group. That's a Louisiana accent, I think. Do I Have that right. It's like shaking his head. Whatever.

It was close without the accent. The best way to be disciples in a small group, because you can't. This is not the venue for asking questions. Small groups, people grow better in. In homogeneous groups.

Homogeneous, homogeneous groups. That's men with men, women with women.

I was in Hawaii, of course, years ago. We moved to a homogeneous group system, men and women. And as one brother raises his hand, say, pastor, I'm no homo and I'm no genius. I don't even know what that means.

Some of you are going to not remember anything else I've said, but that we're going to keep having groups. We're going. We've got teams. Worship team. Thank you.

You can be a part of the worship team. You go through Discover track. It's the first step. And then from there you begin to find your place to be able to serve leaders. We've got to raise up leaders.

If we have more pastors and more leaders that get raised up, then we plant more churches. That's as simple as that. Where are they going to come from? I was sitting and I was sitting third, fourth row back all those years ago. I was a life group leader.

I got raised up. I know when they picked me, I thought, are you sure? They're like, oh, yeah. I'm like, wow, here I stand. God can use you.

We're going to push to open churches.

That is who we are. We're church planting, apostolic. Church planting group. Do you get something from God today? Come on.

God's got a strategy for the church. He has a strategy for you. Stand up on your feet all across this place. If you need strategy, lift your hands. And by the way, everyone does.

We need that strategy from heaven. Father, I pray, Release strategy through counsel, circumstance, through the Word, prophetically guide us, Holy Spirit, Spirit of truth, guide us. Direct us. Show us. May there be Macedonian type calls that come.

Lord, keep us from being in a place where you don't want us to be, Lord. Say no when we need to hear it. Guide us and direct us. I pray, Lord, for the church that we would move forward in the strategy. You have that strategy of three times a year, releasing resources in a special way.

Thank you for what you've done today, what you do next week. Lord, we stand in awe that you've chosen us at this time to spread the glorious news of Jesus around the world and throughout our whole community and even in our families and in our home. May we be in agreement that we'd be a devoted people like like Cornelius, that we'd be generous on every occasion, that we be a people of prayer. And we'd be like the apostle Paul, to seek you for wisdom, strategy, and thank you for it. In Jesus name, amen.

With every head bowed and every eye closed. Last thing we'll do today is give you an opportunity to give your heart to Jesus. If you're not right with God, don't leave the place in that condition. Give your heart to Jesus for the first time or make a recommitment to him because you drifted in your commitment and you know it. You want to come home.

All across this great sanctuary, say, that's me, Pastor. Would you lift your hand to Jesus? You want to receive Jesus? Sweet, wonderful. Thank you.

Thank you. I see that hand. See that hand? Pray with me. Whether you raise your hand or not, just pray right out loud.

Say, dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son Jesus to die on a cross for my sin. I believe that he rose again from the grave, and I ask you today to forgive me and cleanse me and come and make your home inside of my heart. Give me a hunger for your word, a hunger for the things of God, and give strategy to being of how to fulfill the purpose and plan you have for my life. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for hearing my prayer.

Amen. Well, I hope you were encouraged by God's word. Thank you again for listening to Kings Alaska podcast. God bless you. For more great content, go to kcalaska.com and may God's face shine upon you and give you peace.