(This transcript was generated by AI. Apologies for any inacuracies)

We're grateful to God what he's done on our journey thus far.

We're believing him not to just gather us together, but to make us into a people that changes the world, that we become a light in this city.

We become a city on a hill, and we let our light shine bright.

So we're believing God for more in 24.

You do know that God wants to do more.

The Bible says to us in Ephesians 3, verse 20, the writer writes to the church at Ephesus, and he says, now all glory to God, who is able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more.

Everybody say more.

More.

He says he can accomplish more than we might ask or think.

So the writer here says, you know what?

God can even do more than you're currently thinking.

God can do more than you're currently asking of for.

And I don't know what you're asking God for more of for, or you know, what you're currently thinking of, but according to this scripture, if we live according to God's plan and God's purpose, then God can do more than we're even thinking of.

More than this building, more than this arena.

Come on, more than this campus.

He can do a whole lot more if we all begin to come underneath his authority and begin to let him work in our life and work through our life.

There's gonna be more in 20 of four.

And today we're gonna learn how to live kinda in the spot where God can do more.

I like to call it, we can't get under the spout where the glory of God comes out.

Come on, somebody.

And so we're gonna talk about filling up today with the things that God wants to fill us up with so he can accomplish the more that he wants to accomplish.

I don't know how many of you have ever been on a journey.

Maybe it was over the holiday season and you went on a long trip.

Maybe you put some miles on your vehicle, you went to visit family, you made your way back here.

But many of us have been on trips in vehicles and typically what we do when we go on a long trip is we pull into the service station, gas station, the convenience store, wherever you fill up your car with fuel, we pull in, we fuel up, we fill it up so we can make the journey, we can go further.

And when it gets closer to empty, we pull in again, we fill up again and we keep moving forward until we reach our destination.

The spiritual journey with God is nothing less than that.

And the problem is that some of us are trying to do this journey called life and we're running on empty and we need to pull in, come on, to God's filling station and we need to let him fuel us, we need to let him gas us up with some things so that we can make the journey, so we can see him do the more in our life that he wants to do.

So I wanna encourage you today, if you come in here empty, if you come in here in a place today where you're feeling like, you know, I can't get through this moment, this week, this circumstance, this situation, I wanna encourage you today to pull in with us and let God fill you up with some things today because he wants to do more in your life, infinitely more than you might ask or think of.

And so some things the writer here reminds us of that we need to fill up with is found in Ephesians 1.

And if you bring your Bibles with you, I invite you to flip back over to Ephesians 1.

And as the writer Paul is writing the church's emphasis, these are believers, these are people who have trusted Christ.

He says, man, God wants to do more in your life, but if he's gonna do more, you gotta fill up on some things.

You gotta fill up on God's kindness.

You gotta be a good receiver of God's kindness, of God's love.

Look what he says here in Ephesians 1 as he begins to address this church in Ephesians 1, verse 5.

He says, God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.

This is what he, God, wanted to do.

And it gave him great pleasure, gave God great pleasure to bring us into his family through Christ Jesus.

The writer goes on, so we praise God for his glorious grace that he poured out, that he poured out on us so that we could be filled up.

We poured out on us so we could belong to his dear son.

He is so rich in his kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his son and he forgave our sins.

He has showered his kindness on us along with wisdom and understanding.

So the writer here says, look, if you're gonna fill up with the things that God wants you to fill up and you're gonna do more with your life in 2024, you gotta be a good receiver of God's amazing kindness.

He showed through Christ Jesus when he gave his life on the cross and he shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins.

The Bible says you gotta be a good receiver of that.

You know, it's not something we earn.

In other words, it's a free gift from God.

The gas is free, come on.

His love is free.

But you gotta pull into the filling station by faith to do the journey.

You gotta begin to see God do this amazing thing in your life.

And again, so many times, you know, people don't know how to receive God's love.

So I wanna teach you that today.

It's simply by faith.

But again, what does it look like?

You know, I was watching college football last weekend.

And you know, what I began to observe was the receivers, those who run the routes and open their hands and receive the football when it was coming through the sky so they could score touchdowns.

And I was reminded that's a lot like receiving God's love that he gave on a cross.

He threw it out to us through the cross of Christ.

Nobody deserved it, but he threw it.

And what I have to do is open my heart and open my hands.

And I gotta be receiver of that love that he gave for me on the cross and the forgiveness of my sin.

The Bible says humanity has missed the mark of God's glorious standard.

And we needed a savior.

And God stepped in and he gave his life on a cross, defeated death, resurrected from a grave so you and I could be a recipient of that amazing love.

My friend, we gotta run the route.

We gotta open our hands, we gotta open our heart, and we gotta run towards what God says we're to run towards with his great plans.

And I just wonder, you know, have you opened up your hands and your heart to the love of God?

Because what happens a lot of times is we live close-fisted.

We kinda live like, you know, well, something happened to me.

I want you to know this is the enemy of your soul, your life, your journey.

The enemy wants you to live close-fisted.

He wants you to live like this and say, you know what?

God's holding out on me.

God's stingy.

God doesn't love me because of what I've done, because of what has happened.

And God doesn't love me.

And we're not recipients of God's amazing love.

My friend, you gotta uncross your arms.

You gotta open your hands.

And you gotta be a receiver of what God offered to you.

On the cross.

And the reality of it is, is the enemy wants you to live close-fisted.

He wants you to live as, you know what?

Well, God didn't give me this.

So, you know what?

He must not love me.

It's interesting, isn't it?

It's God is the giver of all blessing.

And the Bible says the reason God blesses us is so that we can be a blessing.

And a great example of how to receive God's blessing is through money, through finances.

See, what happens a lot of times is God provides something for us.

And this is the whole reason we invite people to tithe or give to the local church or bring 10% of the hundred that God has given to them.

Because it's a way for us to see, you know what?

If our heart is really open to the amazing things that God wants to provide for us, including his love.

But the Bible says, you know, basically, what happens a lot of times is people don't bring back some of the, a portion of what God has given them and they miss so much about what God wants to do in their life.

In other words, God may give you $10 in your hand and you think that that's all there ever is. $10 and you close your fist on it and nobody can take this $10.

The church wants to take my $10.

My friends want to take my $10.

God's saying, would you open your hands to see that I'm a provider?

Because maybe, you know what?

The thing that I didn't give you yet is because you're living closed fisted or closed hearted to my amazing grace and what I want to do.

And money can't buy you the love of God, my friend, but it's a good example about how to receive the love of God.

It's provision from God.

And I open my hands and oftentimes what God wants to do is take my $10.

But what he wants to do is he wants to put a hundred back in my hand.

As I open my hand, let him take the 10 out.

He puts a hundred back in.

Come on somebody, so that I can do the work he called me to do.

But see, understand this, this whole money gig in the local church.

Yeah, we do the work of the ministry with the money.

I need you to know that today.

But the reality of it is, it's for your sake.

It's for you to begin to understand who really provided that job, who really provided what you had in the first place, who provided for this week.

And again, I invite you this year to begin to live with open hands, begin to live with an open heart, begin to be a receiver of God's amazing love and see if God wants to throw you a pass and do something incredible and get your life into the end zone and do more in a 24.

Come on somebody, but you gotta be a receiver.

You gotta be a receiver.

And again, sometimes we live like sour people instead of seeing the amazing blessings of God.

And maybe God didn't give me something in this season because honestly, he needed me to trust him for where I am right now.

And I wanna keep on keeping on and I wanna keep on moving towards his vision and his purpose and what he wants to do.

The Bible says this in Romans chapter five, verse eight.

It says, God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Do you understand what that really says?

It says that I didn't deserve it.

And no matter where I come from, what I've done, how bad it is, God gave his son anyway so I could have redemption, so I could have salvation, so I could experience the love of God.

God has a plan.

And my friends, his plan is for us to receive this amazing love that he showed for us on the cross because his love and his kindness exceeds any betrayal I'll ever go through.

Let me say that again.

His love and his kindness that he displayed on that cross is greater than any betrayal you or I will ever go through.

And the fact of the matter is the enemy wants you to live subject to the betrayal or the thing that happened or the circumstance.

And he don't want you to be a receiver of God's love.

He wants you to be live, closed off to God's love.

But what I know is the adversary, he wants us to turn against God.

He wants us to believe that God is not for us and God is against us.

So the adversary intends to harm us, but God says he will use what the enemy intends for harm for our good if we'll open up our heart and open up our hands and receive the good blessing of salvation that comes through Christ Jesus.

Here's the question that every single one of us needs to answer.

Why am I closed off to God's amazing love?

And it's a tactic of the enemy.

It's a strategy of the enemy.

It's a strategy of the adversary.

And the adversary wants you and I to live hostage to him.

And what God says is, no, I did it anyway.

It's not about what you did.

It's about who I am.

I showed my love.

I showed my kindness on a cross and I did it anyway.

So what I'm learning about in my life in 2024, when the enemy tries to tell me that God ain't for me because this thing happened to me, because basically God ain't for you, for me as I ended 23, because you got all this physical problem in this neck thing and I don't know if there's any hope.

And the enemy wants me to live in that spot.

But I'm telling the enemy, God loves me anyway.

It ain't about my physical condition.

It's about God's love and he did it anyway.

Come on, somebody.

And some of you need to get that in your heart and your head this week.

You need to tell the enemy as he begins to come at you.

You know what, you did this and you did that.

And this thing happened in your life and your family because of what you did.

You say, well, God did it anyway.

He loved me anyway.

In spite of what I've done, he forgave me of missing the mark.

He forgives them of missing the mark.

If we'll put our faith and trust in his kindness and his love, God does it anyway.

I love that.

I would put that on Twitter, Facebook, X, whatever you call it, Instagram.

God did it anyway.

Because that's an amazing, amazing thing to get in my heart.

It's not about what happened to me.

It's not what about happened to you, happened to us.

God did it anyway.

God gave his son on a cross anyway.

And I have to fill up on this on a daily basis.

Yes, Jesus died once for the sin of humanity, but I gotta fill my soul up with his love every single day.

I gotta begin to draw on his spirit every single day and remember God is a God of anyway.

In other words, he don't change his mind.

He did it anyway.

He resurrected from a grave so I didn't have to live apart from him for the rest of my life.

And my friend, he'll do it in anybody's life who will pull in to the service station and begin to fill up on his amazing love.

The second thing the writer reminds us to fill up with is God's wisdom.

Everybody say wisdom.

Wisdom.

And I'm talking God's wisdom, not just wisdom that comes from the world.

Because the reality of it is there's a master plan, there's a master purpose, and there's a masterpiece for you to begin to walk in and be a part of what God is doing.

And so I want you to know today that we have to hunger after God's wisdom, we have to seek after God's wisdom, we have to fill up on God's wisdom.

Look what it says here in Ephesians chapter one, verses 16 and 17.

It says, I have not stopped thanking God for you.

This is the writer, writing the Church at Ephesus.

He says, I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you spiritual wisdom and insight, so that, everybody say so that.

So that.

Those two words are what we would consider a purpose clause in the English language.

He says, I want you to get spiritual wisdom and insight from God, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.

In other words, God wants to give you wisdom.

And the Bible says, if we ask for wisdom, God will give it.

And he'll give you his wisdom, but it might not be the wisdom of the world.

And so I wanna spend a moment talking about God's wisdom, because God's wisdom is this, the Bible says, he had a plan from the very beginning.

And so ask God for the wisdom to understand his plan.

And you say, well, I don't know what God's plan is.

Before he created the first man and the first woman, and they stepped out of union or fellowship, or underneath God's umbrella and authority, God had a plan.

God had a plan before the adversary tempted the first man and the first woman, and told them that God was holding out on them.

God had a plan.

Though they stepped out of that relationship, God had a plan.

And I think what happens a lot of times is we live and we don't understand God's amazing plan.

And if we would have the wisdom to understand the plan, it could change everything.

Look what it says here in Ephesians chapter one, verse 10.

It says, this is the plan.

This is the plan.

At the right time, he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ, everything in heaven and on earth.

That's the plan.

At the right time, God's gonna bring everything.

That means the rocks that are laying out in the yard.

That means the dog that howls at night.

That means, you know what, the spiritual enemy that is fighting against you.

That means the ocean that misbehaves.

The Bible says that at the right time, he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ, everything in the heavens and on earth.

That's amazing.

So what the Bible says is basically, God sent his son into the earth to forgive humanity of their sin.

And when we put our faith and believe in his love and kindness, and we come back underneath his leadership, then God makes us a part of his team.

And I like to say it this way at Valorous Church, part of his team bringing up there, down here.

Christ is in the heavens, sitting at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.

And he pours out his spiritual blessings on his children.

The Bible says so that we can fill the earth with his glory, his majesty.

And what God is doing is not only bringing human beings back underneath his authority, God is bringing the rocks, the sea, the animals, the demons, the everything in the heavens and on the earth underneath the authority of Christ.

And the Bible says in the very end, God will put all evil in the abyss and everything he has brought back to himself in his great plan, we're gonna live forever and ever and ever.

This is the creator's plan.

Wow.

Wisdom.

And again, when you understand the big picture, everything begins to change.

But not only do we need to have wisdom in the plan, God has a purpose for you and me.

God has a purpose in doing all of this.

Let's look at it.

Ephesians chapter one, we'll continue on there in verse 11 through 13.

The writer says, furthermore.

You know what that means?

There's more.

Because we are united to Christ, those of us who are believers, we have received an inheritance from God.

For he chose us in advance and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

God's purpose was that the Jews in this day and age, who were the first to trust Christ, would bring praise and glory to God, that people group.

And now the writer says, the Gentiles, those who aren't Jews in that day and age, he says, you have also now heard the truth, the good news that God saves you.

And when you believe in Christ, he identifies you as his own, look, by giving you the Holy Spirit whom he promised long ago.

And so here it says God's plan is basically to redeem people from different backgrounds, bring them together, pour out his Holy Spirit in their life so that they can begin to operate, you know what, according to what God intends for the church to be and how he intends for it to operate here on earth.

In other words, God gives us the Holy Spirit and the giftings of the Holy Spirit so we can carry out his plan here on earth.

But again, you gotta come under his plan.

What is his plan?

It's to bring up there, come on, down here.

It's not for us just to go up there.

We're living down here and the goal right now is because we're down here, we're trying to bring all the spiritual blessings down here, let him bless us with them and let those blessings flow through us so other people and all creation can see the majesty, the glory of God.

Come on, it's a purpose in your life.

And the reality of it is, you know what, what God expects for us to be and do when he pours out his Spirit into our life is us to live life on purpose and understand what we're doing right now is bringing him glory and praise, not just here on earth, but in all the heavens.

In other words, every spiritual power in the heavenlies right now is watching what God is doing.

And God is redeeming people with his amazing love.

He's pouring out his Spirit and he's giving gifts to his people.

And when his people bring those gifts and work in unity together to make his glory known in this earth, all the powers and the principalities stand in the heavens and they're in awe of his majesty and who he is.

My friend, live life on purpose, not just because your wife's looking, not just because your husband's looking, but just because you're created to do it.

And in the heavenlies, they're looking.

Come on, somebody.

God is working his plan.

God gives wisdom in our purpose.

And then God gives wisdom about the future.

If you don't have a future, you don't have a hope.

And the reality of it is, if you have a hope that's bigger than your current circumstances, then you have a future.

And the Bible says this in Ephesians 1, verse 14.

It says, the Spirit is God's guarantee.

Look at your neighbor and say, you got a guarantee.

You got a guarantee.

Look at the other one and say, if you're a believer.

If you're a believer.

The Spirit of God is the guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.

He did this, look what it says.

So we would praise and glorify him.

In other words, we have to look forward to what will be and we gotta understand the best is yet to come.

But the reality of it is, you know what?

Christ is still sitting at the right hand of God.

He's pouring out his Spirit on men and women alike in this day and age.

And the Bible says that, you know what?

He's working his Spirit in us and he's working his Spirit through us.

But what he's doing is he's bringing everything in the heavens and on the earth underneath his authority.

In other words, Christ did a work on the cross to forgive us of sin, but he's still working and bringing everything underneath his feet, his enemies under his feet.

And you wanna know how he's doing it?

Through you and through me.

What we call the local church.

Those who have been caught out of darkness into the wonderful light.

And what he's doing, he's working his glory in us and he's working his glory through us.

And he's done what he's done.

So we may praise him and glorify him right here and right now.

Let your praises go up to a heavenly Father who has blessed you with every spiritual blessing.

See, if we're gonna see more in 24, it helps to receive God's amazing love and understand how his love works.

It helps to be a receiver and fill up on his wisdom, understand his plan, understand his purpose, and understand it is not over until he says it's over.

See, some of us are stuck.

We've been on the journey, but we've let the adversary begin to program our mind that this is all there is.

This week, this generation, this moment.

And the enemy will begin to get you what I call short-term focused.

And you know that's what sin is.

Sin is short-term satisfaction that destroys your long-term success.

And the enemy wants us to be short-term focused and not focus on the hope that we have in Christ Jesus and what is still yet to come.

And it doesn't mean that the moment is not gonna be difficult.

It doesn't mean that, you know what, the loss you experienced right here, right now is not real and the pain is not real.

That's not what it means at all.

But what it does mean is you have a hope in the future of what Christ is still doing and what He's gonna do.

And you know that one day there's gonna be a union with Him, all believers everywhere, and He's gonna put the enemy in the abyss and we're gonna live forever and ever and ever and ever and ever.

And I get focused on that.

Instead of something just here and now, everything begins to change.

And I begin to run the race and experience the journey, how God expects me to experience the journey.

The last thing I wrote down about filling up so we can see God do more in 2024 is simply this.

I have to learn to plug in and operate from God's power.

This is the application.

In other words, God wants you to experience His power so you can operate.

So you can be an overcomer.

So you can begin to recognize the temptation.

You remember the prayer the disciples prayed, deliver us from evil.

You know what?

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, deliver us from evil.

And the reality of it is is God has sent us a way to be delivered from the evil one's schemes and lies, and it's through His power and through His Holy Spirit.

He's learned to help us discern what is right and what is wrong and move forward in life in circumstances.

His power begins to operate in us best when we begin to understand how it operated in Christ Jesus and we begin to follow Him with our life.

Look what it says in Ephesians chapter 19, verses 19-23.

The writer goes on to say, he says, I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe in Him.

He says, this is the same mighty power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms.

Now He is far above any ruler, speaking of Christ, or authority or power or leader or anything else, not only in this world, but also in the world to come.

That's the position of Christ.

And the Bible says the same power that positioned Him in that place, it's at work in us.

Look what it says.

It says, God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him the head over all things for the benefit of the church.

So you and I could benefit from the power that elevated Him out of a grave and be seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

And the church is His body, His instrument.

It is made full and complete by Christ.

Look what it says, who fills all things everywhere with Himself.

Man, you wanna know what God's purpose is in your life?

Is to come to Him, receive His love, begin to operate by His wisdom, come underneath His power and become a part of His great plan in this earth and fill all things everywhere with His amazing power.

You see, God has us here.

And He wants us to come together and be redeemed by the blood of Christ, operate underneath the wisdom that He gives to us who are believers and begin to operate in His power to bring transformation and change to where He has placed us.

We're not here by happenstance.

We're not just taking up another chair.

We're here to make an eternal difference and Christ has already started that work in us and we'll begin to understand His power.

So what does the power of God help us do?

Well, the Bible says that the power of God helped Christ navigate through temptation.

The Bible says He was tempted in every way, from every direction, but He operated by the power of God and the word of God and as He operated by, you know what, the enemy couldn't lie to Him.

The enemy couldn't stalemate Him.

The enemy couldn't basically stop Him from being what He came today.

And see, that's what the power of God does.

It helps us in the face of temptation make a decision and it's the spirit of the living God and we begin to operate by His spirit and we make the right decisions in difficult circumstances because we're operating by His power.

It makes us become obedient in His word and we recognize the enemy is just trying to derail us.

He's trying to take us away from the good things that God has in store for us.

And so this is discerning the voice of God, the wisdom of God, the spirit of God, and beginning to operate in a moment and say I'm a overcomer in this particular situation.

The enemy doesn't rule and reign my life.

I operate by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is a guarantee inside of me.

The enemy wants you to think it's over.

And my friend, I do believe it's not over.

I do believe that if we fill up with the things of God, we're just seeing God get started in 2024.

I believe God for greater things.

Not just in my family, not just in me.

No matter what happens to me, what I believe is God is bringing us together for His glory and His majesty and I don't believe that this arena next door can contain what God wants to do.

Matter of fact, I believe this.

I believe that God's at work in His church because the Bible says He does all this to fill things in this earth through His church and it's for the benefit of the church.

And I believe that you know what, God's at work in His church and His church is gonna be so big that there's no building, there's no thing that can contain what God wants to do.

And this is our little corner of the earth.

Isn't that amazing?

Can you imagine if God begins to go to work in us and through us in our little corner of the earth?

What happened?

They'll be building bridges across that road.

This'll be a children's room, not a children's space, just one of the room for all the children that's gonna come to Christ.

We'll be building auditoriums and double deckers and triple deckers and filling things with people because they're being redeemed.

Man, dream with me.

Believe with me because I do believe that what God wants to do through His church is gonna be remarkable in 2024.

If you'll come underneath the spout where the glory comes out, if you fill up with the things of God, His kindness, His wisdom, His power, we'll see God do the amazing.

Let me pray for you today.

God, you're incredible.

You're one of a kind.

You are the creator.

You are the one that is high above all.

And we thank you for sending Jesus into this world to show us your amazing love, living a perfect life and forgiving us of our sin.

God, thank you for His death.

Thank you for the power that elevated Him from the grave and how we can see that death couldn't even hold Him in the grave because He was operating by your power.

And I pray today, if there is one living outside of your family, today would be the day of their salvation.

They would really come to understand what Jesus came to do.

He's not just a religious fixture, my friend.

He is the way, the truth, and the life.

And no one comes through the Father except through Him.

He's a gift from God.

You can't earn it, you can't buy it, you can't do enough good deeds, you can't do enough bad, you can't do enough good.

All you can do is pull into the fill station and let the love showed on the cross fill you up today.

So I invite you today, if that is you, would you turn away from your sin?

Would you repent and say, God, I need you to fill me with the love of Christ that He showed on that cross?

Today I receive that salvation.

God, I want your wisdom.

I want to operate by your power.

The same power that elevated from the grave.

And I want to bring you glory in this earth.

My friend, if you said that prayer, I want to welcome you to the family of God.

All of the heavens stand in awe of this moment because God reached down into this corner of the earth and He redeemed another person and added it to His family.

And my friend, we're here to share that good news over and over and over.

And we believe His family is going to grow exponentially and God is going to do amazing things.

Jesus, we pray this prayer because of who you are and who in your name we pray, amen.