Make Room and Don’t Hold Back

Tim Rivers | April 2, 2023

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Transcription

Anybody excited to be here? Can anybody feel the presence of the Lord here? Yes. Let me give it up for the kids. Man, what a phenomenal job. They were rocking out. I said, RA earlier, I got super into it and I was like, yeah, rock on. I said, oh, I think we're supposed to be doing this, but whatever. Phenomenal job. It's amazing to see just our kids department raising up another generation of worshipers, not just hearing the word, not just memorizing the word, but also learning to worship. And so I want to just give a big shout out to our kids' department for all that they're doing. Some parents ought to be just making some noise right now. I mean,

Well, I'm glad that you're here. If you're a guest with us, we want to say Welcome to Embassy City Church. We pray that God invaded your space and that you receive everything that you need from the Lord if you're watching online, wherever you are. Thank you so much for being a part of Embassy City Global. Every week I get to hear about somebody somewhere literally around the world who is impacted by our ministry here at Embassy City, and I just love hearing about it because the work of God is not confined to a building, but it is to go out wherever there are ears. And so God has blessed us to be able to reach around the world, and so I'm so thankful for all those that watch faithfully online and I pray that wherever you are, God is with you. All right, next week is Easter weekend. Anybody excited about that?

Man, God’s going to do something crazy. I can just feel it. We are so excited about it. And we added a service. So we have a service on Saturday at 6:00 PM and then our regular service is on Sunday at 9 and 11. Now let me tell you why we did that. We did that because we want you to have the opportunity to invite all of your friends and family and neighbors and cousin and aunts and uncles and just invite 'em all. We've created the space for them to come. But we also want to give you the opportunity that if you want to come here and worship with your church family and then maybe be with mom and them on Easter. You know what I'm saying? My mom loves when I come to church. And so we want to create that space for you to also be in community with your family and stuff like that.

So invite somebody. It's going to be a great time of worship. We're going to have a little something cool for the kids. We're going to have photo opportunities. It's just going to be a grand old time, but mostly Jesus is going to be in the place and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. So we're expecting God to do some crazy stuff. All right, grab your Bibles. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 54. Isaiah 54. While you're turning there, I have to make you aware, I was going to kick off a new series today, but as I was getting ready for this week, I just could not get away from this word that I received a few weeks ago, and I did my best too. I was like, God, are you sure you don't want us to kick off this series? But God would not let me get away from this word.

And here's the thing. This is a what I believe, a prophetic word for this house. And one thing you have to know about a corporate word is always individually applied. What I mean by that is this church wouldn't exist without you. And so if God gives us a corporate word, it always applies individually to you. So if God says He wants to bless our church, he wants to bless you as an individual. If he wants to do something special in our midst, he wants to do something special in your midst. And so if you're new to Embassy City, have to also tell you that we are a spirit led church. That means we can, we come up with a plan. We have a master calendar. We have sermon series in there. We try to schedule and prepare as much as possible, but when the Spirit speaks, we listen.

So if we're going right and the spirit says, go left, we go left. We are going to be a spirit led church. And so that's what we're doing today. Okay, Isaiah chapter 54, verse number one, it says, sing o' barren one who did not bear break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor for the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent and let the curtains of your habitation be stretched out. Do not somebody say do not, do not, do not hold back.

Oh man, I could stop and just preach right there. Too many of us hold back and God wants to do something in our lives and we hold back. He says, do not hold back. Lengthen your chords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people, the desolate cities. I want to take my title and message really from verse number two, enlarge the place of your tent and let the curtains of your habitation be stretched out. Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. So my title for today is this, make room and don't hold back, make room and don't hold back. Now, I'm going to preach this. I feel it, but I wonder if there are just a few people that feel it. I just need about two or three of 'em that are going to help me preach. Yes, I don't need everybody. I just need somebody that's going to help me appreciate today. Amen. And let's see what God does. Amen. Amen. Holy Spirit, we invite you into this place. Breathe upon us, fill this room with your glory. I pray that in the next few moments as we dig into your word, that you would give us ears to hear, a heart to receive and a mind to understand. Do what only you can do and move as only you can move. We give your name all the praise, all the glory, all the honor because you are worthy of it

In your precious name and pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. If you love him with you one more time, give him some praise. Thank you, Jesus. We should never stop giving God praise. Some people are like, man, you're too exuberant about Jesus. I'm like you talking about the one that turned my life around you, talking about the one that picked me up when I was down. You talking about the one that represented me when I was in trouble. You talking about the one who accepted me. When everybody rejected me, you talk about the one that made a way where there seems to be no way You want me to chill and be quiet. I refuse to give the cowboys more worship than I do Jesus. I refuse to get more excited about my tax return than I do about Jesus because he's done too much for me. I don't even have time to go into it. I refuse not to give Jesus praise. So pardon me. Yes. Excuse me. God's done too much. I'm sorry. I'm supposed to be preaching out. Actually, I'm not Sorry.

Let's talk about limitations. Limitations. All of us know instinctively as human beings that we are created as limited creatures, meaning that there is a certain degree of ability until we reach our limitations. Now we know that our mind has a capacity to think outside of the confines of our physical body, meaning that we can use our mind to think of or imagine or dream of all types of stuff that in reality won't work. For instance, as a child, you most likely have thought about heroes. You probably were convinced that Santa Claus was real or that the tooth fairy exists. But as you get older, you realize that your parents are some of the liners people you've ever met shouting in the church and lying to me about Santa Claus.

So as you get older, you realize that there are two worlds that we live in. One is the fantasy world. It's the world of our imagination, of our dreams, of all the things that we think are possible. And then there is the real world where we realize we can't do the things that we dreamed about. Some people didn't hear You dreamed that you were going to make it all the way to the first round draft pick of the N F L and you were going to win that Super Bowl, but you got limitations. No matter how much I would want to be an NFL lineman, when I look in a mirror, I realize I got limitations. I think of myself as strong, but when I see them jokers, I realize I have limitations. Right? All of us recognize that we have limitations. So let's define what a limit is.

A limit is a point or level beyond which something does not or may not extend or pass. We all have those boundaries. We all have limitations. I can only jump so high, I can only run so fast. I can only do so much until I reach my limit. Right now, we are created in the image and lightness of God. So it begs the question, if I have limits and I'm creating an image of likeness of God, then does God have limits? Well, let's talk about some of the attributes of God. Number one, we know that God is omniscient, meaning that he has all knowledge. He is limitless in his knowledge base. He does not learn. You can't catch God by surprise. You can't out quiz God. Have you ever prayed a prayer and been like, I bet this one is a new one for him.

God is a mission. He has all knowledge. He's also omnipresent, which means that he fills all time and space. There is no place that God isn't. In fact, Adam thought he could run from God for some reason, and while he's hiding, the President of God is moving through the garden. What Adam, I guess failed to realize is that God could be anywhere at any time. God is limitless in his ability to be present. God is also omnipotent, which means that he has all power. He's all powerful. He has no limits when it comes to his power. He has no boundaries. He he has no limited capacity when it comes to his ability to demonstrate his power. So it is important for us to understand that God is indeed limitless, that he is not limited, that he has all authority and all power. In fact, Matthew writes this and he says that with God all things are possible.

Luke also wrote about it and he said, with God, nothing is impossible. In fact, David thought he would try this out and he said, where shall I run from your presence? Or where shall I hide from your spirit? If I send up into heaven, behold you are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are still there. Yeah, anybody thankful that we have a God who is a ever present help in the time of trouble, that no matter what I go through, no matter what I'm facing, no matter where I'm at, God is there. If I'm on the mountaintop, God is there. If I'm walking through the valley, God is there. If I'm rich, God is there. If I'm poor, God is there. If I'm stressed, God is there. If I've got peace, God is there. If I'm lonely, God is there. If I'm surrounded by friends, God is there no matter where I am. Right? God is there. In fact, David also said it like this, I once was young, but now I'm old. But I have never, not one time. Yes, not one time. Yes, I have absolutely never. There's not been a single time that I've seen the righteous forsaken or even his seat. Not even his children are begging for bread.

We serve the type of God that won't just take care of you. He'll take care of your kids kids, he'll take care of your grandkids, he'll take care of you to a thousand generations. Serve an awesome God, yes, who has no limits. So it is important, and it is correct to infer that God has no limitations, that he is all powerful. He is all knowing. He's all present. And yet there is a limitation to God. God will limit himself because we know that the attributes of God is that he is omni all things. And yet God has decided to self-imposed upon himself limitations to protect his character because one thing that God will not do is he will not violate who he is. And so God has unlimited amounts of power to do whatever he wants to. And yet he has imposed on himself. We call this self limitations.

He's imposed upon himself limitations. For instance, God will not lie. Amen. Why? Because it goes against his character. The character of God is that God is truth. And so because God is truth, he will not lie. Why? Because it would violate his character. God also will not sin. Why? Because God will never miss the mark. Sin means to miss the mark. God never misses the mark. And so God will never sin. Why? Because it would violate his character. So God self imposes limits upon himself to protect his character. God will also not deny himself. Scripture says that He will not share his glory with another. He is a jealous God. He will not deny who he is. He is God all by himself. He's the king of kings. He's the Lord of lords, and that's why we worship him. We sang about it. We worship him because of who he is. So God is limitless. He has all power, and yet he has self-imposed limits. But there is another way that God is limited. God can be limited by the boundaries that we impose upon him, meaning that he doesn't get reduced. His power and ability isn't reduced by our limitations, but though demonstration of his power and ability is reduced by the limitations that we impose upon God. In other words, the way we view God determines what type of limitations we put on him.

Oh, y'all hear me teach so God can do anything. And yet it is natural for human beings to impose limitations on God that are humanly feasible. In other words, we pray prayers that we believe God can come through for us, but if he doesn't, we pray him safe enough that I can come through for myself. So we limit God in our prayers. We limit God in our vision. We limit God in our expectation because just in case doesn't come through, I can come through for myself, right? And God's sitting there saying, I've got all power to do whatever I want to do in your life. And yet you've imposed on me human limitations. That's why when you pray, it requires for you to think outside of your mind into the realm of the Spirit.

And here's the reason why we pray safe prayers just in case God doesn't come through, I don't have to tell them that it didn't happen because I made it happen. So I pray prayers that are safe. I have expectations that are safe. I have vision that is safe. And what happens is we start putting God into our pretty little box. Now, here's the crazy thing. We will come to church and we will hear a message about the limitless power of God. We will read in the scripture about the limitless power of God. We will preach about the limitless power of God. And yet when it comes to our own experience, we reduce God's power down to what I think he can do in my little box of expectations. And God wants to obliterate it today. Come on, amen. God wants to get rid of that mindset today.

God wants to take that thing in your mind that limits him and he wants to crumble it up and crush it. Because what God is able to do is exceedingly abundantly above all that we are able to ask or think. That means as big as you can think, God can exceed that as much as you can imagine, God can exceed that as much as you can ask for, God can exceed that as much as you can expect, God can exceed that as much vision as you have. God can exceed that. We serve a God who is powerful. I don't think we realize just how great our dad is. I don't think we realize just how powerful our God is because if we understood what God is able to do, we would pray prayers that are so bold that it would make us nervous. We would have vision that's so big that it'd make us seem crazy. We would have expectations that are so great that it would make us look like we've got some screws loose. But here's the thing, when you understand the power and the majesty and the ability of God, there is nothing. And I mean nothing that God cannot do,

That's your God. Some of y'all right now are even having a hard time with this message like, man, I've heard that before, but he didn't. No, no, no. Let me tell you something. It's not about whether or not he does it. It's the fact that I believe that he can. And even if he never does it again, I still believe that he's able.

If he never answers my prayer, I still believe that he can. If he never comes through the way I thought he would, I still believe that he is able. If he never comes to the exact thing that I ask for, I still believe that God is able. And when you believe that God is able, regardless of your circumstance, there is nothing that the enemy can bring you away to discourage you. There is nothing that Satan can bring it to your life to get you to doubt God. When you have the type of faith like the three Hebrew boys that said, even if you throw me into the fire, I'll be all right because I know God is able to deliver. Ooh, can I just talk about the ability of God? I'm not talking about what he did. I'm talking what he's able to do. Can you worship him about what he's able to do?

Yes. Can you praise him about what he's able to do? I'm not talking about my testimony is that I serve a God who's able to do it. What do you mean He's able to come through when I need him to? He's able. I don't have to have facts. I just know by the word of God that he's able to do it. Now, the reason why I'm preaching this to you, because I want you to understand that if you look at God moving, that he is limitless, that he has all power. But what you have to understand about God, you can see this all throughout scripture, is that when God gets ready to move, he will tell you, Hey, I'm about to do something extravagant. I'm about to do something phenomenal. I'm about to do something that's going to blow your mind. And human response is generally like, okay, God, when are you going to do it?

But here's what God does. God will tell you what he wants to do and then he starts looking around to see where is there room for me to show up and do what I want to do? He starts looking for space. He starts looking for areas where there's big enough space for him to interject himself. One thing about God is he will speak to you, but if you don't create the movement, if you don't create the space, if you don't make the room for him to do, he's just going to sit there and wait for you. He said, you know what? I've got all power. I have no limits, but you put limits on me. If you can release the limits, then I can interject myself and do what I really want to do in your life. Do you want some Bible? Alright, let me take you to Noah, because Noah was a man who was just mind ho's owned business.

And G God walked up to her and said, Hey, listen, Mr. Noah, I got something for you. I'm going to send the reign. The what? Sir? The reign. Nevermind. I need you to build an arc. What? Sir? I need you to build an arc. What is that? It's basically a giant boat, Noah, and I need you to build this thing, okay? Why God? Because I'm going to send the ring and I'm going to destroy the earth, but I'm going to save you your family, and I'm going to save two of every kind of animal. Now you are Noah, you're old. You hear this word and your natural is to do what?

Nah, fam, I'm good. That sounds ludicrous. That sounds crazy. Can I have some guarantees about what you're going to do? Can I have at least a couple of drops fall down so I can kind of envision what you mean? Can I? I see. Can you bring me just a few of the animals so I know that it's legit? Can I put my fleece out? I know that's what you said, but can I test your word first before I go all the way in? Am I preaching anybody when God says I want to do this, we're like, God, okay, yeah, I'll do it, but can you give me a sample? We're like, we're like those people at the ice cream stand. We're at Broms. Can I try the vanilla before I get a scoop? Can I try the cookies and cream before I get two scoop?

Can I try the strawberry? And God says, no. Give me the cone and I'll put the ice cream in it. You don't need to test it, you don't need to taste it. You just got to trust that I'm going to put in it what's good for you. So Noah, he doesn't ask for a sample. He doesn't ask for clarity. He doesn't ask for another word. Can you speak to my brother Riam down the road and bring him divinely over here? Can you talk to my friend Miriam? Give her a dream, give her a word to come share with me. And if I get enough words, then I'll start building the arc. If I get enough affirmations about what you said, then I'll start believing if I get enough confirmation from my homies and from the people that really love me and pray for me. If you can talk to me from just magically from a bush can then I God's like, no, I just ask you to do one thing. I ask you to make room. And if you make room, then I'll take care of the rest.

Imagine how crazy Noah must have looked to cut down trees and make planks of wood and start building a boat that was three stories tall, one and a half times length of a football field. You want me to build this big old artist, just big old ginormous boat? Why? Because you've got a word. So everybody's around Noah going like, Hey, you have lost your mind. You are absolutely crazy. What are you doing? How in the world are you going to gather all the animals? How in the world? Well, you're talking about rain fam. What is rain? Up until this time, rain was not coming from the sky. It was a mis that was coming from the earth. We know that by the scripture. So when he saying, Hey, God said he is going to sit down, rain from the sky, they're like, Hey man, you've really lost your mind.

Could you imagine his family members and his wife? They're like, Noah, you got nothing else to do. Retirement was not supposed to look like this, but he's building the boat because he heard God give him a word. And when God gives a word, God's just looking for room. He's just looking for somebody to make space. He's looking for somebody who will believe it and say, I'm stepping out in faith and I'm going to make room. So here's the thing. Here's the when God begins to speak, we put limitations on God. We put God in a little box. But if you really want to see God moving your life, you need to exercise faith because faith is believing that God tells the truth. Faith is when your human limitations intersect with the unlimited power of God. And faith is required for you to step further than what your mind could understand.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. Hope is believing that there is a reality beyond this that I haven't seen yet. And faith is believing that that hope is the reality. Faith is your vehicle to get where God wants you to go in hope. Faith is that thing that you need. Faith is always required if you're going to see God moving your life, yes, because God needs you to, even though you don't see, oh, I y'all need some more word I, I'll give you some more word. Let me take you to the story of Elijah who is the successor to Elijah, and he has a double portion of anointing in his life. And so he's walking through this town and there's this woman, she is just become a widow. Her husband was the son of a prophet. He had some debts he had to pay, but he passed away.

So the creditors come to her and they say, Hey, we need you to pay the debts that your husband owes us, but if you don't have the money, then we'll take your sons as slaves instead. And so this woman, could you imagine you're a mom and you have no money to pay this debt. You only have two sons and somebody's giving you an out and says, listen, I'll take your sons and put them into slavery to pay your debt. So of course, she does what any mom does. She goes to the man of God, she's like, Hey, I need some help. I need God to come through that. My husband was a good servant of the Lord. I just need some help. And so Elijah says, well, what do you have in your home? She says, all I have is a little jar of oil.

I don't have much. I can stop and just preach right there. You don't need a whole lot of anointing. You just need a little bit. And all you have to do is use a little bit that you got. And I, I'm getting ahead of myself. She said, I only have a little bit of oil. I only have a little jar of oil. So then Elijah says to her, all right, this is what I want you to do. I want you to grab every empty vessel that you have in your house, and I want you to get it ready. And when you run out of the empty vessels that you have in your house, go talk to all of your neighbors and anyone that has an empty vessel, you go get it. Now, if I was that woman, I'd be like, man of God, I just asked for $50.

I just asked you for a little bit of money so I can pay this debt. And now it is looking like my son's about to be slaves because I ain't got what you're talking about. I just need you to come through quickly. No, he says, I need you to go grab some vessels and get ready. Now, here's what the widow could have done. She could have said, Hey, can you demonstrate to me, give me a sampling of what's going to happen if I go get this stuff? Can you tell me ahead of time why I'm getting these vessels? Can you give me an affirmation or a confirmation that what you're saying is going to lead to something good? But instead she believed in faith that if the God who this man serves is telling him to tell me to go get vessels by God, I'm going to go get vessels.

So she gathers all the vessels that she could. She brings it into the house. Then she says, all right, man of God, now what we are supposed supposed to do, and Elisha says to her, well, you've done all that you can. You've made room. And now that you have made room, I want you to pour out the oil and see what happens. So she starts pouring out the oil and realizes that the oil ain't running out. And so one cup fills up. So she says, son, Eaton, eum, get me another one. Ethereum comes. And then she pours it out. And these are not legal names in the Bible. I'm just making them up. So he fills that one up. She says, Earl, come here. I need another empty vessel. He comes and she pours it up and she said, wait a minute. I need y'all to bring some more.

And the scripture says that she continued to pour out into the empty vessels until she was out of empty vessels. What this is telling us that as long as there is room, God will fill it. As long as you make space, God can invade your space. Your responsibility is not the miracle of the oil. Your responsibility is to make room and not hold back. Oh, y'all still don't get it. All right. I need some help. I need some help. I need y'all to get this concept here because this is what we do. We come to the Lord, thank you, Lori, thank you, thank you, thank, thank you, manna. God. All right. We come to the Lord and we say, here's my cup, Lord, I lifted up, Lord, come man, quench and God's like, bet fam, I got just what you need. And God starts pouring out his glory on us.

And we got a full cup and we're like, thank you God. And God says, Hey, you got, can you make some more room? I got more, more for you. So we say, all right, God, here's another cup. Lord, I live. And God says, Hey, no problem bro. I got more of that comes from, so I'll fill that one up. You got some more room. And we go, I think I can make some, get some more faith. I heard that God is able to do it, so I'm going to make some more room. And God's like, all right, no problem. I got you. And so God's still like, Hey, I got more. Are you satisfied with three cups or can you make some more room? And a lot of us, we'll step out in faith and be like, I never done this before, but I'll make some more room.

And God's like, I got you fam, another cup. And next thing, God keeps filling us up. As long as we make groove, God keeps filling us up. And then just when we thought that we have run out God's like my cup run is over and God's like, I'll make, I'll make, and then God's like, all right, I pour it out on you. And then we're like, all right, well, God is out of anointing for me. My time has come. I'm completely full. God is done. And God's like, no, you think I'm done? You think I'm done? You think I'm done? God says, I got more where that comes from. God just simply says, if you'll bring the cup empty, I'll fill it up. That's why David said, no matter what my cup condition is, if God starts pouring, he'll pour it out until it overflows. What's it going to overflow it to? It's going to overflow into you making more room. Here's what I'm here to preach and tell somebody. God has given me a word to share with you that some of us have been limiting and restricting God's movement in our lives by our limited expectation. But God is here to tell somebody it's time to stretch out. It's time to get uncomfortable. It's time to start believing God in faith that he is able to do exceedingly abundantly.

Now, Bob, all that we are able to ask or faith according to the power that worked within us. Can I keep unpacking Isaiah 54, because I need to get back to this passage. I need to tell you the significance of what happened in Isaiah chapter 54. Because you have to understand that the Zion, the children of God, were in exile to the Babylonians during this time. And when Isaiah is preaching the word, he is preaching, he is prophesying to people who have been in bondage for years. And he says, Hey, you have been Barron. You have been in bondage. You have been limited. You've only had so much. And so now your thinking is limited and your attitude is limited, and your expectation is limited, and your vision is limited because you've lived in this little box. But then Isaiah said, God's about to send the revival.

God's about to give you a harvest. God's about to do things that you've never seen before, that you've never even heard before. You're going to be greater now than you were before. The lattering shall be greater than the former range. You've not seen the greatest days yet. Your best days are not behind you. But what I need you to do is stretch out your tent. I need you to make room now. No, no, no. Let me give you a little history lesson. What you have to understand about tents, it's that tents were built to facilitate the size of the family. And what would happen is if you were going to extend your tent, you would have to add there usually were three foot strips of goat skin that were sewn together. And so if your family was growing, what you would have to do is you'd have to manufacture another three foot strip and sew it onto what you already had.

And depending on how many kids you had or how many family members you were going to grow by, would determine how many strips that you would put on there. And here, here's the thing, it wasn't an easy task because you had to find the goats, and then you had to get the goats skin, then you had to sew it together, then you had to put it on that strip. You had to reset the pole, you had to stretch out the tent. You had to grab the cords and pull them. You had to drive the stakes. And so when God shows up to the children of Israel and tells them, Hey, I need you to make room, the children of Israel are confused because they've lived in this limited mindset and they haven't seen God move in a while. And so it's impossible for them to believe.

And yet the man of God says, if you make room, I will fill. It's not up to you to fill the tent. It's not up to you to worry about how it's going to happen and where it's going to come from and where God's going to move and how big it's going to be. Your job is simply to believe that God is able and make the room for God to do it. Now, why am I preaching you this message? And why am I so passionate about it? I got to tell you why, because just a couple of months ago, I was praying. So let me give you context. So last year, as the transition started to happen, the elders agreed that it's time to pay off the building. So we've paid off this building 2.1, 2.2 in five months. No potlucks, no peanut brittle. Some of y'all know about peanut brittle, no fish, fries. No, not no. Because of your faithful giving your ties and offerings, we were able to pay this bill. And now we are a debt free church or somebody to give God praise for that.

We're a debt free church. Now, let me preface what I'm going to say because I'm not, I'm preaching this to you cause I'm about to be surprised, pastor offering place. I'm not here for a special offering, but I'm here. And let me just say this too. I feel very vulnerable telling you this because it puts me in a weird, awkward position. But I got to tell you be this because God told me to tell you a few months ago, as I begin to pray about what's next for us, God. Because every service, almost every service, we have people in overflow. Almost every weekend we got to close down the rooms because we're packing out our kids' ministry. And every week somebody is parking 575 blocks away and you know parked far away when you ladies are walking up with tennis just to get close. And so I've been praying, God, what do you want us to do? Can I be honest with you? I've been driving around and I have a Jeep, so I'll just hop on somebody's land and just start praying over it. I'm sorry, Mr. But I've been doing prayer walks around buildings, I've been praying, God, where do you want us to go? What do you want us to do? And I know, Hey, listen, I know that buildings are expensive. I know that it's going to cost a lot of money, but I'm not even flinching at that because if it's the vision of God, then God will provide it.

20 million. Ain't nothing to a God who's who paved streets with gold, who decorates gates with Pearl. It ain't nothing to him, right? Right. So I've been praying, I've been asking God, God, what is our next step? What do we have to do? What do we need to do? And then as clear as day, one day I was praying and I was praying about what's next? And God said to me, and I'm telling you, it was as clear as day. God said, make room. And I said, what'd that mean?

Can you give me some clarification? Because if you're like me, when you hear a word from God, you're like, okay, God, can you give me commentary on that word that you gave me? Can you clarify what that actually means? And this is what I felt like as I began to pray about it some more and fast about it some more. This is what I felt like the Lord said, give the Lord said, make room wherever there is space, make room. And I said, all right, God, but if we make the space and what's going to happen? He said, if you make the space, then I'm going to fill it.

Now that that might not mean much to you. But here's the thing, faith is crazy, right? Faith is the type of thing that you do. And then you're like, all right guys, we need you to come through because we just did this. We just made room. But what God told me is, is he's, I'm going to take care of filling the space, but what I need y'all to do is I need you to look at every bit of room that you have and make more room. So you know what we've been doing? We've been looking at this building, this whole worship center and going, all right, how many more chairs can we fit into this joint? How many more people can we pack? We've been looking at our Sunday school department at our kids' ministry and going, how many more rooms can we open up to facilitate more ministry? We've been looking at our grassy knoll and going, all right, what is it going to take to pour a parking lot? And the reason why I'm telling you this is because we as a church are about to get ready to make some room for God to do what he said he was going to do.

And I just need by two and three people that will tempt and agree with me that God is going to do what he said he is going to do here. Here's what I believe with all of my heart. I believe for the last seven and a half years we've been in this season of planting and watering, planting and watering. In fact, I was talking to Tim Ross about this just a few days ago. I said, bro, I cannot get this off of my heart. He said, fam, two years ago, I preached a whole series called Make Room. I said, oh God.

I said, God, you done got the hearts prepared. So this is what I believe. I believe we've been planting, I believe we've been watering. And now I believe that we're entering into a season of harvest. I believe that the plant is sprouting. I see greed. I see God starting to manifest the things that we've been praying about and believe in God. And here's the thing, I'm not telling you this to hype you up about some false thing. I'm not here to take up a special offering. I'm telling you this because God wanted me to come in here and tell you that it is time to make room and not hold back.

And so I'm preaching not just to you, I'm preaching to the atmosphere. I'm preaching to heaven. I'm preaching to hell. I'm letting the devil know you best get ready. Because cause God's about to send more people who are going to come to know God, grow in faith, and go change the world. They're going to come to know God, grow in faith, and go change the world. So I'll preach until I sweat. I'll preach 'em until my voiceless ho, and I'm letting all of heaven and hell know that God's about to do something special right here in our church, right here in our midst, and we're getting ready to make room.

But every word that's corporate is always personal. Yes, God. Because if God is going to want us to make room, he wants you to make room. So my question is, have you made room for God in your prayers? Have you made room for God in your vision? Have you made room for God in your expectation? Have you made enough room or are you playing it safe? Are you looking for affirmations about what God already told you? Listen, if God told you, you can walk into confidence that whatever he said he's going to do, I don't need nobody to come give me pass on the back. I don't need nobody. To me, I got a word. But here's the amazing thing. As I've been praying for it, I've had five different people come talk to me that I don't even know.

I had one person come up and say, Hey, I don't know if this was for you, but I heard the Lord say expansion. I said, oh God. I had another person come up and say, Hey, listen, I just had this dream. I had this vision that God wants you to somehow dig into this idea of expansion and moving forward and making room. And I said, all right, God, enough is enough. I need to go tell the people because here's the thing, do I know how it's going to work out? No. Do I know how we going to pay for it? No. But I do know if God said it, yeah, that's all I need. Somebody in here, you got a word from God and you are waiting around waiting for another word. Let me tell you, if God gave you a word, you better start making room. You better start busting down walls. You better start ripping up carpet. You better start making room if God told you to do that. Don't wait around for no affirmations. You got all the affirmations that you need.

Is anybody here that believes that?

Now let me tell you. Let me just be very honest with you. I feel very vulnerable sharing that with you because here's, here's Tim Rivers. Here's why I'm like this. God, can you give me a few more specifics? Can I go up there with a plan and be like, Hey, look at the blueprint. God said no, because this is a faith move. Yes. And anytime I'm involved, it's going to require faith. But it's not just my faith, it's your faith. Amen. And it's not just that your faith, it's your faith. It's your faith. Because when all of us believe that God is going to do what he said he is going to do, then God's going to do what he said he is going to do. This is now what's going to happen when you make room. Somebody say, what's going to happen? I'm going to read it to you. Because when the Lord gave me this word about making room, I said, all right, God, how do you want me to preach it? He said, Isaiah 54. I said, dope, I'll do it. And I read the first part and I was like, okay, cool. You told these people to make room, but why?

This is why God told Zion to make room. Isaiah chapter 54, verse number 11, oh, afflicted one storm tossed and not comforting. Behold, I will set your stones in antimony and lay. Lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of a gate and your gates of chair bunks and all your wall of precious stones. All your shall be taught by the Lord. And great shall be the peace of your children in righteousness, you shall be established. You shall be far from oppression. For you shall not fear and from terror, for it shall not come near you. And if anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me. And whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the raver to destroy him and no weapon.

Somebody say, no weapon. No weapon. No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me declares the Lord. What I hear the Lord saying is, if you make room, there is now no weapon that will be formed against you that shall prosper. But if you make the room, I will fill it with your children. I will fill it with your family members. I will fill it with your neighbors. I will fill it with those that have gone far from the Lord. I'll fill it with the person that walked away from the Lord. I'll fill it for the person who's been digging through all types of stuff trying to find Jesus. I'll fill it for the person that's in the streets.

I'll fill it with the person that's addicted with drugs. I'll fill it with the person who's a businessman, but there's a no God. I'll fill it with families that are broken. I'll fill it with people that have been healed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. If we make room, God will fill it. Does anybody believe this in the house? I just need two or three people that believe it in the house. Come on. I need some faith workers right now to believe it in the house. I need somebody to think back over your life, over the word that God gave you. And I need you to understand that now it's time to step out and make room. Quit waiting around for God to speak again. God's already spoken to you, sir. He's already spoken to you. Ma'am. It's time to make room. Oh, it's going to be uncomfortable. It's not going to feel like this. It is. It's always easy. You're not going to know exactly where it's going to come from, but somebody needs to make room for God to do what he said he would do. Would you stand in this place right now?

This is what I hear. This is what I hear. This is what I hear. Some of us have been frustrated by not seeing more from God. And God says, have you made room or have you filled it with stuff? Have you filled it with distractions because you're uncomfortable with making room? You know how awkward it is to have a big house? The image that Isaiah is giving, and Isaiah 54 is that of a woman who is Barron. She has not produced any children. And yet God is coming to her and saying, I want you to go prepare a baby room that that's again, a woman that is Barron. And God says, go make a baby room. There's only one or two ways to respond to that anger at the audacity of God's instruction or build it in faith

Knowing that if God said it, he will perform it. It's the same thing that he did when he performed the miracle of turning the water into wine. His mom came up and said, yo, we ran out of wine we need. And he said, okay, you want me to do what I need to do? You bring me the vessels filled with water, you make the space in the room for me and I'll do the rest. Can we talk about the four men who had a man, their friend who could not walk, who was on a bed, and they came to the front door and the front door was crowded. They could have walked home and said, I'm sorry, bro, we couldn't get in. There was no room. There was no space. But instead they went to look in the window, but the window was crowded. Then they went to the back door, but the back door had all kinds of stuff in it. So they said, you know what? We need God to move and if we need God to move, cause we know that he's able, we got to make space. That's right. So them guys walked up

To the top of the house. I don't know if you ever carried somebody on a gurney. That is not easy. Those guys struggled to get up to the roof without a guarantee. Just by faith, they tore the shingles off. Dust is flying everywhere. Jesus trying to teach Jesus trying to have a nice little sermon teaching people, them jokers are disrupting him. She rock falling. People like what in the world? Somebody probably let a cuss word out. They look up as a big old hole in the roof. Nobody asked the owner, they didn't have insurance back then. Homeowner, is this covered by my homeowner's? Insurance Jedediah? What's our policy? This the big old hole in roof and actually a bed is coming down. Imagine how crazy.

It's one thing to read about it and be like, what? It's nothing thing to think about it. If this was your house. You had a guest of honor there teaching great message. You got a party happening right now. Jesus is teaching. Somebody got the audacity to tear your stuff up and let down this gurney with this personality. Now, we don't have any scriptural evidence that this man even wanted to be here. In fact, the person who is probably the most embarrassed is the dude laying on the bed. I'm sorry, who? Not my idea, but obviously I can't do nothing about this. Right. This is reality. Yeah. The man could. Now he had no choice. Then jokers were so full of faith that they said, we know God is able to heal our friend. We just got to make room. And when the room is blocked, don't hold back. Rip the roof off. And they let him down. And Jesus looks at him and Jesus doesn't say anything to him. He's not like, oh bro, glad you're here. Jesus like, oh, boys are crazy because you know them. Jurors were like looking in there probably so glad that they're not down there. Got the ropes just in case they got to let it go.

Looks at the man, then he looks at it. He goes, you going to be healed. Why? Because them jokers made room. You're going to be blessed because their faith, yes,

Wouldn't stop at the front door. Yes, sir. Their faith wasn't restricted by a crowded window. Their faith wouldn't take no for an answer at the back door. Yes sir. Yes. Their faith was like, by any means necessary, we going to get to Jesus and then Jesus can sort out whether he wants to heal him or not. That's right. And we know that Jesus is able to do whatever he wanted to do. Right? And because of their faith. Yes. That man was healing.

What would happen here with us if we simply made room? I don't know how we're going to bust the shingles off. I'm using that metaphorically. I don't know, but I know what God told me to tell you, and I think the reason why God told me to share it with you is because we need you to pray as myself and the elders are praying about what God wants to do and how we're going to do it. Y'all need to pray because we're a family.

And this is all of us together, making space, making room so that your family members can come in here, so that your children can be blessed so that you don't have to walk 575 blocks. So we have to turn nobody away. God said, make room. So how am I going to pray? How many going to hook your faith on with mine and start praying? God, help us to make room, but don't wait for what's going to happen here corporately. This is the word for you individually. Make room. Evaluate your life. Ask yourself, am I praying prayers that are making room for God? Am I believing that makes room for God? Am I trusting that makes room for God? You're going to feel vulnerable. You're going to feel exposed. You're going to feel uncomfortable. But that's part of making room. God's a faith for God. He is going to do whatever he says he's going to do, but we got to make the space. So now all hands lifted, eyes closed. Jesus, we come to you right now and we make space. We make room. We don't hold back. We trust in you. God. We put our faith and our confidence in you. So Lord, as we move forward, God give us

The strategies. Give us God the specifics. Give us the blueprint and help us to execute on your plan, to do what you've called us to do so you can do what you want to do. God, we don't ever want to be guilty of limiting you or setting boundaries around your infinite ability. Help us to move those boundaries away, the boundaries of human thought, human ambition, the human vision. And help us to embrace the vision that you have for us to fulfill the call of God that you have for us. We thank you in Jesus' name. Somebody put your hands together and give Jesus some praise in the place.