SPEAKER_00: Turn with me to the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3, and we are going to read from verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be reading from the NIV version of scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: And the word of God says as such.
SPEAKER_00: Though the olive crop fails, and the fields produce no food.
SPEAKER_00: Though there is no sheep in the pen and no kettle in the stalls.
SPEAKER_00: Yet I declare to somebody's life there is a yet.
SPEAKER_00: There is a yet.
SPEAKER_00: If you believe there is a yet in your life, let us shout it loudly.
SPEAKER_00: Yet.
SPEAKER_00: Let's shout that word together.
SPEAKER_00: Yet.
SPEAKER_00: And now let's read the remainder of that uh portion of scripture together.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
SPEAKER_00: Yet I will rejoice in the law.
SPEAKER_00: I will be joyful in God, my Savior.
SPEAKER_00: The sovereign Lord is my strength.
SPEAKER_00: He makes my feet like the feet of a deer.
SPEAKER_00: He enables me to tread on the heights.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's give the Lord all the glory.
SPEAKER_00: I welcome you to have your seats.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Allow me also, Pastor Simon, to acknowledge that my dear wife is with us in the second service today.
SPEAKER_00: That's my kate.
SPEAKER_00: And I am a blessed man.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being with us in this service.
SPEAKER_00: Normally, as a family, we attend the first service and then I release them and I remain in the second service.
SPEAKER_00: But today I have made a special request to her to join me and also minister with me at some point.
SPEAKER_00: I bring to us a message titled The Paradox of Uncommon Overflow.
SPEAKER_00: The Paradox of Uncommon Overflow.
SPEAKER_00: Our theme this month is the impartation of uncommon overflow, spirit-led abadance.
SPEAKER_00: And brothers and sisters, the book of Habakkuk is one of the most paradoxical writings in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: And probably you may not have read it.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have.
SPEAKER_00: It is a small book, it is three chapters.
SPEAKER_00: Let me see by a show of hands.
SPEAKER_00: How many have read the whole of Habakkuk?
SPEAKER_00: You have just.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that guy is new to most of us.
SPEAKER_00: Prophet Habakkuk, we don't know much about him.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptures don't really tell us much about who this Habakkuk is.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, if you read what scholars have written, they have suggested, they have given some suggestions, but but directly from the scripture, we do not get to know who this man is.
SPEAKER_00: But as I read the book of Habakkuk, right from chapter 1, one thing I do pick out from the scripture is that Habakkuk was very real with God.
SPEAKER_00: He was very real with God.
SPEAKER_00: He was just human.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he had the anointing of a prophet, but the way he interacts with God, you can see he is just real.
SPEAKER_00: He is authentic with God.
SPEAKER_00: He is not ignorant of the circumstances that are around him.
SPEAKER_00: He does not over-spiritualize things.
SPEAKER_00: He just talks to God and tells him, Ville ground in a sema.
SPEAKER_00: As in our friends from Witon.
SPEAKER_00: In our country, we we must be sensitive to the ground.
SPEAKER_00: What the ground is saying.
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes when you're receiving the word of God, you can say, Pastor, that is a good word.
SPEAKER_00: Lakini ground.
SPEAKER_00: The ground is different.
SPEAKER_00: And so Habakkuk comes before God and he asks God a question.
SPEAKER_00: How long, oh Lord, must I call for help in chapter 1, verse 1?
SPEAKER_00: How long must I call for help?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know whether that sounds a familiar phrase that you can identify with.
SPEAKER_00: That I have been praying, I have been fasting, I have been coming to church, I have been serving faithfully.
SPEAKER_00: How long, oh God?
SPEAKER_00: He goes on to say, but you do not listen.
SPEAKER_00: I am calling on you, but you're not listening.
SPEAKER_00: He is real with God.
SPEAKER_00: And then he tells God, violence.
SPEAKER_00: Again, that's another word in Kenya that is famous.
SPEAKER_00: Violence.
SPEAKER_00: There is violence all over.
SPEAKER_00: He turns around, it is violence everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: And I cry, but you do not come to save.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on to tell God, Must I forever see these evil deeds?
SPEAKER_00: Why must I watch all this misery wherever I look?
SPEAKER_00: And then he is outlining to God the way the ground looks like.
SPEAKER_00: He tells him, I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight.
SPEAKER_00: Ground.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know whether you are identifying with ground.
SPEAKER_00: People who love to fight and people who love to argue.
SPEAKER_00: He's even saying the law has become paralyzed.
SPEAKER_00: We have a constitution, but nobody looks at it.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody does what they think the constitution is saying, but not necessarily what the constitution is saying.
SPEAKER_00: It is paralyzed.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, in fact, things are so bad because the law has become paralyzed and there is no justice in the courts.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the wheels of justice, even in our country, they they they roll very slowly.
SPEAKER_00: Very slowly.
SPEAKER_00: And you can start a case when you have a child who is just being born and they grow old to inherit that case after you because of the wheels of justice.
SPEAKER_00: Ground in Asama Ivy.
SPEAKER_00: Ground.
SPEAKER_00: And Habakkuk is telling him there is no justice in the courts.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, I do appreciate that we have some very honorable judges who are doing everything they must do because some of them represent the kingdom of God and they are committed to see justice is delivered.
SPEAKER_00: But during Habakkuk's time, there is no justice.
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, he says, the wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.
SPEAKER_00: Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by those who are wicked around you?
SPEAKER_00: That is the word he's using, saying the wicked, those who do not care, they are not concerned about the things of God.
SPEAKER_00: Those who have made sin part of their lives, and it has become a culture.
SPEAKER_00: You are working in an organization, for example, where where corruption is a culture, is the order of the day.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody feels anything about it.
SPEAKER_00: You feel overwhelmed.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you are working in an organization where they don't think about morality.
SPEAKER_00: People do what they want to do, they don't care.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the society that Habakkuk seems to find himself in.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore, he presents the ground to God.
SPEAKER_00: And thinking that the ground is so bad, in the same chapter, the Lord replies and he tells him, I am about to do something.
SPEAKER_00: I am about to do something.
SPEAKER_00: He says, For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn't believe, even if someone told you about it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there are things that we can speak from this pulpit.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking about overflow in the current kind of economy that we have, it may sound far-fetched, but God is saying, I'm about to do something, and I am doing it in your time.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: David says, I would have, I would have despaired had I not believed that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
SPEAKER_00: And there are times you can feel like you want to despair.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, God brings in a shocker.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am raising Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Habakkuk thought things were very bad.
SPEAKER_00: Things were very thick.
SPEAKER_00: But God is bringing a message that makes them thicker.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am raising the Babylonians.
SPEAKER_00: Terrible people.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Habakkuk is so shocked.
SPEAKER_00: He comes back to the Lord and says, Ah, looking at the ground, we are better off than the Babylonians.
SPEAKER_00: How can you raise the Babylonians to be your instruments of dealing with the righteous?
SPEAKER_00: We are better.
SPEAKER_00: But we are a little better compared to the Babylonians.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you, God is amazing.
SPEAKER_00: He can even raise your very enemies to be the ones to make a way for you.
SPEAKER_00: He can raise the very wicked around you to be the ones who become the ambassadors of what God wants to do.
SPEAKER_00: God is not limited, he's not a respecter of persons.
SPEAKER_00: And so the argument continues.
SPEAKER_00: And Habakkuk then realizes, because God tells him, even as I raise these wicked people to carry out my judgment, God gives him a statement that is very comforting.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter, uh chapter 2 and verse uh verse 4, he says this chapter 2 and verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: He says, See, the enemy is puffed up, his desires are not upright, but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: What God in essence is saying, I may not change the circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the circumstances may move from one degree of being bad to another degree, they may move from bad to worse, they may move from bad to worst.
SPEAKER_00: But I am saying that the faithful in those circumstances will still live by their faith.
SPEAKER_00: That is what God is saying.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore, Habakkuk, having even examined the economic situation in chapter 3, where we have read, he looks even at the economy and he is defining the economy.
SPEAKER_00: The economy is not growing, the economy is not thriving.
SPEAKER_00: If anything, the economy is almost shutting down because he says, even though the fig trees have no blossoms, there is nothing that is being produced by the land, and there are no grapes, and there are no crops, and there is nothing that we can look up to in terms of the economy that is around us, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You wonder what has happened between chapter 1 and chapter 3, verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Something has happened.
SPEAKER_00: The ground has not changed.
SPEAKER_00: God has not even changed his mind about bringing the Babylonians because later on, actually, Judah will be captured by the Babylonians, invaded by the Babylonians.
SPEAKER_00: That fact has not changed, but something has happened in the life of Habakkuk, an experience that he has at this point that brings him to the place of rejoicing, brings him to the place of an overflow.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to suggest to us, brothers and sisters, that the paradox of uncommon overflow is when everything around us is empty, everything around us is dry, everything around us is barren.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of God causes the believer to overflow in his presence, to overflow in his sustenance, to overflow in his possibilities.
SPEAKER_00: The ground may not change, but you still thrive.
SPEAKER_00: And when we are talking about the presence of God, many times we have limited the presence of God to be in church.
SPEAKER_00: Many times it is on Sunday that we see the way we are singing, we are worshiping, we are lifting up our hands and we are giving testimonies and we say for sure the presence of God was with us.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, many other people think the presence of God is with us when there is good singing.
SPEAKER_00: If the worship team has not prepared well, oh today, today the presence of the Lord was not with us.
SPEAKER_00: If a brother came and and and sat next to you and he has your debt, oh today my um the presence of God was not with us.
SPEAKER_00: Limiting the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, that God's presence in your life is his promise.
SPEAKER_00: It is not your creation, the liability is on him, if I put it that way.
SPEAKER_00: It is on him, he has said, I will be present.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore, because of the presence of God, because he has experienced the Lord, he says, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
SPEAKER_00: The ground has not changed, but I have a covering of the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: The ground has not shifted, but I have one who sticks to me closer than a brother.
SPEAKER_00: The ground has not changed, but there is one who is saying with me, even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will be with you.
SPEAKER_00: And last Sunday, Pastor Simon brought that to us.
SPEAKER_00: The ground has not changed, but he says, I will make a way where there is no way.
SPEAKER_00: My presence will go with you.
SPEAKER_00: It is the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: The difference is the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: No wonder then the children of Israel said, Oh God, Moses cried out to the Lord and said in Exodus chapter 33, Let we are not leaving this place unless your presence comes with us.
SPEAKER_00: And then he argues with God and he says, How will the nations differentiate us if your presence does not go with us?
SPEAKER_00: And so, what is that unique differentiating factor in your life, regardless of the circumstances?
SPEAKER_00: It is not your degree, the degree is good.
SPEAKER_00: It is not your money, the money is good, it is not the resources you have or you don't have, it is the presence of God in your life.
SPEAKER_00: That is what makes the difference.
SPEAKER_00: You could have the same qualifications and walk into an interview.
SPEAKER_00: What makes the difference is that the presence of God has already gone ahead of you.
SPEAKER_00: And what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He just releases favor, releases favor.
SPEAKER_00: You had the same qualifications, maybe some others had even better qualifications than you.
SPEAKER_00: And I will say, God is biased towards his children, his presence will go with you.
SPEAKER_00: It is in his presence that we have fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: It is in his presence, the Bible says tells us that his right hand are pleasures forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: It is his presence that even though we go through famine, even though we go through fire, even though we go through the flood, according to Isaiah 43, verse 2, he is going to lead us through.
SPEAKER_00: In the first service, I ambushed my wife, but in the second service, we at least have an agreement.
SPEAKER_00: So let me kindly request you if you will join me here on stage.
SPEAKER_00: First service Karibu nichoame la kinni second service.
SPEAKER_00: I am okay.
SPEAKER_00: Let's appreciate this wonderful friend of mine as she comes.
SPEAKER_00: I just want you to pick one thing today that the presence of God does not leave you.
SPEAKER_00: Do you realize something has changed?
SPEAKER_00: You don't know what is happening.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you what is happening because you're wondering.
SPEAKER_00: So, what is happening?
SPEAKER_00: It is the presence.
SPEAKER_00: There is presence, there is presence, and you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes God is just standing next to you, he's just beside you.
SPEAKER_00: He may not be speaking, he's just beside you.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, you know, he will walk next to you.
SPEAKER_00: Try to walk.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's just there.
SPEAKER_00: You may not hear him, but he is just there with you.
SPEAKER_00: He is beside you in the marketplace, he's beside you.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he will hold your hand and then you say, Oh, today God is with me because you are feeling him.
SPEAKER_00: You are feeling him, he is here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, the Lord is good and you are happy, you are celebrating.
SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you, he is not, he was not absent when he was not holding your hand.
SPEAKER_00: When you are not feeling him, he was still there.
SPEAKER_00: If anything, it is a choice you have to make to rejoice in the Lord because he is always next to you.
SPEAKER_00: Then sometimes he will talk with you and is talking to you, and hey, today God has spoken to me.
SPEAKER_00: I have heard the voice of the Lord and you are glowing, you are happy.
SPEAKER_00: But then there's sometimes he will also rebuke you because he's God.
SPEAKER_00: He rebukes you because he wants to mold you into what he wants you to be, and so he brings a harsh rebuke.
SPEAKER_00: The good thing is that even when the Lord rebukes you, he never leaves you.
SPEAKER_00: He rebukes you and still remains there.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes couples disagree and one shoots away.
SPEAKER_00: They rebuke each other and then somebody just disappears.
SPEAKER_00: And the wife disappears also.
SPEAKER_00: No, rebuke one another, but stay.
SPEAKER_00: Because there is something about presence.
SPEAKER_00: Even when she is not talking, I will stay.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, those things don't happen in pastors' houses.
SPEAKER_00: They they don't happen.
SPEAKER_00: They they we hear them that they are, oh, she's not talking to me.
SPEAKER_00: One week, we we just hear them.
SPEAKER_00: That uh that that you know that so when when she's silent, I know she's in the presence of the Lord, and and and and and and and and I don't go far away, I just stay near.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the Lord may give her the word that I needed to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: God never leaves you, and there are times he will be patting you at the back because he's encouraging you, he's comforting you, he's releasing his favor over your life.
SPEAKER_00: There are times he surrounds you because the enemy is coming.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy, you don't even see the enemy, he surrounds you so that the enemy can do nothing about you.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of God is not in charge, the presence of God is with you wherever you go.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: And then there are times he just cheers you as you as you climb the heights of life, you know, as you're progressing in your career, as you are progressing in your business, as you are progressing in your marriage, he's just there cheering you.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, That is my daughter, that is my son, I am always with you.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't get anything else in this sermon today, I want you to walk out of this sanctuary knowing that God is with me.
SPEAKER_00: He is with me, and because he is with me, Habakkuk says, it doesn't matter what the ground looks like.
SPEAKER_00: The ground may be collapsing, the ground may not be making sense.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something, Kenyans, Kenyans, and and and we also have Americans here, and I will also speak to them.
SPEAKER_00: This is a word for you, but for Kenyans, we will thrive as believers under this current government.
SPEAKER_00: We will thrive, we will thrive, my friend.
SPEAKER_00: We will thrive.
SPEAKER_00: We are not going to survive.
SPEAKER_00: We will thrive, Gen Z.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you, as you trust in the Lord, you will thrive.
SPEAKER_00: This government cannot destroy your future, you will thrive because your future is not in the hands of a government, your future is in the hands of God, and this very government, God will use it for your future.
SPEAKER_00: Please don't hold on your life waiting for 2027.
SPEAKER_00: I am waiting for 2027.
SPEAKER_00: I'm waiting.
SPEAKER_00: You will see.
SPEAKER_00: God is not a future God, He is a now God.
SPEAKER_00: The government can be a future government, but God is a now God.
SPEAKER_00: He is with you.
SPEAKER_00: And we love our government.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we are the ones who chose the government.
SPEAKER_00: We elected them early in the morning, early, very early, we elected them.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why you keep complaining.
SPEAKER_00: Celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: This is the result of your work.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for them, stand with them and tell God, do what you wanted to do.
SPEAKER_00: Because we have a government.
SPEAKER_00: Americans, the other day you chose our brother, Trump.
SPEAKER_00: You are the ones who elected him.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, don't cry.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to the Lord and say, God is here.
SPEAKER_00: He is here, he's the one in charge of government.
SPEAKER_00: He is in charge of government.
SPEAKER_00: God use him.
SPEAKER_00: You know his dance?
SPEAKER_00: God use him.
SPEAKER_00: Because our thriving is in the presence of God, and America will thrive in Jesus' name, and Europe will thrive in Jesus' name, and Asia will thrive in Jesus' name, and Africa will arise and shine in Jesus' mighty name because we have God's presence on our side.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't leave you because you are dark.
SPEAKER_00: I know Alex Baton wonders between me and him, who is darker.
SPEAKER_00: The difference is you are dark, I am dark, chocolate.
SPEAKER_00: That's the difference.
SPEAKER_00: There's a very big difference.
SPEAKER_00: Those two cannot be God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes you think the Lord is with you when you are loud.
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm loud.
SPEAKER_00: No, God is saying, My presence is with you.
SPEAKER_00: There is an overflow of God's presence.
SPEAKER_00: But quickly, the prophet also realizes that this God is also my sustenance, He sustains me through the thick and thin.
SPEAKER_00: God will sustain you.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, ground has not changed.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in a few more days or a few more years, Judah will be carried away into captivity because the Babylonians will invade.
SPEAKER_00: So the ground has not changed.
SPEAKER_00: God has not changed his mind.
SPEAKER_00: But this God, through prophet Jeremiah, tells the people that I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It was in this context that God is telling them, You are going into a foreign land.
SPEAKER_00: I have not changed my mind.
SPEAKER_00: And you're not going there for two days, you're not going there for three days.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going there for one year.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going there for two.
SPEAKER_00: You are going for 70.
SPEAKER_00: But be I know the plans I have for you.
SPEAKER_00: And the plans I have for you is such that even while there, I am going to sustain you.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why he gives them permission.
SPEAKER_00: He tells them, While you are there, buy land, while you are there, invest.
SPEAKER_00: While you are there, serve in the government like Daniel did.
SPEAKER_00: While you are there, take every opportunity that comes, because I will sustain you.
SPEAKER_00: And then he goes ahead and says, Even while you are there, pray for the prosperity of the land.
SPEAKER_00: Because as the land prospers, you will also prosper.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can imagine the kind of prayer they were praying.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, let us pray, let us pray, let us pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for him and his government.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that he will listen to you.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that he's going to have good policies so that we can thrive.
SPEAKER_00: Bless him.
SPEAKER_00: That is the prayer they had to pray.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Bible says, pray for your enemies.
SPEAKER_00: And it is in that situation that Habakkuk acknowledges that he is not going to survive, he is going to thrive because it is God who is his resource.
SPEAKER_00: When God is your resource, you do not simply survive, you thrive.
SPEAKER_00: It is this God who sustained the children of uh uh Israel in the desert, and they were there for 40 days.
SPEAKER_00: In the desert, by the way, they did not have an economy, they did not have a thriving economy.
SPEAKER_00: They did not wake up in the morning to go and and and and and and tend to their gardens, they were in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: But every morning they woke up to a served breakfast by the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: There were no factories for their clothes.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, even their clothes were not torn.
SPEAKER_00: They wore clothes for 40 years and they were not torn.
SPEAKER_00: They had there was no factory for shoes, yet they still wore sandals and shoes for 40 years.
SPEAKER_00: You wear one for three years, and it it, you know, there is a way the shoe goes like this.
SPEAKER_00: It is telling you, end of my service for you.
SPEAKER_00: But you are still God sustained them until they entered the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: God will sustain you until you enter into his promise.
SPEAKER_00: God will keep you until you enter the place that he wants you to be.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you thought that you have already seen everything that God wants to do in your life.
SPEAKER_00: I am here to shock you, your best days are still ahead of you.
SPEAKER_00: For your family, your better days are still ahead of you.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us think we have already spent, we are spent cartridges.
SPEAKER_00: You are not a spent cartridge.
SPEAKER_00: When you are in the hands of God, he sustains you and you thrive.
SPEAKER_00: He sustained Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah shows up.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Elijah, I was reflecting on that, Pastor Simon.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah just shows up and he says, For three years there will be no rain apart from my word.
SPEAKER_00: Where was he thinking he was going to eat from?
SPEAKER_00: What was he thinking?
SPEAKER_00: How was he going to survive?
SPEAKER_00: And he's not going anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: He's here.
SPEAKER_00: And he has made the declaration.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah knew that if God has said there will be famine, he knows how to take care of me.
SPEAKER_00: And that is why throughout God sustained him.
SPEAKER_00: He ensured that there was a brook for some time.
SPEAKER_00: But of course, nature took its toll and it dried up.
SPEAKER_00: And now he commissions a widow and says, This one is the one who is going to serve you.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to provide for you.
SPEAKER_00: And when other people were in famine, Elijah was eating bread every morning.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of urgency, when he arrived where the widow was, he must have been very hungry.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Go make the first one for me.
SPEAKER_00: We have a little we want to eat and die with our son.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay, we will deal with the death of you and your son.
SPEAKER_00: But for now, make the first one for the man of God.
SPEAKER_00: He sounds selfish.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says, Until the time God brought rain, that flower never went out, that oil never went out.
SPEAKER_00: Until the Lord gets you to where he wants you to be, your flower will never go out, your oil will never go out, your ideas will never go out, your strength will never go out until God gets you where he wants you to be.
SPEAKER_00: God is taking me somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: You may not want to believe it, but I believe it.
SPEAKER_00: God is taking me places.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know where, but I believe it.
SPEAKER_00: I believe it's not yet done.
SPEAKER_00: I believe I've not seen everything, Pastor Simon.
SPEAKER_00: There is more.
SPEAKER_00: He is taking me places, and I know he will take me together with my wife.
SPEAKER_00: I know God is taking me places in terms of family, in terms of my children.
SPEAKER_00: God will do something, they will not be part of Watoto was quizzy.
SPEAKER_00: No, they will be thriving children.
SPEAKER_00: Your children are not Watoto was squeezy.
SPEAKER_00: It is God who sustains them.
SPEAKER_00: They should thrive.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Bible says that they shall be mighty in the land.
SPEAKER_00: They shall be mighty in the land.
SPEAKER_00: They may not look like at the moment, but because God sustains, they will be mighty in the land.
SPEAKER_00: God's sustenance is supernatural, it is unlimited, it is sufficient that even when systems collapse, God remains your source.
SPEAKER_00: And Pastor Simon brought that to us last Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: God remains your source.
SPEAKER_00: But finally, it is the overflow of possibility.
SPEAKER_00: And this is about God's enablement.
SPEAKER_00: You know, this is what Habakkuk realizes.
SPEAKER_00: He says that he makes my feet like the feet of a deer.
SPEAKER_00: Ground has not changed, but my feet are enabled for the ground.
SPEAKER_00: Then he says, and uh he enables me to tread on the heights.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that them that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall walk and not grow weary, they shall run and they will not faint.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, they shall fly, they shall soar with wings like an eagle.
SPEAKER_00: They will sow high and high.
SPEAKER_00: And let me say this: God causes you to sow high and high with what you have.
SPEAKER_00: He will not take eagles' wings and put them on you.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if we found you with wings like this, we will run away.
SPEAKER_00: But you will still be sowing high because he will cause you to rise with what you have.
SPEAKER_00: God is a God of possibilities, he is a specialist on possibilities.
SPEAKER_00: He never runs out of ideas.
SPEAKER_00: He will he will give you strategies, new strategies.
SPEAKER_00: When the ones you have have have eaten a snug, he will give you a new strategy, he will give you wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom from above, he will give you strength, supernatural strength, so that you can thrive.
SPEAKER_00: Ground has not changed, but you can sow above the ground.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that when the enemy comes in like a flood, he will allow him to come, but he will raise a standard against him.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says David says he prepares for me a table in the presence of my enemies.
SPEAKER_00: When they think they have locked me out, when they think they are done with me, he create he prepares a table, and the next minute they were seeing me languishing, they were seeing me crying, the next minute they see me feasting, because he prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies.
SPEAKER_00: Uncommon overflow is not about escaping difficulties, but it's about being empowered to thrive in God.
SPEAKER_00: God enables us to climb higher, he enables us to dream bigger, and he enables us to accomplish those things that seem impossible, and that's why we sing God will make a way.
SPEAKER_00: Say, God will make a way where there seems to be no way, and you're wondering what happened, how did this even come to happen?
SPEAKER_00: It is because the presence of God is with you, it is because he sustains you, and it is because he makes a way, he is a way maker.
SPEAKER_00: This God of ours is a way maker, this God of ours is a miracle worker, this God of ours is the King of kings, and He is the Lord of Lords.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why then we see Jesus sitting with his disciples, and they're having the last supper, and he tells them, I am about, the enemy is about to strike, and they move from the upper room and they go to get the money, and Jesus is walking a very tight rope.
SPEAKER_00: He goes before the Lord and he says, God, my father, if it is possible, let this come pass.
SPEAKER_00: But not my will, but your will.
SPEAKER_00: The father is present.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what has started happening in the life of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Even his close friends could not intercede.
SPEAKER_00: They were sleeping.
SPEAKER_00: There are times you will find yourself in situations that nobody even wants to identify with you, nobody wants to identify with your burdens.
SPEAKER_00: But I am here to declare to you that even in such moments, the father is with you.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus is crying out to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And in a moment, the enemy comes and Jesus is arrested.
SPEAKER_00: God's presence is still with him, God is sustaining him.
SPEAKER_00: Though the ground is shaky, though the ground is that the Son of God is in the hands of wicked men, God does not remove him from there because God has a plan.
SPEAKER_00: He is a God of possibilities, and he allows the people to slap him, he allows the people to spit on him, and the disciples desert him.
SPEAKER_00: Even those who had promised that we will never leave you, we will always be with you.
SPEAKER_00: They took off.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that some even took off, leaving their clothes behind.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus was left with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: He was left with the Father of presence, he was left with the father of sustenance, he was left with the father of possibilities, because in God's mind he had you and me.
SPEAKER_00: And the following day he allowed him to be in the hands of wicked men, and they nailed him on the cross and they mocked him while he was there.
SPEAKER_00: They said, If God is your father, come down.
SPEAKER_00: If you are the healer, come down, save yourself.
SPEAKER_00: They said all manner of things.
SPEAKER_00: God had the capacity to bring him down, but because he had me in his mind, because he had you in his mind, because he had your future in his mind, he allowed his son to die on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And they took him to the grave.
SPEAKER_00: God was thinking about you.
SPEAKER_00: When his son was in the cross, you are in God's mind.
SPEAKER_00: When his son was in the grave, you are in God's heart.
SPEAKER_00: When his son was down there alone, you were in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: He was thinking about you and me.
SPEAKER_00: And on the third day, God of possibilities raises him from the dead so that today I have salvation.
SPEAKER_00: So that today I have hope.
SPEAKER_00: So that today I have a future.
SPEAKER_00: The ground will not change, but I have salvation.
SPEAKER_00: The ground will not change, but I have hope.
SPEAKER_00: The ground will not change, but I have a presence.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of God is with me.
SPEAKER_00: He sticks with me, he walks with me, he is in your situation, he never leaves you.
SPEAKER_00: Just turn around and see him.
SPEAKER_00: He surrounds you because his presence is enough.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need anything, you need his presence.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus died on that cross.
SPEAKER_00: So that today you can walk on any kind of ground because he is with you.
SPEAKER_01: Give him glory.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you are wondering, is he doing anything today?
SPEAKER_00: He is also doing something now.
SPEAKER_00: So we are going to declare once again with a conviction that he is doing something great now.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: This is in the now.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: He is doing great things.
SPEAKER_00: Something that you're going through, and you are declaring to that situation that God is doing something great now.
SPEAKER_00: So one more time.
SPEAKER_00: Declare with conviction hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: That family situation, he's doing something.
SPEAKER_00: That sickness, he is doing something.
SPEAKER_00: That family, he's doing something.
SPEAKER_00: That business, he is doing something.
SPEAKER_00: He's doing something about it.
SPEAKER_00: That promotion that you are thinking about, he's doing something about it.
SPEAKER_00: He's doing something about it.
SPEAKER_00: Speak to it now through this song.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: In that dark situation, God is doing something, He's making a way.
SPEAKER_00: Declare it.
SPEAKER_00: Declare it in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're here and you're thinking, no, my it my problem is not now.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm okay.
SPEAKER_00: But I am worried about the future.
SPEAKER_00: I am wondering what it shall be like.
SPEAKER_00: I want to encourage you that even in the future, he will do great things.
SPEAKER_00: And so now that future that you are afraid of, declare to it that he is doing he's going to do great things.
SPEAKER_00: Let us be on our feet as we declare that even in the future, he will do great things.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: One more time he will do great.
SPEAKER_00: God will do something.
SPEAKER_00: God will do something supernatural.
SPEAKER_00: An overflow of his presence, an overflow of his sustenance, an overflow of possibilities.
SPEAKER_00: Just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Just speak to him.
SPEAKER_00: Speak to him.
SPEAKER_00: Connect with his word.
SPEAKER_00: Acknowledge his presence in your life.
SPEAKER_00: You may want to repent where you have doubted his presence, where you have stood like harak and wondering, where are you, God?
SPEAKER_00: Today you want to say, God, forgive me because you have always been with me.
SPEAKER_00: And from today, I want to trust that you are with me.
SPEAKER_00: You are with me in every circumstance.
SPEAKER_00: You are with me in every situation.
SPEAKER_00: Tell him you acknowledge his presence, moving forward in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you are listening to this sermon, you are here in the sanctuary, you are online, you are at the pavilion, and you have never given your life to the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is inviting you.
SPEAKER_00: It is you he had in mind when he went to that cross, when he went to that grave, it is you that he had in mind.
SPEAKER_00: And today he's inviting you that if you put your faith in him, he will save you, he'll come into your life, and his presence, God's presence, will be upon you.
SPEAKER_00: And if that is your desire today, if that is your decision today, through this short prayer of faith, something is going to happen in your life today.
SPEAKER_00: Something new will happen.
SPEAKER_00: And you just need to say, Lord Jesus, I am a sinner, I need a savior.
SPEAKER_00: I do acknowledge that you are the only savior.
SPEAKER_00: And today, by faith, I open the door of my heart so that you can come in and be Lord and Savior over my life.
SPEAKER_00: I receive today the gift of salvation by faith and invite your presence, invite your sustenance, invite all your possibilities to be my portion as you become Lord and Savior in my life.
SPEAKER_00: If you have prayed that prayer, Jesus has come into your life.
SPEAKER_00: You are a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: The old has gone, and behold, you are new, and you can celebrate the King of Kings in your life because that has happened.
SPEAKER_00: We will encourage you to connect with us.
SPEAKER_00: Let us know that you have given your life to Jesus so that we can walk with you.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Today, as you leave this place, the presence of God is with you on Monday.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of God is with you on Tuesday.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of God is with you on Wednesday.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of God is with you on Thursday.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of God is with you on Friday.
SPEAKER_00: On Saturday, the presence of God remains with you.
SPEAKER_00: And because of that, you are sustained.
SPEAKER_00: Because of that, you are thriving.
SPEAKER_00: Because of that, ground will not be a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Because you will scale every height throughout this week in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And Sunday you come with a testimony that though the ground did not change, God has been with me.
SPEAKER_00: Receive this blessing in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And how may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: God bless you.