Pastor Jason Anderson - Audio

Ephesians tells us to "redeem the time," and that includes the past. When we don't deal with the past, we carry it around with us--anger, bitterness, pain--feeling like damaged goods. Our experiences want to become a part of who we are, but Jesus wants to redeem them. Don't let your past mess with your path. Let the Lord find victory in your defeated places, redeem your past, and restore what was stolen.

God doesn't just plan the future. He plants the future. He secures the future with seed. If we want next year to be different from this year--if we're going to alter our future from where we are now--seed is the key. What we plant matters. What do you want for your future? For your marriage? For those around you. Do you want joy? Romance? Happiness? Health? He gives us appointed seed to secure His future for us. Our job is to sow it.

Sometimes it appears that our prayers go unanswered--we prayed and prayed, but nothing moved. We are looking right at the problem, and there it still is. The bill didn’t go away. The job didn’t change. The health issue remains. The kids are still running from God. Abraham dealt with unanswered prayer, and yet he won. I want to talk to you about unanswered prayer and the power of perseverance.

God has given us the victory, and we know that anyone who calls upon the Lord shall be saved. There is a victory that Jesus provided for us that comes from us taking our position in His authority. We are not victims of circumstance; we are called to be mighty in the land. This is where we start.

Throughout the Bible, the Lord says, "Fear Not!" Fear wants to control you--to tell you what to do--but it will limit your life and keep you from God's best. It often comes at times of great opportunity--a new beginning, a dream, a promotion. Your breakthrough is about to happen. Something big is just around the corner; don't let fear steal it. Learn to defeat the control of fear in your life.

Your position in life matters, and all of your potential means very little when you're out of position. There is a place for the Lord's provision. If you aren't experiencing God's best in your life, get positioned for provision.

Too often, prayers seem to go unanswered, and it can be frustrating. The job didn't get better, the healing didn't come, the kids keep running from God, you prayed to do well on the test, but it still went badly. You know prayer works because you've seen it, but sometimes it doesn't work. In this message, "How Do I Pray? Developing a Life of Effective Prayer," learn the key to effective prayer.

Two thousand years ago, the Lord gave us Jesus. Why? "That you might have life... abundant life." Jesus paid a great price for us to have a great life, full of love, laughter, and relationship, living in His promises. It's easy to get frustrated and lose hope, but don't! There is a secret to dwelling in the promises God has given us.

Sometimes we have to let go of the old things in our lives. They used to work, but they don't anymore--old ways, old regrets, old wounds, old insecurities. That's who we used to be, and we're not taking the old stuff with us into a new year. Let it go!

"You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance." (Psalm 32:7) Can you hear the songs around you? Whether or not you hear them, songs of deliverance surround you. But God isn't just delivering you; His intention is to deliver the enemy into your hands that you would participate in the deliverance. He is the deliverer; you are a weapon of war. Do you hear the song of deliverance?

Others want to tell you who God is and what He does, but we have to seek to see who Jesus is for ourselves. The Bible says that Zacchaeus "sought to see who Jesus was." He pressed through the crowd, ran ahead, and climbed a tree to get a glimpse of Him. Jesus is who you need Him to be at any moment. Have you seen Him? Seek to SEE Him, press through, and experience your breakthrough.

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, the elders obtained a good testimony." (Hebrews 11:1-2) Many Bible heroes got a "good testimony" because they believed God. Maybe there are stories in your life that aren't so good—stories of loss and defeat where the enemy came in and left a mess. Fear wants to write your story. Discouragement wants to author the next chapter, but don't let it. Get a better story. Faith in God will change your story. Say no to fear and doubt. Say, "I believe God." He has a great story for you, but He needs you to believe. God is in control of a life submitted to Him in faith. Learn how faith can change YOUR story.

In the world today, we see a lack of faithfulness, trustworthiness, commitment, character. Psalm 18:25 says, "To the faithful, you show yourself faithful." God is faithful, but not everyone gets to see that faithfulness. Jesus said it this way: "When you are faithful with little, God will make you ruler over much."

What we contemplate is what we reflect. So often, we take our contemplator, and we reflect upon the wrong things. How they treated you at work, the bad report, what that person said to you, how you got cut off on the road. You contemplate how forgetful your husband is or how naggy your wife is. Or teens, contemplating how unfair it all is. Our contemplation is creating our reflection. Instead, we need to be contemplating what God has done for us, what He holds in eternity, and our life and our world will begin to reflect the glory of God. If we want transformation, our part is the contemplation.

Too many people go around feeling wrong about themselves, full of self-doubt, and down on themselves. When you do this, you are limiting yourself. You're pushing back on supernatural opportunities and stagnating your growth. The world will tell you what's wrong with you. Satan is going to lie to you and make you think you can't win. There is plenty against you; you don't need to be against you too. You are a tree, a flourishing tree, not perfect, but a work in progress. God is growing you, so remove the limits and agree with what God says about you.

The world wants you to be a victim, but you aren't a victim, you are a victor! You are still here, and it's time to flip the switch. The things you've been through are an indication of what you are capable of--what you are called to do. Jesus, Moses, Daniel, and many others in the Bible faced impossible odds, awful circumstances, rejections, humble beginnings. Satan was unleashing all hell to try and stop God's purpose. In the same way, Satan is terrified of the potential he sees in you, which is why he works hard to keep you addicted, hurting, pressured, nervous, and afraid. But the same life experience that appears to have marked you for defeat is actually the mark of a hero. You've been marked for greatness.

God produces life in us by sowing seed in our hearts. We sow into our future, with our thoughts, our words, and our actions. Too often, we give up on the seed too early. Be patient. Wait for it. Expect it. You will reap what you've sown. "And He said, 'The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.' " (Matthew 4:26-27)

It's easy to be worried, fearful, discouraged, angry... distracted from all that God has for you. Satan is a roaring lion, the young lion in the pack who roars a lot, trying to get one to peel off from the herd. He's loud, and it can be distracting. But God reminds us in His word to "forget not all His benefits." "Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits." (Psalms 103:1‭-‬2 NKJV)

It's way too easy to do unto others as they do unto you. They hit you; you hit back. They tweet about you; you tweet back. They talk bad about you; you talk bad about them. Because, "Hey, you reap what you sow!" Oh, but there is a more excellent way. Jesus taught it, and He lived it."But to you who are listening, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you... Do to others as you would have them do to you... Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." (Luke 6:27-36)