Increase: We Prepare // Pastor Chuck Colegrove // Nov. 9th

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hey, listen, I'm ready to preach God's word.

(00:01):
You ready to receive it today?
Feels like I got a lot of stuffon this table.
The year was 2011, and I was onmy first trip with a group of
pastors to an area in northernMinnesota called the Boundary
Waters.

(00:21):
Initials, it's the BWCA.
Boundary water, uh, and I thinkit stands for canoe area, is
what I've always thought itsaid, because literally on those
lakes, a million square miles oflake water, all connected, um,
moving crazy amounts of water.

(00:42):
And uh so we went there firsttime ever.
There's no motorboats allowed onmost of those lakes.
Um, you have to canoe in, andthen when you get to the end of
one lake, you literally pick upall of your gear and supplies,
and you pick up your canoe, andyou walk up a hill called a
portage to the next lake, putall your gear back in the canoe
and begin to paddle again.

(01:04):
And um some guys go in there fordays and days and days.
Some people travel from that.
We met a group of peopletraveling from that boundary
water area between Minnesota andCanada, and they went all the
way to New York City in onesummer.
I thought that's too much timein a canoe.
Anyway, back to my own story.
2011, we were there for thefirst time, and um, you know, I

(01:28):
like to call it a catching tripbecause it's not just a fishing
trip, because we actually catchfish, like more fish than we
know what to do with, and youdon't bring any of it back
because it's far too long to getback, so you just throw them
back in the water and letsomebody catch it again another
day.
And uh so it's a lot of fun.
You catch massive fish, and Iwas fishing one day and um had a
little bottle of water with me,and finished my bottle of water

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and you know, put the plastic,scrunch it up, and put it in the
back of the canoe to take withme out of there later.
And well, we just kept fishing,and I kept thinking we'd be
going back to the camp anytimesoon.
And the guy I was with, he waslike, No, we're gonna keep
fishing.
And so I was like, I was readyto go back, he's ready to stay
out there longer.
And so I finally was like, Man,I'm super thirsty, but I've I've

(02:11):
I've consumed all my water.
And he's like, Oh, um, you youdo know that we're on like a
million square miles of lake,clean, pure water, and you know
that uh this is good water todrink.
And I was like, Okay, well, Imean, what am I supposed to do?
Scoop it up with my hand?
Like, what?
He's like, Where's your waterbottle?

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I was like, Well, I scrunch itup.
He said, Well, unscrunch it andput your ham in, like past your
elbow, and fill that thing withwater, and you'll be able to
drink that water.
It's that clean.
I was like, okay, and I did, andit was clean, pure, cold,
freezing cold water.
And for the rest of the week, Ijust carried that one bottle and

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filled up that water whenever Iwanted to on that lake.
And and really, it was the yearthat I learned that if you want
the blessing, if you want theblessing, you need a vessel.

Or you could say it this way: God's not withholding blessing (03:05):
undefined
from our lives, he's waiting fora vessel.
So why don't you just turn toyour neighbor and say, Here's my
cup.
And then to the other bump themand just say, It's about to be
filled up.
Beginning a brand new seriesentitled Increase.

(03:29):
On our way to Giving Tuesday,which is the first Tuesday in
December following Thanksgiving,as we accelerate the vision of
the church through ourgenerosity beyond our tithe and
our offering.
And we're gonna camp out in thispassage of scripture right here,
Psalm 65, 10.
Are you ready?
Here we go.
This is what the psalmist writesYou drench the plowed ground

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with rain, melting the clods andleveling the ridges.
You soften the earth withshowers and bless its abundant
crops.
Somebody tell your neighbor,increase.
This series, increase, is um isreally not about um, it's it's

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it's not about addition in ourlife, but it is about activation
in our life.
And I did a word study on theword increase and spent some
time breaking it down, goingback to the root, going back to
how the word was built, how itwas established, how it became a
part of our our language andabout a part of our culture.

(04:38):
And what I discovered is thisword increase, uh, the deeper
meaning of increase is this thepotential is actually already
planted in you, ready to bereleased and fulfilled.
So when somebody says you'regetting ready to experience
increase, it means the potentialis actually already there.
It just needs to be released tobe fulfilled.

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And so, increase is not theaddition of something new, but
it's the release or uh it is therelease of something true.
That God has established in youthe capacity already for
increase in your life.
In fact, God has established inyou all of the miracles and the

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signs and the wonders and theblessings that you could ever
hope for already established inyou.
You need healing, guess what?
He's already paid the price forhealing.
You want freedom, he alreadypaid the price for your freedom.
You need deliverance, he'salready accomplished by claiming
the keys to death, hell, and thegrave.
Listen, God has alreadyestablished it in you.

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It just needs to be released.
And God wants to release it, buthe needs a vessel.
The thing is, that means theblessing doesn't come from out
here, the blessing comes from inhere.
The blessing is already in us.
We just need to know how toactivate it.
So we're talking about Godfulfilling his promise in our

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life.
So I'm gonna give you a coupleof principles of increase, and
then we're gonna talk about howto prepare yourself for
increase.
Because here's what I know onour way to Giving Tuesday,
there's something that happenswhen we uh go above and beyond
in generosity.
We open up a window of heavenand we we have this potential

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within us to be released.
And I don't know about you, buthow many of you want increase in
your life?
So, so check this out.
Let's let's go with theprinciples.
Number one, the principle ofincrease.
Number one is preparationprecedes increase.
The level of increase you wantin your life is gonna re is is

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gonna be very much uh tied tothe level of preparation in your
life.
For instance, if you ever had togo to the DMV or the Secretary
of State office to get yourlicense or your real ID, don't
show up without paperwork.
That little guy meets you at thedoor, says, What you here for?

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I'm here for a driver's licenseand a real ID.
Do you have all your paperwork?
I have my current driver'slicense.
That's not enough.
You need the paperwork.
Uh, don't you dare, couples, togo down the wedding aisle
without a marriage license.
Uh, that happened not too longago.

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I was doing a ceremony, and um Imarried this couple, and I left
in the middle of the receptiontime because honestly, sometimes
I think everybody's just waitingfor the pastor to leave so they
can have fun.
You know, I'm just sitting therelike this.

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So we leave, and it occurs to mewhen we get home that I that I
didn't sign the marriagelicense.
I said, hey, um, just need tomeet up with you to sign the
marriage license.
I didn't, you didn't give methat before I left.
And the groom responded back,what marriage license?
I said, the document you need tosatisfy the requirement of the

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state, according to God's word,you're married, but according to
the state, you are not.
So then they had to come into myoffice on Tuesday, and we did a
ceremony.
So that poor guy has two dateshe has to remember for
anniversaries.
And then they went out of theywent out of the country for an

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out-of-country marriage for thefamily.
Now he's got three.
Listen, I can barely survive onone.
But you have you have to beprepared.
So simply to say this, if youwant increase in your life, you
have to prepare for increase.

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Look at what uh Samuel says tothe Israelites.
He says, prepare your hearts forthe Lord and serve him only, and
he will deliver you.
Prepare your hearts.
The reign of God's blessings maynot be deferred in your life,
but they can be delayed untilthe preparation is complete.

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We have to prepare our hearts,prepare our lives, prepare
ourselves for the blessing.
The second principle of increaseis this the plowed ground
releases the potential.
The plowed ground releases thepotential.
Now, when the ground is dry, andwe we lived near 20 years in

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Texas, and we would see insummertime extensive seasons of
drought and dryness and no,sometimes in Texas it rains
every day, and then sometimes itdoesn't rain for like nine
months.
And when it hasn't rained fornine months and there's no water
on the ground, the last thing weneed is for a heavy rain.
Because that heavy rain, andwe've seen it around here

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through periods of drought, aheavy rain falls on dry ground.
It doesn't rush into the ground,it rushes over the ground.
It causes flooding if theground's not prepared for for
the heavy rain.
That's why when I'm doinggetting my yard ready and I'm
gonna put fertilizer out and I'mgonna treat my yard and get it

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ready, it always says on thelittle note lightly water your
yard in advance of putting thisproduct down so that this
product won't be washed away ifit were to rain.
It's because the ground has tobe prepared for what's about to
come.
And it's the same with you.
Now, check this out.

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In Chronicles, Rehoboam, thisthis is what this is what was
said about his life.
King Rehoboam, he did evilbecause he did not prepare his
heart to seek the Lord.
He didn't do evil because he wasevil.
He did evil because he didn'tprepare his heart.
That's why in Mark 2 and 22, itsays that no one puts new wine

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in old wineskins because the oldwine can't skins can't hold
what's new.
And so you have to make apreparation.
If you want the new wine, you'vegot to make a preparation of the
new wineskin.
You need to be prepared toreceive what God is pouring out.
And God isn't about situationalsuccess.

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God is about sustainable soil inyour life.
It's called good ground.
The good ground of your heart.
And that takes preparation.
And if you're not prepared, ifyour heart's not prepared, this
is what happens.
This is how we know our heart isnot prepared to receive what God
gives us.
When our heart is not prepared,number one, we're gonna think we
did it on our own.

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Or we're gonna think we earnedit somehow.
Or we think we're owed it.
Or the worst part is that we ownit.
So we got to prepare our heartfor what God wants to do in us
so we have the right responsefrom our heart.
So, how do we do this?
How do we get ready?
You wanna get ready forincrease?
Here we go.
Number one, you must believe Godwants to bless you.

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Thank you for that one amen.
That sounds like the first yearof church in the theater.
She's my best amen corner.
I'm gonna do it again.
You must believe God wants tobless you.
Because if you don't believe Godwants to bless you, you have a

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problem with your belief system.
Somebody's told you differently.
Maybe you've experienceddifferently because you haven't
been aligned or prepared.
And I want to help youunderstand God wants to bless
you.
Many times through scripture weread about the blessings of God

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in our life.
And sometimes we we love we lovemen.
We love the verses that havethese promises, but we've got to
be prepared for them.
I I had a friend tell me this ifI'm not getting the results I
believe for, meaning if what I'mseeing isn't lining up with
scripture, I must change mybelief system to experience the

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abundant life God offers.
Meaning, the reason why, I'm notchanging that I believe in God,
but I need to change what Ibelieve about God.
God is not angry, authoritarian,pointing his finger down at me
every time I fail.
God wants good for me.
He wants to bless me fromabundant riches.

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He wants to bless me over andover again, and I must believe
that.
I must believe that God wants tobless me because my beliefs are
tied to my values, and my valuesare tied to my behaviors.
Look at Moses wanted escape, butGod offered deliverance.
David wanted a pasture, but Godoffered a throne.

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Israel wanted a king, but Godoffered a kingdom.
God always is going to go beyondwhat you want and desire because
he's capable of it.
The problem is we run into thisidea of lack mentality.
And back in the garden, Adam andEve, the number one problem they
had was it's it's crazy.

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God says, eat from every tree inthis garden.
From every tree, eat from everytree in this garden but one.
And that one tree is the treethat's reserved.
You can't touch it.
That belongs to me.

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Have all the rest of it, butdon't touch the one.
And you know, you know the thereason why they they fell is
because they the the that thatserpent had them focus their
attention not on all that theyhad access to, but on what they
did not have access to.

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That is the lack mentality, iswhen I focus on what I don't
have instead of what God hasalready given me.
God's already given me so much,but I still sit and I think
about the stuff I don't have.
No, I need to lean in becauseGod's given me so much.
And yes, there's more God wantsto do in me and through me and
for his glory, but I don't focuson what I don't have.

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The other part of the lackmentality is this that it's when
my mindset is too small toreceive what God is releasing in
my life.
That I don't think he's capableof actually opening up the
windows of heaven and pouringout blessings that I can't
contain.
So I'm not gonna test him in mycovenant of finances.
Or I don't think he's capable todo exceeding and abundantly more

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than I could have ever asked foror imagined.
So I'm just gonna limit mythinking.
Listen, we don't we don't needto change, we don't need to
think bigger.
Bigger thinking leads to prideand arrogance.
We need to think higher.
God's ways are higher than ourways, God's thoughts are higher
than our thoughts.
We need to think God's thoughtsover our life, and He wants to
bless you, and you've got tobelieve that.

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A pro golfer, um, Jack Nicholaswas invited by the king of Saudi
Arabia to come and play a roundof golf for play golf for the
week with him and actually givehim some lessons.
And so, so Jack Nicholas goesand he plays golf with the king
and beautiful courses, beautifulweather.
And at the end of the week,Jack's like, Man, I had a great

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time.
Thank you so much.
And the king says, It's mytradition, it's my honor to send
for for you helping me with mygolf game to send you a gift.
And I'd like to send that gift.
And what what would you like meto send?
And and Mr.
Nicholas, like, listen,honestly, it's not it's nothing.
I this is my honor to be here.
I've had a wonderful time.
You've treated me incredibly,you've been so generous.

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There's I didn't I have need ofnothing.
I'm fine.
And the king says, No, I insist,it's it is it's my it would be
I'm offended if you don't allowme to do this.
And Mr.
Nicholas is like, okay, well, ifyou insist, I collect old golf
clubs.
And so Mr.
Nicholas leaves, goes back tothe United States, and a week

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later an envelope arrives, andinside the envelope, when he
opens it up, it says, Pleaseenjoy compliments, and it says
the king of Saudi Arabia.
And he he looks at the papers,and it's the title indeed to an
old uh a golf course, the wholecountry club.
Jack Nicholas was actuallysaying, I collect old clubs.

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And the king's mentality is,well, I'm gonna get him a club.
And so many times in life we areasking God for a club when he's
capable of blessing us with thewhole course.
You gotta believe God wants tobless you.
The second thing that we need tobelieve when we prepare, because

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it is our responsibility toprepare.
Number two, we need to believe,or we need to prepare and plow
the soil of our heart.

unknown (18:31):
Amen.

SPEAKER_00 (18:34):
Listen to this verse in Proverbs.
Says this much food is in thefallow ground of the poor, and
for lack of justice there iswaste.
Now, can I just bring that downto like just a life application
for us?
That the diff, there's adifference between fallow ground

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and plowed ground.
The fallow ground is is not isoverlooked, undercultivated,
overgrown.
Many times it's grown withbriars and thickets, and and you
just drive by a field and youthink, man, nothing to do there.
Man, that ground's terrible.

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There's, man, no, barely anylife there.
No, the reality is that groundholds the same potential as the
harvest fields, but no one'sever done the hard work to
prepare the ground.
You don't get a harvest withoutthe plow first.
And I wonder if that's so muchof an analogy of the condition

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of our hearts sometimes.
That we know the routine, weknow the drill, we know just
enough to experience thepresence of God in our life, and
we know just enough to know thatwhen God's moving, wow, it feels
amazing, and I get a goosebumphere or there, but then we go
out unchanged because we haveallowed our heart to be

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overlooked, undercultivated, andit becomes overgrown with
thickets and briars and patchesthat protect our heart from
being hurt, but don't allow theresult of the harvest God wants
to work through us.
The Bible says, out of theheart, a man speaks.
The abundance of a heart, a manspeaks.

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And we protect our heart.
I wonder if that's whyliterally, I was reading this
stat, it blew me away.
There is one in America, onechurch for every thousand
people.
And yet our country's worse offmorally than we've ever been.
I wonder how many of us areundercultivating our heart.

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We're not willing to do the hardwork of plowing the soil of our
heart with God's word, with thepreached word, with discipleship
through small groups.
And God wants to blesssomething, He wants to increase
your life tremendously, but it'sgonna take some preparation of
your heart.
You're gonna have to plowthrough some of those areas of
your life because there is arain that's coming, and you

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don't want it to flood out, youwant it to fill up to overflow.
This is so critical for us.
Jeremiah 4 and 3, it says this.
This is what the Lord says tothe people of Judah and

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Jerusalem plow up the ground ofyour hearts and do not waste
your good seed among thorns.
Jesus said it like this inMatthew in the parable of good
ground.
He said, Other seeds fell amongthorns that grew up and choked
out the tender plants.
Like, church, I just want tochallenge you.

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God wants to bless you.
There is a principle of increaseover your life that stands with
the promises of God behind it.
But we have to believe God wantsto bless us, and then number
two, we have to do the hard workof plowing the ground of our
heart so that we can receive it.
So that the Bible says God'sword never comes back void.
But man, what kind of harvestare we missing out on because we

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don't spend the time to do thehard work?
But look what look what happenswhen we line up with obedience
and discipleship and we work onour hearts.
Psalm 1.3, that person is like aperson planted by streams of
water, which yields fruit inseason and whose leaf does not

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wither.
And then look at this phrase.
This is a phrase for you tocapture and underline and circle
and have as just an echo of yourheart.
Whatever they do prospers.
Not whatever they think about,not ever what they hope for,
what they do prospers.

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God's not blessing intentions,he's blessing your actions.
And when you do the hard work toprepare, there's a blessing for
your life that is on the way.
Can you receive that word today?