Well, good morning church. Oh, come on. Good morning. Good morning.
Hey. Well, today we're going to continue with our series on increase. And today's message is something God's really been speaking to me for the last couple months, but really just haven't really got to the point of preaching a message on it yet. But today I want to talk about increasing your capacity for more.
That everybody has a certain amount of natural capacity. We talk about what capacity is. Let's just talk about capacity from a natural physical standpoint, just to kind of get a frame of reference for what it is. So capacity really has to do with really two things.
It has to do with ability or an amount, either an amount or an ability. It can be in a mouth. It can be held or produced. You think of it as if you think about the stadium across the street.
Has a capacity of probably, I'm sure Dave would know, but it's probably six or eight thousand people in the seats. And I know we've had up to fourteen thousand probably for homecoming. Fifteen thousand. Okay.
But there's a capacity that the stadium can hold. Now, can the capacity of that stadium grow? It could, right? We could add on.
We could build up. We could add more seats. So, so capacities can grow. We think of factories.
Like if something's operating three shifts a day, eight hours a shift, 24 hours a day, say it's operating at full capacity. Like we could add more buildings. We could add more people. We could add more equipment.
And we could increase that capacity. Capacity also has to do with the ability. We talk about somebody. You might say, hey, they have a tremendous capacity to do things.
Like they've been naturally gifted. They can just do it. Maybe they've developed their capacity. Maybe they've practiced and they've just gotten better over time.
And of course, I like this. It's beyond his capacity to follow simple constructions. Do you know anybody like that? Like you should have more capacity than you do.
Like this isn't that hard. But everybody, no matter what their capacity is, no matter what a physical structure is, that capacity can grow. That capacity can grow. And I want you to think about this from a spiritual standpoint, can your capacity grow?
Can there be more? Does God have the ability to give you more? Does God have the ability to do more in your life? Does God have the ability to use you at a greater level of capacity?
Does God have the ability to use you at a greater level to make a greater impact in the lives of other people? Yes, yes, yes. Because Psalm 145 verse 7 says this, the Lord is great and his strength is limitless. It's limitless.
It says he has limitless strength. Like Jesus lives from the realm of all possibilities. Like there's nothing impossible when Gabriel comes to Mary. And she says, how can this be?
And he said, with God, all things are possible. And there's nothing that is impossible with God. And we look at Isaiah chapter 9 verse 7 in the message translation, it says that of the increase of his government peace, there will be no end. But like this one says, there will be no limits to the holiness that he brings.
If you have anything broken in your life, if you have anything missing in your life, there's no limit to his ability to restore that thing in your life, to bring complete holiness in every area, every arena of your life. You were made in God's image. If you've accepted Jesus as your Savior, the limitless God lives inside of you. Like his willingness and ability to do, to give, to provide is only limited by your capacity to receive or believe.
If you think that Jesus went to his hometown, it says he could do no great miracle there except he'll effuse sick people because of their unbelief. It says in Matthew 1358 or Mark chapter 6 verses 5 and 6. It says he marveled at their unbelief because literally here's Jesus who has the ability and the willingness to do every miracle do anything. But literally is limited because of somebody's unbelief that their capacity to believe and receive what he has actually limited his ability to do, which was limitless.
Let's assume for a minute, let's say you had the number one world-renowned architect living in your basement and you wanted to remodel your house. Who would you talk to? The guy in the basement. Do you guys watch the World's Strongest Man?
Like these guys from Sweden? Big guys! Like what if the World's Strongest Man was living in your basement and you needed to remove your refrigerator? Like what would you do?
You'd go knock on his door? What if the number one surgeon in the world, most world-renowned surgeon most sought after, was living in your house? And you had a disease. You'd go knock on his door.
See, you have all of that and more with Jesus living in you. Like there's no problem he doesn't have a solution for. There's no sickness that he hasn't already healed. There's no brokenness that he hasn't already made payment to restore.
There's no confusion that he can't bring an answer to. See, my Bible says this. It says, now unto him, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that lives in us. Like his ability to do is beyond my ability to ask or think, but that same power, that deunamist, meri-wor-working power, his ability to do is according to the same power that lives in me.
Like you have unlimited potential inside of you in the form of the Holy Spirit. But some of us need to expand our capacity to receive and even believe all that God has for us. So it's that that I really want to talk about today. I want to read, we're just going to look at five verses from Isaiah 54.
And then we're going to go back and really spend the time. We're going to look at verse one separately versus two and three and then verses four and five. But I want to really address today three areas that can be potential limitations. Three areas in your life that can be potential limitations.
With each one of these potential limitations, the writer of Isaiah gives a promise to hold one too. He says, here's an issue or here can be an issue. Here's something that can limit your ability, your capacity. But here's a promise to go with it.
And then between the problem and the promise, I'm going to give you some instruction on what to do, how to walk this thing out. And so we're going to look at that today. Three things. And you're going to see as we get to each one of them, it's going to say your problem, his promise, your place, his promise, and your past his promise.
And we're going to look first at a problem. It can be a physical issue. There can be a physical issue in your life that you've been dealing with for years. That can be something that can be limiting your ability to believe or receive.
When we talk about place, expanding the place of your tent, it really has to do with perspective. That you can have ceilings and curtains that you're residing in that's actually limiting you from seeing what God wants to do. And you can also have things that have crept up in your past. We heard Kim say something about her past earlier, but your past can actually be one of those things that limits your ability and capacity to receive from God.
So with each one of those, I want to stir your faith today. I want to build your faith today. I don't want to give you some kind of seven steps of self help, but I want to give you God's word and God's promises and something you can actually believe in and walk out and increase your capacity for all that God has for you. You guys ready?
Yeah. Now, before we got Isaiah 54, some people will say, don't let anybody ever cheat you out of things that God has written in his work. Somebody will say, well, that was the old covenant. It wasn't the old covenant.
Some people say, we're taking it out of context. This was written to the Jews who were in Babylonian captivity at the time. That is true. But here's what's great.
The Apostle Paul quotes Isaiah 54 in Galatians chapter four verse 27, and he applies it to the new covenant in the old covenant. He applies it to Hagar and Sarah, which were Abraham's wife and Abraham's wife's servant. And he applies it to law and grace and he applies it to us today. So the fact that the Apostle Paul used it in Galatians four, twenty seven, I'm claiming it for us today.
And it is applicable to us today. And God has a word for us today, I believe. So Isaiah 54, if you have your Bibles, we're going to read it and then we'll go back through it. So just five verses today.
It says, sing, O Baron, you who have not born, break forth into singing and cry loud. You who have not labored with child for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman says the Lord, and large the place of your tent. Let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
For you shall expand, that word also is increased. You shall expand to the right and to the left and your descendants will inherit the nations and make desolate cities inhabited. Do not fear for you will not be ashamed, neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
For your maker is your husband. The Lord of Host is his name and your edeemer is the holy one of Israel. He is called the God of the whole earth. Wow.
Now if that doesn't say increase, I don't know what does. I don't know what does. He says you who are barren, you who are desolate. So he's actually speaking here prophetically about a woman that's not only barren, she cannot produce kids, but she's also desolate.
That can mean one of two things. It can mean that she's been abandoned by her husband or that her husband has died later in this. We see that she was widowed. It says you'll forget the shame of the reproach of your widowed.
Do not remember it any longer. So think about this. Not only is she barren, not only does she not have the ability to produce kids, but she is not in a relationship where kids could even be produced if she would be healed. It's like a double negative.
She's barren and she's desolate. She's alone. She's been abandoned. And so there's literally no possibility for this woman to ever bear kids.
And he says this. He says sing, O'Baron, you who have not born. So she's never had a child. Break forth into singing and cry aloud.
You who have not labored with child. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman. He says you might be in a situation that looks bleak. You might be in a situation that looks hopeless.
You might be in an impossible situation. This woman was not just barren, physically unable to have kids, but she is not in a covenant relationship with a man. Like there's no possible way. And he says, but your kids are going to be more than the kids of the woman who's currently married.
In between the problem, in between the physical issue and the promise, God says I want you to do something. He says, you're barren right now. You might see the situation now. You might look at a hopeless situation now, but I'm going to tell you that your kids are going to be more than the kids of the one that's currently married, the one that's currently healthy, and the one that has the ability to have kids.
But between there and here, I want you to do something. Sing. He says, I want you to sing. I want you to cry aloud.
I want you to break forth with singing. When the apostle Paul, when he translates this in Galatians 4, 27, he translates the word sing with the word rejoice. Rejoice means to make merry. It's the same word that she was in Luke chapter 15.
You remember the story, the prodigal son? Right, what's the dad say? After the son returns home, he said, my son who was dead is alive again. My son who was lost is now found.
Bring the cat-a-bat. Bring the cat-a-bat. Bring the fatted calf. Kill it, and let's make merry.
And it said, so they killed the calf, and they began to be merry. Like, do you think when the prodigal came home, he was like, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo? Oh, my son, he's home. He's home.
He's home. We thought he was dead, but he's alive. We thought he was gone for good, but he's back. Go get the cow.
Kill that thing. And let's have a party. Let's party. That's what he's saying.
So when he says, I want you to sing, he's not talking about kumbaya. No. He's talking about let the dead bones sing. We sang it earlier this morning.
Right? See, this word's sing. I've told you this before, but I want to read it to you. I actually, Seth brought this up a couple weeks ago, but Seth said, hey, this is what Fred told you.
When he said shout to the bare woman. Now, let me just clarify. I never said shout to a bare woman. Like, that's a different time and space.
What the verse says is, tell the barren woman to shout. There's a difference between shouting to a bare woman and telling a barren woman to shout. So I just want to clarify that today. My Bible doesn't say shout to the bare woman, but it says, let the barren woman shout.
Let the barren woman rejoice. When this verse sing is first used, it's used in Leviticus 9. Leviticus 9, I'm sorry, Moses and Aaron are just dedicating the temple. They get the temple, they follow all the instructions that God gave them, and it says they brought a sin offering.
They brought a burnt offering. They brought peace offerings. They brought a wave offering. The people also brought sin offerings, and it says to bring a lamb of the first year without spot or blemish.
How many now I'm going somewhere? And it says, when they brought the sacrifices, they sacrificed all these things on the altar. They blessed the people, and it said that the fire of God came down and consumed the sacrifice. So here's the sacrifice for sin, the lamb without blemish is on the altar, and the fire of God falls and consumes the sacrifice, and the people went, tomb by YAH.
No, they went, my God. Unbelievable. It says they shouted and fell on their face. Do you realize Isaiah 54 follows Isaiah 53?
Is your capacity able to accept that? Right? What comes after 53? Do you know what happens in Isaiah 53?
It says, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of my peace was upon him. Our sin was laid upon him. By his stripes we were healed.
Isaiah 53 prophetically talks about Jesus on the cross, bearing our sin, bearing our shame, bearing all of our guilt and sickness, and the fire of God comes down. All the wrath of God and consumes the sacrifice. Can you shout about that? See, you can shout in the midst of your sickness because 2,000 years ago, the sacrifice was consumed.
Like, you don't have to worry about it. He's already paid for it. Like you think you're shouting before the manifestation, but you're actually shouting after the provision. It's already been provided for.
See, you're not the sacrifice. He was. I can shout because of what he did. It says they shouted.
The new English says, the N.E.T. they shouted loudly. They shouted with joy, the N.L.T. Like they were excited.
Right? Like do you think the Swifties get excited when Taylor Swift comes out? You know it. Hey, you weren't here.
I got a Swiftie T-shirt and I got a Swiftie bracelet. They were gifts for my good friends, Gretchen and Grace. Do you think the Chiefs fans shouted a little bit two weeks ago? Just a little bit.
Just a little bit. Next slide. Think about what Abraham did. Do you realize?
Think about this. It says Abraham did not consider his own body as dead, even though he was 100 years old. So, here, his wife, remember Sarah was bearing? Sarah couldn't have kids.
She's bearing. She's 90. Abraham's 100. There was a time 14 years ago when he could have had kids and he did his name was Ishmael and had with Hagar.
But now fast forward to he's 100. It ain't working. He had a commission. And it says, being not weak in faith, he didn't consider his own body now dead.
So, here we've got a barren woman and a dead husband. But what did he do? He said he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. In the midst of his deadness, in the midst of Sarah's bearing this, he praised God because he had a promise and he judged God faithful to keep not only his ability to do, but the fact that he would perform the thing that he promised that he would.
See, when you have a promise from God, you can shout and praise him before the thing actually physically manifested because spiritually it already manifested 2000 years ago. It's like it's just not in the physical realm yet. But spiritually, it's done. Like, it should be a no-brainer.
But our capacity to believe that is shaped by our physical circumstance and not the reality of the provision that Jesus made. See, in the song we sang earlier, I took a picture of it. I can't remember what it said now, but it was good. What did it say?
It said, your thoughts define me, you're inside of me, you are my reality. Like the reality of what he did is more real than the reality of what you're going through. Like, that's what you got to believe. So, no matter what your physical condition, no matter what your problem, no matter what it is, his ability and willingness to fix it, restore it, repair it.
Make it better, is unlimited. You got to increase your capacity to believe that. Next, your place, your place. Enlarge the place of your tent.
Notice it doesn't say enlarge your tent. It didn't say enlarge your tent. It says enlarge the place of your tent. We're going to come back to this in a few minutes and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
For you shall expand, increase to the right and to the left, and your defendant's defendant's. I'm thinking of a defender. And your descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited. Enlarge the place of your tent.
Look at what these words mean. I just got to look for it. Enlarge to grow wide, to broaden, to make room. Grow wide to broaden, to make room.
See, sometimes we can get so stuck in our own tent that we're limited by what we can see because we don't have the ability to see what's outside the tent. See the curtains in the ceiling of the tent become our limitation. It says place is a standing or spot used widely of locality figuratively of a condition of the body or the mind. So if you're in a tent, think about that.
So if I'm going to explain, the place of my tent is my campsite. Think of it like that. Can I put a bigger tent on a smaller campsite? No.
If the tent's going to grow, what do I have to do first? I've got to make the site bigger. I've got to make the place bigger. Guess what I can't do from inside the tent.
I can't make the place bigger on the outside when I'm on the inside. See, everybody talks about getting out of the four walls of the church, but how about getting out of the four walls of your head? This is the bigger problem. Because this is a bigger limitation than this.
See, we say stuck in our tent. They're like, well, I don't believe it because I can't see it because all I can see is a bunch of canvas, three feet above me. I can see canvas to the left, canvas to the right, and canvas overhead. That must be all there is.
And God says you need to get out of the tent and make room around the tent so that you can grow into the tent. Grow into what I have for you. See, what did God tell Abraham? He said your descendants will be as the dust of the ground, as the sand of the sea, and as the what?
Stars of the sky. In Genesis chapter 14, it's when Abraham meets Melchizedek, and he refuses from the king of Sodom all the wealth of all those nations the king of Sodom had. In Genesis 15, he's sitting there and kind of like, what did I just do? And then he says to the Lord, he says, what will you give me seeing I go childless?
And the one born in my house will be my heir. He's basically saying, like, I have all this stuff already. Genesis 13 says that he was rich and livestock and all kinds of stuff. Abraham had material wealth, but he didn't have a successor.
He had a slave successor, but not a son of promise successor. And he says to God, what will you give me seeing I go childless? And what did God do? He's in a tent because in Genesis 15, 5, it says, God brought him outside.
And he said, when you're in your tent, you can't see the stars because your descendants will be as the stars of the sky, but all you can see right now is some camel hair. And if you want to get beyond the camel hair, you got to come out of the tent and look up. And see, God says, I've got stars for you, and you're settling for camel hair. And I want to bring you out who wants camel hair.
Like, other than John the Baptist, nobody. Like, if you want locust and camel hair, I don't know about you. But see, God brings him outside until he gets in an hour where he can see. Then it says, and he shows him the stars of the sky.
And Genesis 15, verse 6, it says, and Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. He couldn't believe until he could see, and he couldn't see as long as he was in the tent. Because as long as he was in the tent, his capacity to believe was limited. But once he got out and could see what God was talking about, he could put faith in that.
Man, I'm excited today. I told Seth I got so much in me, I don't know if I'll get it out. Get out of that tent. Next slide.
See, notice it says, before you can stretch the curtains, you've got to make room. So think about this. The Holy Spirit lives where? Inside of you.
You're called the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. Your body is called a tent. Some of you need to make room in your tent for what the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life. See, there's a physical application to this.
There's a mental application, but there's also a spiritual application that God wants to flow through you. But you've kept the tent of your body to like, I'm not letting him there. I'm not letting him there. But he said, I want you to make room.
You need to expand the place of your tent. After you do that, like, it doesn't do any good to stretch the curtains, lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes if there's nowhere to put it. You've got to make room first. And after you make room, these other things are subsequent efforts.
But notice who doesn't stretch the curtains. You don't stretch your own curtains. All these other ones say, it says, I want you to enlarge the place of your tent. I want you to lengthen your cords.
I want you to strengthen your stakes, but I want them to stretch your curtains. See, sometimes the thing that you need in life, you've got to get around somebody that's already been there. Somebody that's already believed and received for the same thing that you're believing for. See, if you're believing for God to have a breakthrough in your finances, I'd encourage you to get around somebody that's already been there that can stretch your faith.
If you need healing in your body, I'd encourage you to get around somebody that's been physically healed of cancer or diabetes or hepatitis or you name it because they've been there. They've been healed of it. They can stretch you. See, you realize one person can't stretch a curtain.
What happens? If I'm just pulling it, I'm just pulling it. You want to know what this guy is? And you know this better than the Bible.
Guess what can stretch Armstrong do? No, he can't. Stretch. I want you to stretch right now.
Uh, stretch can't stretch. Stretch can be stretched. See, stretch can't do it alone. See, grab down legs.
Bro, come on. Look at this. Don't let go. Don't let go.
See that? Stretch can't do that on his own. He's got to get around somebody that's been there. He's got to get around somebody that's been healed, been set free, that can stretch him to the place that God wants to take him.
See, it takes people to stretch you. You need people to stretch your finances. You need people to stretch your faith. You need people to stretch your prayer life to get you excited about getting in God's Word somebody that's been there.
You got to stretch. See, your capacity can't grow unless you put people around you that can stretch the capacity. See, capacity is increased through partnership. See, I have a capacity to receive.
Seth has a capacity to receive. Carol has a capacity to receive. Ray has it. Bernie has it.
Bernie has it. Roy has it. Everybody's got capacity, but collectively in unity, my capacity to receive in partnership is greater than my capacity to receive individually. Partnership, getting around people to stretch you increases your capacity for more.
In Luke chapter 5, Jesus says to Peter, it says they've been fishing all night. Remember the story? It says they've been fishing all night. Jesus says to Peter, he says, I want you to launch out into the deep and let down your, what?
Now, I'm going to pause here. Do not read the message translation in this because it's inaccurate. I'm going to tell you why in a minute. Go to the next slide.
It says that when he stops speaking to Simon, he says launch out into the deep and let down your nets. Your is in the plural form, which means more than just Peter, it's people. His fishing buddies. Let down your nets.
I need you. I got a miracle in the works. And I need your capacity to increase through partnership because what I want to pour out in your life, you can't hold it in your own net. Simon Peter said, Master, we've toiled all night and caught nothing.
Nevertheless, this for David, at thy word, I will let down the net. Now, in the message, it has plural nets all the way through, which is not correct because if you look up to Greek, nets is plural in Jesus command, and that is singular in Peter's response. Nevertheless, your word, Lord, I'll let down the net. Jesus said, I've got a miracle working where you're going to need your partners nets in addition to your net capacity increases through partnership.
Or six says this. Next slide. It says when they've done this, they caught a great number of fish. They're net.
Look at that net. The net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come help them. And they came and filled both boats.
So they began to sink. Oh, what I thought was being super religious and letting down my net wasn't what Jesus said because he had a miracle so big he needed us collectively to let our nets down together. See, your capacity to receive is actually increased as you get around people that can stretch you and join with you and put their nets in with your nets to receive what God has because what he has for me is greater than me, but it's for all of us. See what he's got for you.
You need me and I need you. Like I can't carry it. You can't carry it. But together, we collectively increased capacity perspective, perspective increases capacity.
Get out of your tent. Partnership increases capacity. Get around some people that are going to stretch you and power increases capacity. And now power, look at this.
Next slide. It says in large the place of your tent, let them stretch out the curtains or your dwellings do not spare, lengthen your cords. Look, if you've made room and they've come around and stretched the curtains, you're going to need some bigger cords. Like when the curtains are bigger, the tension becomes greater and you're going to need a longer reach.
See, this is exactly what we're doing as city reach, we're increasing our reach. We're expanding our reach. We're lengthening our cords. We're not just like a little thing.
We're not just like satisfied with where we reached last year. We're reaching farther into Cumberland, farther into the neighborhood, farther into different ethnicities and groups. And you name it, but we're going there. We're increasing and lengthening the cords.
But here, I put these together because as the cord is longer and the curtain is bigger, you need a stronger stake. See the stake that you had here, STAKE, the stake that you had here won't be sufficient to hold the cord over here. It's not going to pop out of the ground. It says that you need to strengthen.
The word strengthen also is the same word in Hebrew that means encourage. You remember in 1 Samuel, chapter 30, David returns to the city of Ziklag. It says he finds the city burned, the women and children all taking captives and all his men turned on him. Terrible situation.
David's own wives are taking captive. It says David was greatly distressed with the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of the people was grieved. Every man for his sons and daughters, but David encouraged himself, strengthened himself in a self-help book. He strengthened himself.
He encouraged himself in the Lord. See, you've got to get in the presence of God as you expand your reach into farther areas of the city. You need to be rooted and grounded in the love of God. You've got to be rooted in God's Word.
You've got to be strengthened and empowered by the Holy Spirit because here's what's going to happen. People are going to say things about you. People are going to do things to you. People are going to like try to shame you or embarrass you or talk behind your back.
You think it doesn't happen to me? Every day. Every day. But I have learned how to strengthen myself in his presence.
That I get in front of him. That I get face to face with him. That I allow him to build me up. See, there's an aspect that we encourage one another.
We need to encourage one another that are out there on the front lines doing things. They need strength, but there comes a time when you also need to learn how to do it yourself. It's not one or the other. It's both and.
You need to encourage one another. But you also need to learn how to strengthen and encourage yourself in the Lord. You've got to have a stronger state. Look at this promise with me.
Next slide. We'll just read verse 3. It says, you shall expand to the right and to the left. You can do all these things because you're going to grow.
You're going to increase. You will expand to the right and to the left. Your descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited. Do you remember the desolate that describes the city is also the same word that described the woman?
He said you are barren and desolate. Here's what God spoke to me last week about this passage. He says, I want to heal you so you can heal your city. I want to make you not desolate so you can make your city not desolate.
See, when you're satisfied that you're lot in life as you're lot in life and where I'm going to be is where I'm going to be and what I have is what I'm always going to have. You selfishly deny future generations in your city to receive the blessing that God wants to pour out on it. See, God wants to do something in you so that you and your generations and those that you lead to the Lord can actually inhabit uninhabitable cities. Oh, Cumberland sucks.
Cumberland's desolate. Cumberland's no good. Well, it's your fault. See, my Bible says that God wants to take you from being barren and desolate to being fruitful so that your city can no longer be desolate.
He wants to use you. You're a part of the solution. All right, last one. By failing to increase your capacity and not believing God for more, you selfishly deny your city what he wants to do for it through you.
See, it's not about you. I'm going to shift back to the... Well, they're going to go minutes. I'm going to shift back to the...
This is the voice translation. It says you will increase in every direction to fill the world. See, it's not about you. It's about God doing something in you to reach them.
To fixing what's broken in your life so you can go help somebody else get what's broken fixed in their life. All right, last one. Your past. Past can be a limitation.
See, you might know that Jesus forgave you of everything. You might know that you're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. But you might be carrying shame from one of those issues or bad decisions in the past that you just can't believe for more because you feel like you deserve what you're getting. Because of what you did and what you're carrying forward.
See, when you carry shame, you're actually minimizing what Jesus did on the cross. It says the chastisement of my peace was upon him. See, he carried... He bore our iniquity.
Iniquity means the guilt associated with the actual action you committed. The feeling of guilt, the failing of shame. Jesus carried it. So when you carry it, you're saying what he did wasn't sufficient?
Like, leave it there. There's no need to resurrect that thing. It says, do not fear. You will not be ashamed.
Neither be disgraced. That means humiliated. You will not be put to shame. You will forget the shame of your youth.
You will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. That word reproach and the Hebrew actually means to taunt. It's the same thing Goliath did. Remember the story of David Goliath?
David says, who is this felisting that defies the armies of God? For 40 days, the felisting is out there. Come on, bring me somebody to fight. You guys are little babies.
You baby is a light. He's taunting them. See, sometimes it's not so much the shame you've gotten rid of it, but you have somebody in your life that continues to bring it up. That continues to taunt you.
That continues to remind you of the you that you used to be that you are no longer. And he says this. He says, you will not remember. You're not even going to remember it.
See, if God forgot your sins, you're going to forget them too. Like, that's what you're like, well, I can't. That's because your capacity is limited. You've got to open yourself up to the truth that God's word and say, I don't understand it, but I believe it because he said it.
And at some point, the Holy Spirit's going to make the written word come alive in me, and you're never going to talk me out of it. See, that's where he wants to take you. He says, here's why. Here's why you can do that.
Because your maker is now your husband. See, you were barren. You were sick. You were either divorced or widowed.
So you're barren and you got no husband. But now guess who your husband is? The one that created you. It says, the Lord of hosts is his name.
That's the Lord of Heaven's armies. He's the one that literally commands the angels in the universe. The one that created the universe is now your husband. Like, you may have been married to a dead beat before, but now you're married to the Lord of hosts.
He might have been a sack of poo, but now it's the Lord of hosts. Your maker is your husband. Like, it doesn't get like when my maker is my husband. I'm forgetting all that.
See, because when the guy that made the universe is married to me, nothing is impossible. Like, all that stuff is gone. I don't even remember it. It was so long ago, I can't remember it because I'm in covenant with the one that can do everything.
See, Paul says this, he says in Romans chapter 7 verse 4. He says that your old man, the law, that you're dead to the old man because of the sacrifice of the Lord. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus. See, Paul says this, like, you can't be married to two women at the same time.
You can't be married to two men at the same time. Called what? Polygamy. Jesus doesn't believe in polygamy.
But he went to the cross to die so that your old man could die so that you would now be free to be married to him. See, the old man's gone and you got a new husband. He's not just Jesus, but he's Jesus that came back from the dead. That he is living a resurrected life, a life of no impossibilities.
That's your husband. That's who you're married to. That's who you're in covenant with. Like, if you're barren, your husband is Jesus.
If you're sick, your husband's Jesus. If you're stuck, your husband is Jesus. If you're slipping back into old habits, your husband is Jesus. Like, he will take care of it.
He wants to. He's able to. But you've got to get to the point where you're open your capacity to receive what he has. See what happens is we get so shaped by the old life we're scared to open up to the new.
You see this in people's relationships all the time. They get hurt. They get hurt. They get hurt.
And they close down. Well, your new husband's not like your old husband. He's not bringing up the past. He's not shaming.
He's not yielding you. He's telling you. He loves you. Since verse says, do not fear.
Neither be disgraced. What cast out fear? Perfect love cast out fear. Guess what you're going to get with your new husband?
Not just love. Perfect love. Ephesians chapter 5 verses 25 to 27 say this. It says, It says, Give me a little Irish spring.
Right? No. Forget the Irish spring. Let him take the water of the word and clean you.
Let him make you clean. Let him take the word spoken by the Holy Spirit. Begin to change you from the inside out. It says that he might present to himself.
See look, he cleans up his bride so that he can present her back to him. See, when you try to clean yourself up, you end up falling down. Let him clean you up. It's a better wash.
It says that he might present to himself the church in all her glory. Look at this. Having no spot. Now I'm believing for this one.
No wrinkles. That's not what's talking about. But it's that having no spot to wrinkle or any such thing, but as she would be holding blame us. Look, all that junk of the past, he takes care of it.
Forget about it. Forget about it. Like it will all fade because he loves you so much so infinitely so perfectly. Like he doesn't judge you.
He doesn't love you. It's not like, well, you do this and I'll love you back. His love is this. Even if you're unfaithful to me, I'm still faithful.
Even if you turn your back on me, I won't turn my back on you. Even if you mess up, I never will. And when you can't, I can't. That's the one that makes your past like it never even happened.
See, yeah, limitless. You guys are watching that movie? Yeah, don't take drugs to be limitless. That's not, yeah, that guy that was Bradley Cooper.
I was going to, yeah, Bradley Cooper. He's taking his pills, you know. And then he goes up and he's limitless. Then he comes down and he's going to take...
No, see, you just need to be strengthened in the Lord. You need to be stretched by the body. You need to expand your place. God's got so much for you.
Like you can't contain it. And, but get out of your tent. I'm just gonna say that. Get out of your tent.
It starts there. Let's pray. Alright, just bow your heads for a minute with me. If you believe God is limitless, if you believe there's no boundaries, no stipulations, no limits to your God, if you believe that the God of no limitations lives in you, if you believe that God wants to expand your capacity for more.
So the, let's say this greater capacity leads to greater impact. You don't want to say greater capacity, greater impact. If you want to believe right now for more, if you want God to increase you for the more so that you can make a greater impact in your family, so that you can make a greater impact in your workplace, so that you can make a greater impact in Cumberland, Maryland. So that you can make a greater impact even online, wherever it is.
You need increased capacity to do that. You need to believe from more.