What’s Blocking Your Growth?

Are you letting fear or intimidation keep you from your purpose? When you remove whatever is limiting your potential, you’ll step into a new level of your destiny!

Quit carrying around all the worry, the stress, the disappointment. Life is going to happen. If you’re only going to have a good mood if things go your way, then you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. That’s surface living. You have to go deeper. Say like Paul, “None of these things move me. I’m not going to let other people, delays, and what doesn’t work out sour my day.” Turn that over to God. You’re not supposed to go through life worried, frustrated, discouraged. Yes, you may feel upset, but you don’t have to act on it. You may feel offended, but you don’t have to take the offense inside. You may feel discouraged, but you can override it and encourage yourself. You can think some new thoughts.

How high could you rise if you weren’t being shaded by compromise, by mediocrity?
I know you love your friends, but your destiny is too great.
Your assignment too important to hang around people that are not adding to your life.
You need people that bring out the best in you.
People that inspire you to do better, that challenge you to live a life of excellence and integrity and God bless you.
It’s great to have you today.
And if you’re ever in our area, please stop by be a part of one of our services.
We would love to have you. I hope you’ll stay connected with us during the week.
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But I’d like to start with something funny. And I heard about this lady, she was stopped at an intersection.
This man came up asking for money.
She dug in her purse and found a dollar bill and she said to the man, I’m going to give you this money, not because you deserve it, but because it makes me happy.
The man looked at her and said, ma’am, why don’t you give me $20 and thoroughly enjoy yourself?
Say it like you mean it, this is my bible. I am what it says. I am.
I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do today.
I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive.
I will never be the same in jesus’ name. God bless you.
I want to talk to you today about what’s blocking your growth.
Victoria and I were in another city walking through a park and it was full of these huge cactus plants.
They stood over 30 ft tall and all kinds of incredible shapes.
I was amazed at not only how beautiful they were but how big they were as we continued through the park, enjoying all the sights.
We came to a group of cactus that looked the same type as the large cactus, but they were only about my height.
I went over to them and looked closer trying to figure out why they were so much shorter.
I said to Victoria, they must be a different kind. She looked up and said, no, Joel, it’s that tree.
There was this large oak tree and its branches were keeping the sun from hitting these cactus.
What’s interesting is they have the same potential as the cactus that were 30 ft tall they’re in the same soil, same climate, same weather conditions.
The only difference was something was blocking their growth and because they’re constantly in the shade, they’re only a fraction of what they were created to be.
And I wonder if something is blocking your growth. Are you under the shade of what someone spoke over?
You told you what you couldn’t do how you’re not that talented.
Now, that shade is limiting your life, Are you under the shade of intimidation?
Afraid to step out in faith, thinking of all the things that could go wrong.
Do you have friends that are blocking your growth causing you to compromise?
Do things that are holding you back. What could you become if you got out from under that shade?
How high could you go if you made some adjustments? The good news is the potential is still in you.
You can still become who you were created to be. You just have to get out from under that shade.
Remove what’s blocking your growth and you’ll begin to blossom. You’ll go to new levels. There’s nothing wrong with you.
You have the life of Almighty God in you. He created you to rise higher to be successful.
Confident to leave your mark. I was talking to a man and he was so down on himself because of past mistakes.
He went on and on telling me everything he had done wrong.
He was so focused on his past that it was poisoning his future and you may have made mistakes we all have, but don’t let guilt stunt your growth come out from under that shade.
Quit thinking about all the things you’ve done wrong. Living in.
Regret thinking you’ve seen your best days when you live guilty, you’re in agreement with the enemy.
He’s called the accuser. He’ll remind you of every mistake you’ve made for the last 20 years he loved for you to go through life.
Feeling wrong about yourself. What he’s trying to do is stunt your growth.
He’ll do his best to keep you in the shade. He knows your potential.
He knows you were created to soar. That’s why he works overtime trying to make us feel guilty.
Whispering you don’t measure up. You failed again. You blew your diet. You didn’t spend enough time with your Children.
There’s always some reason to be down on ourselves.
You have to put your foot down and say no thanks. I’m not living under that shade.
I know I’m forgiven. I’m redeemed. My past is over. My present is secure. My future is bright.
This is what my father had to do.
He was married at a very young age and unfortunately, the marriage didn’t work out.
Denominational leaders told him that he would never be in ministry again. That that failure had disqualified him for leadership.
He eventually resigned from his church and he started selling insurance. He knew God’s calling was on his life.
But he was living under the shade of guilt. The shade of what people said, you’ll never be in ministry.
You’re not qualified. The scripture says God’s calling on your life is irrevocable. God doesn’t change his mind.
He didn’t cancel your destiny because you got off course people may have disqualified you but people don’t determine your destiny.
God does and he never disqualifies you.
You have to tune out all the negative words that were spoken over you.
It may be from people that you love people that should be encouraging you, showing you mercy lifting you when you fall.
Instead, it’s just the opposite. They make you feel more guilty. Tell you how you don’t measure up.
Don’t stay under that shade. God still has a purpose for you to fulfill.
You wouldn’t be alive unless he had something awesome in front of you.
Get your passion back, start believing again, start hoping again, start dreaming again.
After several years, my father got back in the ministry and started pastoring.
He met my mother and they were married and had five Children.
He pastored here at Lakewood for nearly 40 years. None of this would have happened.
If he had stayed under the shade of guilt, I wouldn’t be up here if he had let those negative words limit.
His life is something blocking your growth is something keeping you from standing up tall, guilt, shame, fear, doubt you have to come out from under that shade.
It’s not going to leave on its own.
You have to make the move when you do like my father and start going forward, knowing that God’s mercy is bigger than your mistakes.
Then you’re going to begin to blossom. New doors are going to open.
Talent will come out that you didn’t know you had. You’re going to accomplish dreams bigger than you thought.
One thing that can easily stun our growth is the people that we’re spending time with.
You need to evaluate your friendships, the people you’re eating lunch with at the office, the neighbor you’re hanging out with.
Are they making your life better pushing you higher, inspiring you to reach your dreams or are they causing you to compromise?
Be mediocre. Take the easy way out. You’re going to become like the people you continually associate with.
The scripture says, don’t hang around angry people or you will become angry.
It says when you walk with wise people, you will become wise.
If you want to know what you’re going to be like in five years.
Look at your friends, if they gossip, complain about the boss unfaithful in relationships, hard to get along with.
Do yourself a favor. Find some new friends, spirits are transferrable.
If your friends gossip, that spirit of gossip will get off on you.
If your friends are critical, that critical spirit will end up on you.
If your friends run around on their spouse, that unfaithful spirit will start to tempt you.
You may not realize it, but they’re blocking your growth. They’re limiting your potential. It’s not their fault.
You have to make a change. But what if I hurt their feelings? What if they get upset?
What if you miss your destiny?
What if they keep you a five ft cactus, so to speak, instead of the 30 ft cactus that you were created to be?
How high could you rise if you weren’t being shaded by compromise, by mediocrity?
I know you love your friends, but your destiny is too great.
Your assignment, too important to hang around people that are not adding to your life.
You need people that bring out the best in you people that inspire you to do better, that challenge you to live a life of excellence and integrity.
I have a friend that treats his wife so good. He’s so loving, so kind, so romantic.
He writes his wife, poetry almost makes me sick.
He sends her, he sends her these loving texts that he’s worked on for two days.
My darling wife, how beautiful you are today. I text Victoria. What’s up?
But but I would rather have a friend that inspires me to come up higher than I would to sink down lower.
I would rather have him challenge me to be kinder, more respectful, more loving than to be sarcastic, derogatory, belittling.
Pay attention to what you’re seeing modeled around you.
That’s all getting on the inside over time, it will start influencing how you act, how you think, how you treat people.
And some friendships were great for a time.
But now you’ve come up higher, you’ve grown, you’ve stepped up to a new level, doesn’t mean they’re not good people, but you’ve outgrown that friendship.
And I’m not saying to never speak to them again, but little by little, you need to spend less and less time with them.
Some of the trouble and heartache we find ourselves in.
If we look back, we knew we were supposed to make a change, but we didn’t do it.
We didn’t want to rock the boat. We didn’t want to upset people.
But what you’re not willing to walk away from is where you’ll stop growing.
I know a man, he’s a strong believer, very talented, very influential, but he started hanging around this person that wasn’t a good influence.
His friends and family tried to warn him that he didn’t have a good past. That trouble always followed him.
But this man wouldn’t listen. He always took up for him and made excuses over time.
This man started compromising, doing things that were totally out of his character.
He ended up losing his marriage, his company let him go, lost a big contract.
He told me later, I knew he was a bad influence.
I knew God was telling me to distance myself but I ignored it. God always gives us a warning.
Don’t override it when he asks you to do something, it’s for your own good.
If you’ll get rid of the wrong people, then God will send the right people, people that will make you better people that will inspire you people that will push you into your destiny.
In the scripture, God chose a young man named Gideon to lead the Israeli army against the Midon nights, but Gideon was afraid he was hiding in the wine press, an angel came to him and said, mighty hero.
The Lord is with you. Gideon didn’t feel like a mighty hero. He said, I can’t lead the army.
I come from the poorest family.
I’m the least one in my father’s house here, God called him a mighty hero. God knew his potential.
He knew Gideon had greatness in him.
The problem was Gideon was under the shade of fear, the shade of intimidation. I can’t do anything great.
I don’t come from an influential family. I’m at a disadvantage.
Had the angel not come to Gideon and told him who he was. We wouldn’t be talking about him.
The angel was saying in effect, Gideon come out of hiding, come out from under that shade, that insecurity that defeated mindset that can’t do it.
Thinking is stunning your growth. God is saying to you, you are a mighty hero.
You are destined to leave your mark, but you have to make the choice like Gideon, are you going to stay in the shade hiding in the wine press thinking you don’t have what it takes or are you going to step into your greatness?
Are you going to believe that you’re a mighty hero equipped, empowered and anointed?
This was a destiny moment for Gideon, either stay in the shade and the opportunity would pass him by God would find someone else or take that step of faith and believe he was who God said he was.
Gideon made this decision that I’m asking us to make.
He got rid of what was blocking his growth, a poor self image, low self esteem.
He saw himself a new way, not weak, defeated, limited, but as strong, courageous.
Well, when he did the scripture says, the spirit of God clothed Gideon with power.
When he got out from under the fear, the intimidation, God breathed on his life in a new way.
He felt a strength, a courage, a boldness that he had never felt. And too often we’re like Gideon.
We don’t realize who we are. We’re letting doubt, negative voices convince us that we’re limited.
I can’t do anything great, Joel. I come from the wrong family.
I don’t have the talent who told you that? Where did those thoughts come from? That’s the enemy.
Trying to keep you under the shame he’d love for you to believe those lies.
Your whole life live with a defeated mindset, hiding insecure, afraid to step out.
This can be a destiny moment for you.
God is saying mighty hero come out from under that shade, mighty hero.
It’s time to step up to who you were created to be when you make that choice.
Like Gideon, see, I’m done letting fear and can’t do it. Thoughts dictate my life.
I’m done making excuses as to why I can’t go after my dreams. I believe I’m a mighty hero.
Then like with Gideon, God is going to show out in your life in a new way.
You’re going to see favor courage, opportunities like you’ve never experienced.
Gideon rounded up 32,000 men as many as he could find, they headed out to face the Midon hes, he was feeling confident.
He had this large army. God said Gideon, that’s too many people.
If you defeat them with this many men, you’ll think you did it in your own strength.
God had them weed the men down all the way till he only had 300 men.
When you come out of the shade, there will be times the odds are against you.
Thoughts will tell you you should have played it safe. It’s not going to work out now.
You’re way over your head. No, stand strong. The Lord, your God is with you.
Gideon marched toward the Midon nights with only 300 men at midnight.
They blew the trumpets and began to shout a sword for the Lord and a sword for Gideon a little earlier.
He was hiding in the wine press. No one had ever heard of him. Now, people were shouting his name.
God knows how to make up for lost growth.
That time you spent hiding, afraid of course, don’t worry, your time is coming.
God is going to make it up to you. He knows how to accelerate, how to speed things up.
He doesn’t hold it against us that we stayed under the shade.
We’ve all made choices that should have stopped our destiny should have stunted our growth.
But God in His mercy won’t just let you start growing again. He’ll thrust you ahead.
It’s not too late. You can still become the mighty hero. You can still accomplish your dream.
You can still live an abundant life. There is greatness in you.
Jeremiah said there’s fire, shut up in my bones. There is potential talent increase that you haven’t tapped into.
Come out of hiding. Start believing you’re a mighty hero. Get rid of those limiting thoughts.
You and God are a majority. He’s calling you out of the shade out of anything that’s blocking your growth.
Step out and get ready to see new levels, new friendships, new opportunities, new talents, new victories.
That’s what happened to Gideon. He defeated the mid unites overnight.
He became a mighty hero from hiding in the wine press to being known as a man of fearless courage.
Gideon is now listed in Hebrews 11 as one of the heroes of faith, but he wasn’t like David that went out and courageously defeated Goliath.
He wasn’t like Abraham who believed when all hope was gone.
He wasn’t like the Apostle Paul that wrote books of the Bible in prison.
He started off insecure, intimidated, afraid he was shaded by all these things that were blocking his growth.
God was showing us. It’s not where you start, it’s how you finish where you are is not your destiny.
There’s still time to become a Gideon.
You can come out of the fear, the doubt, the guilt and step in to who you were created to be a mighty hero, a history maker.
Now quit believing those lies that you’ve reached your limits. You’ll always struggle. You’ve been through too much.
It’ll never work out, come out from under that shade. That’s limited you long enough.
God is ready to show out in your life to do things that are unusual, uncommon out of the ordinary to take you where no one in your family has gone.
And sometimes the reason we’re in the shade is that’s what we saw modeled growing up.
We were raised by people that were negative insecure, lived guilty, dysfunctional.
Now, that’s normal to us, but that’s not who you are. That’s a result of being in the shade.
And for some people fear has been blocking their family for generations, low self esteem, addictions, mediocrity.
That’s what Gideon was saying. My family, we’re all poor, we’re all defeated, limited, afraid that may be true for you when you look back at your family line, but here’s the key, you’re the one God has raised up to step out of the shade.
You’re the one to set the new standard to be the difference maker.
Don’t let these negative things keep getting passed down.
All it takes is for one person to rise up one Gideon to say I’m going to step out of this fear, this addiction, this defeated mentality, these unhealthy relationships and I’m going to set a new standard.
We’re going to be people who honor God. We’re going to live free, competent, secure, victorious.
I read about an experiment that was done with four monkeys.
They placed them in a room with a tall pole in the center at the top of the pole was a bunch of bananas.
The first monkey climbed up the pole as fast as he could to get the bananas.
But just when he was about to take it, a large bucket of cold water was poured on him.
He scurried down the pole as fast as he could.
Didn’t want to have anything to do with those bananas in a few minutes. Another monkey climbed up the pole.
Same thing happened. The bucket of cold water was poured on him and he turned and ran back down over time.
The other two monkeys tried but once again, they were doused with water and came running down.
Day after day, went by and even though those monkeys loved bananas, none of them would go up the pole at one point.
The researchers removed one monkey and replaced it with a new one.
When it started going up the pole, the other three monkeys grabbed hold of it and pulled it down.
Wouldn’t let it go up. This happened time and time again. Finally, this new monkey gave up, didn’t try anymore.
The researchers brought in another monkey and replaced one of the originals.
Same thing they pulled him down, they brought in two more monkeys.
Now, none of the original monkeys were in the room, but they wouldn’t let any monkey go up the pole.
Eventually, the room was filled with dozens of monkeys.
None of them had ever felt the cold water but not one of them would climb the pole.
They didn’t know why they just knew they weren’t supposed to have those bananas and sometimes we’re like these monkeys.
We don’t know why we can’t accomplish a dream, why we can’t be successful.
Get out of debt break the addiction. All we know is nobody in our family ever did it.
They lived in the shade. They let fear insecurity, limited thinking, block their growth.
Now, we’re in that same shade any time we try to move forward.
There are people telling us what we can’t do, how it’s not going to work out.
It’s easy to accept it, learn to live with mediocrity. This is just who we are.
You know, quit letting people talk you out of your dreams.
It may not have happened for them, but you’re a mighty hero. It’s going to happen for you.
Go get your bananas. This is a new day. God’s favor is on your life in a new way.
He’s called you to set the new standard to take your family to a new level.
I met a young man after the service. He had just graduated from college and he was so excited.
He was the first one in his family to ever get a degree.
But when he told his family, he wanted to go, no one encouraged him.
In fact, they said we’re not college material. Granddaddy didn’t go. Great. Granddaddy didn’t go.
We’re not made for that kind of work like those monkeys.
They were trying to pull him down and didn’t even know why the young man not only graduated at the top of his class as a chemical engineer, but a company has already hired him.
How high can you go if you just get rid of what’s blocking your growth, limited mindsets, other monkeys.
I mean, people pulling you down friendships that are holding you back. God has a big destiny for you.
There are things in your future greater than you’ve imagined, but there will always be dream stealers, naysayers, people that try to pull you into their shade, they’re insecure, they’ll try to talk you into being insecure.
You really think you can go to college. You really think you can start that business.
You really think you’re going to beat that sickness. They live intimidated. They’ll try to pull you into intimidation.
Fear, doubt. Don’t take the bait. Stay in the sun.
God is going to cause you to blossom to go places. No one ever thought you could go.
It’s going to surprise your family.
People are going to be amazed at where God takes you when my father passed and I stepped up to pastor the church.
I was afraid and intimidated. That was definitely blocking my confidence.
I didn’t think I could do this if that wasn’t bad enough.
There were certain people I overheard said he’s not that good. I don’t think he’ll make it. He’s too quiet.
He’s not experienced enough. And even though I halfway agreed with them, something rose up on the inside of me, I thought you don’t determine my destiny.
You don’t know what God has put in me. My attitude was, I’m already in my own shade.
I’m sure not coming into your shade.
And part of the reason I believe I succeeded was simply to show them that they were wrong.
They meant it for harm. But God used it to light a fire in me to create a greater determination, a greater resolve.
I wasn’t about to let their shade, their negative comments limit my life.
Like Gideon, I felt weak, inexperienced, unqualified, but I could hear God whispering, Joel you’re a mighty hero.
It’s your time to shine. You have what you need to fulfill your destiny.
Any time you try to go forward, there will be opposition, naysayers.
People that try to pull you into their shade. Don’t take their bait.
The fact that they’re trying to discourage you is a sign you’re about to step in to a new level of your destiny.
Is there something blocking your growth? Unhealthy relationships, negative words that were spoken over you? Limited thinking.
How high could you go? If you would make some adjustments, don’t stay a five ft cactus.
When you were created to go 30 ft tall, make a decision that you’re going to come out from under that shade.
If you’ll remove what’s limiting your growth, you’re going to bloom, you’re going to blossom, see favor courage, the boldness to accomplish what God put in your heart.
Now believe and declare like Gideon, a mighty hero is about to emerge.
The power of the most high is going to come on you in a new way.
You’re going to rise higher, overcome obstacles and become all you were created to be in Jesus name.
And if you receive it, can you say amen?
I’d like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life.
Would you pray with me? Just say Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins come into my heart.
I make you my Lord and savior. If you prayed that simple prayer.
We believe you got born again.
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