LIVING IN THE OVERFLOW!

LUKE 6:27-38

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Acknowledgments Christ, Husband and Family, Bishop and Ministers, Saints of God

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Intro Good morning Beloveds. I am using that term today to remind you of who you are so good morning dearly beloved sisters and brothers, children of the Most High God. Praise the Lord for another Women s Sunday. Women of God, it s good to see you all on this morning! I m so happy to be here today in the midst of you. God is so faithful. Isn t it good to walk with the Lord and know him as a faithful keeper of his sheep? Amen. Let s go before the Lord in prayer lead into prayer

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Message If it s the Lord s will, I won t be before you long on today. Today s message comes primarily from the book of Luke, chapter 6. If you ll turn there in your bibles, I m going to read in your hearing from verse 27, first in the KJV and then in the NLT. Read verse 38 emphatically Somebody turn to your neighbor and say, MY CUP RUNNETH OVER! If you believe God for the overflow, give him some praise right now.

You know, as women, we are often pulled in many directions. The necessities of life require that we give our time, our energy, our strength, our money, our bodies, our love, our personal space, etc to our husbands, to our children, to our families, to our friends, to our employers. Oftentimes, in the midst of all the requirements we find ourselves in a panic thinking, Hey! What about me? Who is going to pour into me? Who is going to revive me? Who is going to comfort me? Who will console me? Who will provide for me? Who will give me rest? Who s gonna love on me? Who s going to nurture me? We re afraid that the flow of giving is only downhill, out of us and into everybody else.

Some of you worry that your Boaz is never going to come or maybe that we missed him. Some of you worry that your husbands are never gonna get it, never will see you as his good thing, will never love us like Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. We worry that our daughters will repeat the mistakes that we made and disregard the example we are currently being of virtuous women. We worry that our sons will fall into the world and be lost. We worry that the mistakes we make in parenting will have dire consequences. We re disappointed by lives that we view as failures thinking we don t have enough money, possessions, or esteem. Saddened that we re not where we thought we would be at this time in our lives that we ve never been married or that we ve been divorced.

We worry that our gifts and talents won t manifest in time enough for us to become the women of God we know He has purposed us to be. We worry that our sisters won t accept us, love us, value us.

You may be thinking, how can I make it? Where will the time come from? Is God still in the business of stopping clocks and will he do it for me? How do I work as unto the Lord at my job, help my friends and family, support the ministry, and do the entire will of God? How will I meet my husband s needs, build him up, keep him encouraged, keep myself encouraged, keep the children clean and groomed, plan and cook the meals, work, keep our home, and get some sleep? And with sanity Lord, with sanity . Maybe you been thinking it can t be done .pause Ok, maybe that s only me Has anybody else had those moments when you think, WHAT!!!??? But I submit to you beloved sister that you can do it and you can do it beautifully. Why? Because God said so. How? Good question! Let s go back to Luke 6.

To you who are willing to listen, there are 7 important points in verses 2737 of Luke 6 that will helps us in the how of accomplishing all the requirements of a woman s life. 1) Love your enemies 2) Bless those who curse you and pray for those who hurt you 3) Give to others
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4) Treat others as you want to be treated 5) Don t judge 6) Don t condemn 7) Forgive others

Jesus essentially said BIG DEAL if you love those who love you. It s easy to love folks who love you, who treat you real good, talk nice to you and about you anybody can do that. But an enemy is someone who engages in antagonist activities against you, someone who is hostile toward you. Sometimes it s the people in your own family, it might be your coworkers on Tuesday, and on Sunday, it could be the sister sitting right behind you. It works your Christ muscle to love the folks who treat you poorly, the ones with their disparaging remarks, snubbing behavior, and malicious intent. One definition of bless means to request of God the bestowal of divine favor on. So think of it like this, your savior said he wants you to request the bestowal of divine favor on your haters. Wow. Nothing at all like the world s advice on how to treat your enemies suggestions like get them before they can get you or if they hurt you, hurt them worse. But we grow in the spirit of the Lord when we labor to be more like him loving our enemies.

Jesus said WHO CARES if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment. Sinners lend to sinners expecting to be paid back.
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For that matter, banks lend money to folks. Title Max will lend folks some money. The world teaches that it s foolish to give more than you can get. But your savior said he wants you to lend without expectation of repayment. Sometimes folks will ask to borrow money they have no intention of giving back. Oh my goodness. But that was a lot of money Sis Malaika! Yes, yes it was. And you chose to give it. You might have known or at least suspected that there was a possibility that you wouldn t get the money back. Now Jesus said good, you gave it I want you to give to anyone who asks - but don t look to get it back! WHAT!!!??? (there s that WHAT again ) But what if it wasn t money? What if it was clothing or accessories, a piece of electronic equipment, a software disc, a car? Sometimes folks just don t know how to take care of other people s possessions. Even still, the same rule applies. If you intend to lend, don t expect repayment for what you give. Now if you get your stuff back to God be all the Glory, but if you don t, praise the Lord amen? But you say what if it wasn t money or a tangible thing? What if I did more for someone than what they were willing to do for me? Good question, let s go to point #4.

Point 4 is treat others as you want to be treated. Ooh, it sounds so easy, you do this all the time right? RIGHT! (sarcastic ) Are you reliable or is there always a question mark next to your name when it makes a list? Do you go the extra distance to get the job done when it s not your project?
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Can folks depend upon you for a warm and cheerful greeting or does it depend on your mood? Are the children always comfortable approaching you or are they afraid to come near you? Do you give assistance without being asked? Are you respectful and courteous or bossy and demanding? Do you smile in faces and whisper behind backs? If you do, you are not keeping that golden rule!

Points 5-7 don t judge, don t condemn and forgive others. I am a very judgmental person. I confess that to God. Left to my own devices, I will judge, judge, judge. Fairly early in my walk, God told me that he was the ONLY righteous judge, that I am full of iniquity, and that while I am pointing out the mote in another s eye in judgment, I am often overlooking the beam in my own. Thank you Jesus for the Holy Ghost and that He makes all things new! Judging righteously is declaring in love what God has already spoken in The Word. It is one thing to lovingly reveal a flaw in another and humbly correct someone. It is quite another to make judgments about others in an un-biblical way. Some un-biblical forms of judgment are: 1) Hypocrisy preaching the word and not living it 2) Self righteousness. Putting others down to elevate yourself 3) Haste Judging something without having all of the information 4) Bias and conditional judgments which are contrary to the Word of God.
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5) Condemnation. Pronouncing a final sentence over someone s life or eternal state.

When you operate in condemnation you go from thinking, That person is so selfish. That person is a selfish liar. To I bet they ll go to hell. Just like that (SNAP). Why, because of the sin nature. The natural compassion that was God in us (because we were created in his image) was destroyed in the Fall. We should not pass un-biblical judgment on others and neither should we condemn. We re not qualified to do it! And then, guess what, it s not profitable to do either, because un-righteously judging and condemning others leads to your own judgment and condemnation. Whereas forgiving others leads to your being forgiven. Tell your neighbor, there s no holding grudges and no false judges in the kingdom! Somebody give God some praise if you re going to forgive and be forgiven.

Verse 38 reads, Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. Let me read it again from the NLT.

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Closing Women of God, the Lord loves us so much and intends that we should have everything we need, so that we may do his will without impediment.
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His desire is to provide for us more than enough, as we just read pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured right into . Your . Lap (demonstrate.) If there s a lack in provision, it s not God s fault. It s somebody not walking in accordance with his will.

When you do as the Lord commands you put yourself in right position to receive from God. Jesus gave us a list of things to do so that your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the Highest. But if we want to receive from the Lord then we have to give first! If you need love, then give it. If you need time, then give it. If you need money, then give it. If you need peace, provide it for another. And likewise, whatever the need food, possessions, ideas, talent. In Christ, you can safely give away all of what you have without fear of ever losing a thing because He promised that if you give, it will be given back to you. His coffers are full and his supplies are inexhaustible. He never runs out of good gifts. This ability requires that you TRUST God. Does anybody know God to be a liar?

What do you need from God on today? Come on lift up your hands and begin to tell the Lord what you need! Do you need more time? Do you need peace? Do you need wisdom? Do you need finances? Do you need a revelation? Do you need patience? Do you need forgiveness? Do you need to learn how to forgive? Do you need to be freed from worry? Need your husband to love you and dwell with you according to knowledge?
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Need your situation to change? He can do that and He wants to do it today.

We stand in need of some things from the Lord on today. Lord, we need you. Today we say God, we re willing, we re committed to letting go of bitterness, disappointment, fear, worry, past failures, old wounds, old ways, hard hearts, pride, salaciousness, gossiping, backbiting, and divisiveness. Today we say pleasing you is its own reward. We thank you now Lord for how you move on our behalf, how you bless, keep, cover, and protect. We praise you now Lord, in advance of the overflow, the abundance that is coming to fulfill all our needs that our cups might run over, that we might live in the overflow. The peace you need for the point you are at in your life right now it s in the overflow. Your marital relationship it s in the overflow. Your finances they re in the overflow. Your children s well-being it s in the overflow. Tell your neighbor, I declare and decree, I m living in the overflow! Now give God some praise cause you live in the overflow!!!

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