God is placing a new burden on some of us. It is a burden of the Holy Spirit to go to a new place. It’s the burden of the vision - to not just be an integral part of this church, but to take on God’s calling and to take on the vision of the calling. Going through the fire is the best thing for vision. It makes the vision stronger and it makes you stronger. You have to be willing to go ahead of the rest and plow the hard ground. You have to be willing sacrifice and do whatever it takes to bring about God’s vision.

God really does work all things together for good for those who love him. Paul, speaking from a Roman jail to one of his favorite churches in Philipi, reported that the Christians in Rome had become bolder because of his imprisonment. Something that the devil tries to use for bad, when God has the hearts of the people, God will use it for good. People have to be willing to put their lives on the line for the vision and burden of building God’s house. I am praying that over the next few days that this burden will come upon us.

What gets me up praying for this church is seeing people about to get started on the great adventure. There is unlimited potential in God’s house. It’s like a crucible – God’s fire is unquenchable. Sometimes you find yourself in the fire of God and all you can do is cry out to God.

But that is part of preparation for carrying the vision and building God’s kingdom. Some of us are going to get this feeling and feel this burden. It’s going to feel weird. It is like God asking you to come up, move forward, and come farther - showing you where he wants you to be.

God will challenge you in one of three areas:

1. Money – you have got to slay the money/giving giant. It is a giant that torments people and holds them back. It keeps you at the start. If you ever flinch when we take an offering, you haven’t slayed the giant. You ought to be rejoicing! How awesome it is that we get to give to God? That he would even receive our offering? That he would even take the time to receive it, because he doesn’t always.

2. The giant of Attendance – the giant of being in the house and coming to the house of God. The hardest thing for some new Christians to get is starting a new lifestyle and adjusting their world to get plugged into the house of God so that it becomes automatic and becomes a priority. Everything happens in the house of God.

3. The giant of Servanthood - understanding that your are a servant and that God uses servants.

When you win in all three of these areas God has a clear passage to you and he will bring revelation to you and put things on you that you wouldn’t be able to carry before. My prayer for next week is that a bunch of people defeat these things. People who haven’t gotten it yet to get it.

That happens through pastoring and leadership in the church. Pastoring people is leading them. Shepherding is about sheltering God’s people, protecting them and leading them into green pastures so that they can get fed. Speaking faith filled words over their lives that the Holy Spirit can get on. Then these words become true. God gets on it and puts his power on it. Bring the crowd into the core. There is something about building strength and stamina in the Spirit. We do it together, at times like Holy Spirit conference, so when we aren’t together, we have the stamina to stand on our own – in our own world.

Get a hold of someone and get them on the journey. Put God first and see what he will do.