Isaiah 54:2
“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
1. We must have an expansion mindset for 2018
Matthew 28:19 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
God did not call us to sustain but to expand. We are tasked with expanding the community of believers not isolate people already saved.
2. Anticipation allows for preparation.
Isaiah 54:3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.
If you anticipate something coming you can prepare for its arrival.
Anticipating the pressures of growth will enable proper preparations.
Proverbs 20:4 Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.
3. Prepare by getting stronger.
Growing causes added pressure. Preparing for that pressure means we need to strengthen the structure.
We cannot wait until the pressure is on to think about strengthening. We have to do it in the right season.
Proverbs 6:6-8 Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, Prepares her food in the summer And gathers her provision in the harvest.
4. Focus on the stake.
The most dangerous part of an expansion mindset is the potential to lose your focus on getting stronger first.
What are the necessary things I have to do this year?