Born to Taste the Grapes: 7 Gates to the Blessings of God

Sermon outline

You are born to win, so refuse the bad report about the giants, speak your future and reach for the grapes God has placed within your reach through the gates of obedience, knowledge, visualisation, forgiveness, persistence, sowing and praise.

1. Don't carry a bad report

   The spies saw a land flowing with milk and honey but focused on the giants, and God called it a bad report because He had already given them the land. Caleb had a conquering spirit and said, 'Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.' Today there are giants at work and everywhere you go, but the God who brought you this far can multiply past miracles in your future, and your children are learning from how you face challenges.

   Illustration: He pictures the crowd hanging on the spies' report of Jebusites, Hittites and 'all kinds of -ites' in the land, until one man, Caleb, stands up.

   “You are destined to win. God didn't make you a loser.”

   • Numbers 13:30-33
   • Romans 8:37
   • 2 Timothy 1:7
   • 1 John 4:4

2. Man is born with the need to win

   Slavery is unnatural and will never succeed, because God made man in His image with a spirit to conquer and have dominion. Craving a bigger house, the next level or a growing business is not pride but vision; God created you to expand and to dream big.

   “You were born for a high place, not for a low place.”

   • Genesis 1:28

3. Speak your future

   Jesus said you shall have whatever you say, so let the weak say they are strong and speak to your business, your church and your money. Angels are all around, waiting for your command, because when you decree a thing it shall be established. You don't come to church to mark yourself present but to receive a word you can apply, and then come back with a testimony.

   Illustration: A 25-year-old churchgoer told him she was suffering and that the unsaved live better than Christians; she had never heard of Mark 11:23-24, so he had her write it down, telling her that saying 'I'm suffering' will produce suffering. He also retells a story he heard from Kenneth Copeland of a pastor praying for money for a church building, to whom two huge angels appeared, saying they were waiting for his command.

   “Popularity is people liking you. Happiness is you liking yourself.”

   • Mark 11:23-24
   • Joel 3:10
   • Job 22:28

4. Eleven blessings from Ephesians

   He lists the blessings of Ephesians: God has blessed you, chosen and predestined you, accepted you in the Beloved, redeemed you from the curse, forgiven you, abounded towards you in wisdom, made known to you the mystery of His will, sealed you, enlightened you with understanding, and raised you to sit with Him in heavenly places. God has bought you and sees you as a prized possession.

   “God looks at you and says, there I see a king, there I see a mighty conqueror.”

   • Ephesians 1:3-13
   • Galatians 3:13
   • Ephesians 1:18
   • Ephesians 2:6

5. You were born to taste the grapes

   Moses wrote that God made His people ride on the high places of the earth and drink the pure blood of the grape, so you were born to taste the grapes, not to suffer; present suffering is a temporary station because Christ took the curse. While some spend their lives discussing the size of the giants, winners reach up and touch the grapes. The grapes are not merely for the holy but for the hungry, and they are not placed in your mouth but within your reach, so you must wage a good warfare of faith. He says that next year he will teach why a Christian should be a multimillionaire, and he dreams of many millionaires in the church helping to buy land and build for the kingdom.

   Illustration: His older sister recently reminded him that as a little boy he sold newspapers and bought her a gift with the money he earned. He ran errands and grew up poor, until he met Christ and his life changed.

   “The grapes are not for the holy. They are for the hungry.”

   • Deuteronomy 32:13-14
   • Galatians 3:13

6. The gates of obedience and knowledge

   To reach the grapes you must learn to open the gates of blessing. Obedience means living up to the knowledge you have received, including committing to tithe ten percent and give offerings, because obedience to the voice of God triggers His blessing, and God who sees in secret rewards openly. Knowledge is also a gate: God's people are destroyed for lack of it, so pick up your Bible, come to church, read the Faith Chronicles and good books.

   Illustration: Years ago people read the Reader's Digest; the Bible is a winner's digest.

   “The Bible is literally a winner's digest.”

   • Hebrews 11:6
   • Deuteronomy 28:1
   • Matthew 6:4
   • Hosea 4:6

7. The gate of visualisation

   Visualise the grapes: if you don't have a home or a car, get a picture of one and start celebrating on your way to it. Renewing your mind is the secret of transformation, so protect your mind in order to protect your heart and refuse to be anyone's garbage can for gossip. The woman with the issue of blood saw her healing in her mind before it happened in her body, and Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him.

   “If you cannot see the grapes in your mind, you cannot see them in your future.”

   • Romans 12:1-2
   • Mark 5:28
   • Proverbs 4:23
   • Proverbs 18:8
   • Hebrews 12:2
   • Proverbs 10:22

8. The gate of forgiveness

   Forgiveness means transferring the right to judge and penalise into God's hands. He admits he is a fighter by nature, but he will not attack those who slander him, because a hard heart would cost him the anointing: faith works by love. Forgive others and also forgive yourself; lay the memory of your mistakes at the cross and stop advertising them.

   “Forgiveness does not flow to you until it can flow through you.”

   • Galatians 5:6
   • Isaiah 43:18

9. The gates of persistence, sowing and praise

   Make up your mind never to give up: the disciples waited ten days in the upper room before the power fell, and your wait may be longer. Beware of guilt by association, because anyone sitting in the getaway car is an accomplice. You cannot have grapes until you sow grapes: what you make happen for others God will make happen for you. Judah, meaning praise, went first into battle, and praise is the sound that makes hell sick, because God inhabits the praises of His people.

   Illustration: Watching his youngest granddaughter skip and jump during worship, he says God wants us to enjoy His presence like that.

   “Praise is the sound that makes hell sick.”

   • Acts 2:1-2
   • Acts 10:38
   • Romans 5:5
   • Psalm 22:3