THE JOURNEY INTO UNPRECEDENTED GREATNESS & IMPACT

D R . M A T T H E W S T E V E N S O N

WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE

WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE

Intro Welcome to this ebook, Where No Man Has Gone Before. Over the course of this document, we will uncover the steps to greatness and impact. Nobody ever said the journey would be easy — but they did say it would be worth it.

Scriptures Genesis 12:1-4: “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.’ So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.”

Genesis 15:1-6: “After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.’ And Abram said, ‘Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.’ And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, ‘This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.’ And he brought him forth abroad, and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them:’ and he said unto him, ‘So shall thy seed be.’ And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

Themes • Global insecurity • Superpowers failing • Militant and revolutionary mindsets are stirring in the people • Egypt and Kadafi • The questions of the world are answered by God through men…“Get ready”

Background Story Abram was amongst the first of Bible leaders, that would be called by God into a journey of greatness. He is preceded by a few (Adam and Noah) biblical characters, but Abram is the first in his league, prompted by God into a journey of his own kind of greatness. Abram’s story reveals how God deals with an individual when He calls them to do something that has never been done. Each generation carries men of this kind, and although their journey and the external circumstance by which they are molded differ, they are still dealt with in a similar fashion. When a man is called to do or build anything great in any sector of life or facet of society, there are certain tests placed upon each of them. As we study the life of Abram, we discover the principles of God when dealing with those that carry the unprecedented.

Unprecedented: Having no prior precedent, the only thing like it and surpassing previous accomplishment — not recycled, no reruns.

Abram is a biblical patriarch who dared to enter into a journey that would give him access to a series of unparalleled events. Why? Because of his life and obedience to his God.

The Bible is replete with leaders, that God would call to do something that had never been done before. (Moses and the Tabernacle, Noah and the Ark, etc.) In their lives, we find a pattern and a train of thought from the mind of God that we can glean principles from — especially pertinent if we sense a calling to do the unprecedented:

• We will be challenged to journey with no map

• Build with no pattern or blueprint • Develop and innovate with no record or reference

Abram’s calling begins with a challenge of courage requiring a departure; He was challenged to leave: • His country: his national programming, societal restrictions, and molding• His kindred: his peers, his culture, those in his closely-aged majority• His father’s house: the programming that could come from his genetics, the limitations or patterns of

thought that may come from his last name

Every great leader must be faced with the test of departure at some point his life. When a person does not make a mental, spiritual, and cultural migration from what is, it will be impossible for him to cultivate or become what can be.

What you’re willing to walk away from — and be distinct from — will determine what you walk into. This generation of leaders is making a departure from the wrong things.

Abram was called out of a land into a land that God would show Him. (Genesis 12:1) He was called to sojourn without a map, but he was given the guarantee of a prophetic compass! This compass would be the inner hardware placed inside of the leader that is further stirred by dreams, convictions, visions, and prophetic experiences that provide direction and clarity for the journey.

During this journey to the land God would show him, he would not be guided by maps but by landmarks — God would highlight landmarks to lead him, directionally. And today, landmarks still have place and priority.

This generation of leaders is departing from the wrong things...and ignoring or overlooking ancient landmarks.

We must become students of history...and not victims of it. We often don’t understand what to do with history. History speaks to why what needs to be built needs to be built, but should not dictate what to build. (Noah built something that history couldn’t dictate.) We must stand supported by our heritage, even though we’re being charged to do something that has never been done. These landmarks are points of balance, pillars of theology, and non-negotiable components of truth that speak to the reason behind our journey; once we leave them, we are prone to error and catastrophe, and we will be a generation who wanders aimlessly.

I Will Bless You: The Unprecedented PromiseThis is the promise of God to a leader who has received a mandate to do the unprecedented:

Bless: sanction, stand behind, stand over and make an abundance available for

“I will make your name great” is God’s promise to expand His name. At the onset of Abram’s journey, God instilled in him His definition of greatness. This would be sure that over time, wherever God took him and whatever God used him to accomplish, that he would not adapt or succumb to a perverse definition of greatness

We must learn to own God’s definition of greatness. We must redefine it, because we can be arrested and controlled by a carnal definition of greatness and a secret drive for fame and popularity. Greatness in the Kingdom is determined by the depth of a leader’s surrender.

You go first...

Greatness is often determined by what you’re willing to do first. Wherever there is first, there is an apostolic dimension. There is no pressure and no pain, like the pain and pressure of the first.

The first bears the responsibility of creating history for those that follow. The first becomes the paradigm that provides direction. The first comes against the most opposition and enters into conflict and warfare. We must create history for the unborn. We must frame the world.

The Test of SowingGenesis 14: Abram’s encounter with Melchizedek is an example. (Could you sow into something bigger than yourself?) Some leaders are very stingy and don’t follow the law of sowing and reaping, though they desire generosity (the unprecedented seed). This is what activated the events that follow in Genesis 15.

Genesis 15: God further illumines the nature of the journey. Abram’s greatest concerns were lineage, legacy, and posterity. He understood that posterity is real power! Psalm 127:4: “Sons are arrows in the hand of a mighty man.” A man’s real honor is found in his ability to produce. We have too many sterile ministries.

The OutsideGod again speaks to Abram to come out of the tent. He speaks to him, while he is outside. Every leader cultivating unprecedented things in him, must go through a time of feeling like an outsider! There are things God wants you to know that the comfort, convenience, and amenities of the inside will hinder your ability for revelation! God, as always, anoints outsiders. We must be okay with being foreigners to a time, a place, an era, a culture, or a day!

God brings him outside of the tent and makes him look up... The challenge of every leader who must build something that has not been built or go somewhere that nobody has gone will face the test of panoramic view. When it comes to our mandates, we tend to be very limited in discerning the scope of its impact.

Look at the STARSWe must be stirred to look upward, not around. When we are tempted to look around, we enter into the snare and traps of the enemy. Our tendency when called outside is almost immediately to look around in our immediate surroundings.

When we look around: • We are arrested by the idolatry of reference• We are arrested by the distraction of records• And we fall into the snare of comparison

Comparison is a thief and will clog your ability to see and hear what God wants to do in your life.

This generation is bound by “lights, camera, and action.” We are fascinated with TRENDS, we like to study what’s working for people instead of being reliant on trusted methods of Scripture, godly counsel, and a prophetic sensitivity to what the HOUR requires!

We rely on written methods of success or the stories of public figures to add a level of convenience to our own journeys. We must not fall into the trap of building something so attractive to our culture, even though it’s biblically and spiritually deformed.

We serve a record-breaking God. He is a statistic-shattering God! We must lift up our eyes, exalt our view, change our site concentrate, and switch the direction of what we’re looking at.

We must look up — one of the purposes of the solar system is to remind you of the vastness of the God of your calling (“The heavens declare…”).

Space, the Final Frontier — these are the voyages of the starship enterprise, its five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before!

We have been called to Star Trek, to journey amongst stars and to walk upon the High Places of the earth.

Trek: a long arduous journey, especially one made on foot

God doesn’t give VISION that looks REALISTIC — that would mean that it is dictated by and governed by what is REAL now. Finally, the entire point to Abram’s greatness and his assignment were nations.

Abram: An exalted father; a father of many NATIONS

What’s in you is for your city, but too big for your city. God has always had nations in mind. This speaks to geographical places that are in need of what is in you, but also speaks to ETHNOS: groups of people. (Mark 16, Matthew 28, Acts 1:8)

Abram journeyed, until he understood that the reason behind his greatness was that he was a carrier of ETHNOS.

Ethnos: A breed, a type, a kind, a species of person. We are carrying a KIND OF PEOPLE in us! We must give birth to them!

Discern the scope, stature, and potential of what you carry and what you’re building. There were requirements placed upon Abram that impeded the comfort and imposed a level of temporal grief on his family. The unprecedented call on you will impact those closest to you, especially your family.

To seal the deal, God made a requirement of Abram. (To whom much is given, much is required.) The ultimate test of greatness is: What you are willing to go without for the purposes of God?

When you give God your only, He gives you His all.

If you are okay with sacrificing what you want most, He will give you more than you could ever dream of. Greatness in the unprecedented way, cannot be afraid of sacrifice. It is a lifestyle.

Abram passed the test, and made God proud! God went on to add to his business card — He is the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob...

...the breed of people to whom all of us would be born!

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