When, as small children we would play games together, we would start any competition with "Get ready, get set, go!" Or we would say, "One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go!"

We knew what that meant. It meant to focus, to position ourselves, to gather the necessary equipment, and be ready and willing to risk ourselves. When we got to "Go!" we launched out with everything that we had to win the prize. We went! We won! That was then, this is now.

For several years the Lord has been challenging us as believers to "get ready". "Get out of debt" has been the cry of the Spirit. "Be filled with the Spirit!" "Worship Me!" "Let there be unity in my body, intimacy with Me." "Repent and forgive!" These are things the Lord has been speaking. The return of the gifts of the Spirit and the cry of the Lord to "love one another" are all a part of getting ready.

Obedience and discipline, hearing what the Lord is saying and obeying what He says are the thing that get us "set". We allow God to build the kingdom in our lives in order that the church may be built for His glory. A popular movie had a memorable line - "If you build it they will come." However, God is saying to us "If, you will go, I will build it." The Lord has progressively been getting us ready and set so we can go.

"One for the money" can be compared with the Reformation, and the restoration of the truth of who Jesus is. He is "the way, the truth, and the life."

"Two for the show" is likened unto the fresh understanding and knowing the person of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and how important His leading, guiding, and power are in building the Kingdom of God.

"Three to get ready" is our discovery of the Father and His great love for us. Knowing this truth and experiencing Him in our lives gets us ready so that we can, like Jesus, only do what we see the Father doing and say what we hear the Father saying. He is saying, "GO!" and has made a way by the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

But GO is a choice. GO means getting out of our comfort zone. GO means to trust God for direction and provision. GO comes after "get ready" and "get set". GO comes after we know Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit and the will of the Father. GO comes before the harvest. GO comes before we build the church. To GO is costly.

But to stay has its own price. There is no fresh vision, and we lag behind when God moves on. To stay means business as usual, with the fire becoming coals, and where zeal becomes complacency.

"Get ready, get set, go!" is about obeying God. "One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and four to go," is all about knowing God and who He is. Both these phrases come to the same point, the same conclusion, the same command. "Go!"

Jesus said, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." Proclaim it at the will and direction of the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the freedom that Christ has purchased for us by His blood. GO! Proclaiming "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" and the Lord will work with you and confirm His word by the signs that will follow.