We will never know the things that God has in store for us or the things that God has prepared for us or purposed for us unless and until we put our faith squarely in Him and launch out or take that first step of faith. We can’t even imagine! The bible says:
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
This isn’t just the blessings or the material things that come
from trusting God, but this is in our spiritual journey with God, we will never
know or experience the fullness, the weight or the depth of our purpose in God
without a launch of faith. Despite
the severity of our personal situations or the uncertainty of the current
situation of this country in which we live or, indeed. the world today, we must
stick to the task and the journey at hand. We launch out as far as God
directs us and then we allow Him to take over.
Afterward he brought me again unto
the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold
of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east,
and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the
south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate
northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that
looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when
the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a
thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were
to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the
waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand,
and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he
measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the
waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed
over.
And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth,
whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very
great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they
shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river
cometh. Ezekiel 47:1-5, 9
When I read this passage of scripture it makes me see how far
the church has drifted from God and how close it has come to the world. The more ‘woke’ the world becomes – blatantly
giving in to what Apostle Paul refers to as the works of the flesh, it seems as
if the more the church slumbers.
When God gave us His spirit, we ought to do more than have a superficial relationship with Him. It can't just be Sunday morning worship experience only; paying our tithes or singing on the praise time. Those things are good, but we
Ø must be equipped to go deeper in God.
Ø We must have faith that defies human understanding; faith that goes totally beyond what you think could happen
Ø When God has called us to do something He has already given us the ability to do it or paved the way to do it.
We can’t doubt God or the ability that He places in us. We can’t waver in
our belief. Double mindedness will keep us in the shallow place and
not allow us to launch out into the deep.
Fragmented loyalty shatters our trajectory and leaves
us dizzy and confused.
“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James
1:8
When God has complete control we can't leave until our assignment is done, we
can’t become distracted with the thoughts and ways of the world, our flesh or
the enemy.
When God is leading us, He doesn't leave us where we
are. He beckons us to follow His lead. No more can we settle
for being average and mediocre, shining dull lights.
If ever there was a time to take
on His nature and characteristics especially in our dealings with situations
and people, it is now! We have to learn to forgive even as Christ Jesus
forgives us and instructs. There is something about being associated with
God that transforms everything about us.
“For if ye forgive
men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses.” Matthew 6:14-15
√ Allow our self to grow up in God.
When we don't get to a place where we can forgive people, we limit our
own growth in God.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put
away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11
In that same manner, we
need to grow up spiritually by putting away the childish things like allowing
our flesh to minister to us, carnality, worldly influences and standards that
stunt our growth and keep us in a child-like state spiritually.
√ Don't go
to hell from the church. Again, church attendance, paying tithes, being a
part of ministries doesn’t guarantee our entrance into heaven. There must
be demonstration of our faith unto God by obedience to His will.
Yes, we all start in Christ as babes, we start with the sincere milk of the word as Peter tells us:
“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” 1 Peter 2:2
so that we can grow and tolerate the meat of the word.
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, . . . 1 Corinthians 3:2
But as a babe, taking in the milk, we can be observant of those that are living by the meat. We drink the milk and observe those that are living out the word of God. Think about the infant; the toddler that observes the parent and begins to imitate the parent’s actions. My prayer is that the parent is giving the child a good example to follow and likewise, those that have spiritual maturity are setting good examples for the spiritual babes behind us. The bible says:
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” Hebrews 12:1
√ Don't let
getting outside of God's will cause you to leave prematurely. God is
saying come on up higher, lose control and let Him have control.
We have to be careful to be clothed in God; in His holy Spirit everywhere,
we go.
That’s launching out; rather it be ankle, knee
or waist deep – Lord I don’t know where you’re leading me today, but I’m
ready. Just look at Jesus, as a child;
in a temple teaching for hours; launched out in the deep doing something that
had not previously been done by a child.
But the leading of the Holy Spirit will have you doing and saying things
that on your own, you either thought was impossible or you just never saw yourself
doing! Things that even those closest to
you may not be aware, like Jesus’ family.
The bible says about the child Jesus, soaking up the word in the temple:
But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a
day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And
when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And
it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in
the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. Luke 2:44-46
He did this without any acknowledgment to his
parents. We can’t be afraid to launch
out in faith and believe that God will work with you and through you; have
faith to make that life altering step that will change you and cause you to
spring forth. It's hard – impossible – It's hard
to come into contact with God and still be the same.
And a woman having an issue of blood
twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be
healed of any, Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and
immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When
all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude
throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said,
Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. And
when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down
before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had
touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her,
Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace. Luke 8:43-48
If
we believe to the point that we have all the confidence in the world in God,
then we’ll do anything and everything God tells us to do. King David is an excellent example of someone
launching out in faith against all of the obstacles that had beset Him. We find this account in 1 Samuel
30. His entire camp had been
burned down, the wives and children taken.
The men that he commanded upset and thinking about stoning David. The bible says that as distraught as he was
over what had happened, he encouraged himself in God and he consulted God as to
what he should do. Spiritual maturity;
he didn’t let his flesh minister to him.
God tells him to pursue but not who to pursue. Without question, David got his men together
and headed out. When I tell you to trust
God that He can and does do far more than we can even begin to imagine. God put in David’s path a young servant that
had been discarded by his master who witnessed everything that had happened and
was able to tell David exactly where to find the Amalekites. The bible says:
And David smote them from
the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man
of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled. And David recovered all that the Amalekites
had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them,
neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any
thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all 1 Samuel 30:17-19
The
point here is that David stepped out in faith; not knowing who he was looking for or where they were but knowing that since God said pursue, He was going to be
victorious. God doesn’t set us up for
failure!
Get a desire for the things of God.
Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give
thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in
him; and he shall bring it to pass. Psalms 37:4-5
Despite
what our inner man may tell us, because we savor the things of God, we’ll do
what He asks of us, we’ll obey His commandments as written in His word. We’ll do that instead of what we choose to
do, we’ll do what God tells us to do. This includes doing those things
that may not be popular to our friends, family or acquaintances – those things
that show us as peculiar treasures of God!
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my
covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for
all the earth is mine: Exodus 19:5
Remember,
there's nothing wrong with being peculiar. Peculiar is not strange; peculiar is
being uniquely different because we have something on the inside working in and
through us. So, it’s okay to launch out
and be that peculiar treasure that God called us to be.
Remember,
if we refuse to launch out, we’re no different than those people that we read
about in the bible who believed in God
but because they feared the
Pharisees, they kept it secret, so they wouldn’t be ostracized by the assembly
of the Jews. They loved the glory that men could give them rather than the
glory that came from God!
"Nevertheless even among the rulers many
believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest
they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more
than the praise of God." John 12:42
But, when
we savor the things of God above the things of this world or people’s opinions,
we can freely move forward.
Not only that, our focus should be on the eternal things of God and not the temporal things of this world. Yes, we know that the world is in a horrible state but we shouldn’t Our focus should be on the eternal things of God and not the temporal things of this world. Yes we know that the world is in a horrible state but we should not be surprised about it. The word of God expressly informs us of end time behavior of this world.
Just as there is end time behavior upon us, we need to be in end time behavior through our prayers, praise, worship and faithfulness to do the will of God.
Talk about understanding the times; the world has most definitely launched out, likewise so must the body of Christ! We can’t get so caught up in the things of the world that we lose focus on who is sovereign.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3:2
Sermonette
08/15/15
10/01/16
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are welcome and encouraged!