Two Questions - Part 1

0 (0s): Good morning. Harvest Church good to see everybody this morning. I'm this beautiful, beautiful sunny day. And just to come and gather in the house of the Lord to love Jesus. I want to be great just to be able to spend time with him this morning. And we always say that we want church to be like a little taste of heaven and not because it feels like an eternity while you're here, but we're, but we're going to just love on Jesus here. Now we're going to take some time to worship. We're going to hear the word we're going to pray, and we're going to go forth from this place. Just excited about the fact that we get to be those who people can look at and say, if they took note to them that they have been with Jesus, let's open with prayer. 0 (49s): Shall we Lord our God, I thank you. And I praise you that you are God, and you are not just some distant God way out there, who set things into motion. And now you stand back and see how things play out. God, you are sovereign. You have declared the end from the beginning and everything that happens in between and that we can trust you because you are always working for us our best and for your glory. And that's why we're gathered here today is to bring glory to you, to lift up the name of Jesus. Two to walk in the power of the Holy spirit, come into us and we pray, God, that's what you would do here. 0 (1m 33s): Now that you would come into us, that, that Holy spirit, that you would fill us again and fill us more and fill us more. Let us be full of that. Living water, that overflows from our inner most being, because you have filled us so much, let your annointing be upon us. As we worship you. God, let us be that heavenly choir joining with the 10,000 times, 10,000 around your throne this day, fill us and use us for your glory. Speak to our hearts, Lord, you know, the needs of each one that are here today, whether it be a comfort or strength or encouragement or hope, or maybe it's people here in need of new life. 0 (2m 22s): I just pray that you would open their hearts to hear your word this day and respond to that gospel message that Jesus loves them, died for them and made a way for them to be right with God. Not by any strength of their own, but simply by trusting in you come Lord Jesus. Be glorified in our praises. Now in your name, we pray. Amen. 1 (3m 0s): never stop. 1 (6m 27s): Never stop. Never stop. and your grace that you hold us firmly. 1 (21m 53s): So we put our hope in you today. And every day you open our hearts to receive all the filler cups for the weekend, your work in Jesus. Why don't you take a moment to share God's love with someone around you say hello to someone new. And we'll be back in just a couple minutes with someone else's. 2 (22m 23s): Hey, my name's Jeremy on the youth and family pastor here at Harvest Church. And so I thought I would just drag my daughters up. This is Posey. She's going to be turning one here shortly. And then this is my other daughter Posey. And then this is Winnie, sorry. I mixed them up. When you have three girls, you start to mix them up. So we got Winnie Posey. So, so glad that you're joining us today. So glad to see so many faces, I'm seeing new faces and returning faces on the patio. So I'm just, it's. It's awesome to see you guys here. If you're joining us online, we want to welcome you as well, and just know that we want to make it as safe as possible for you to come and join us in person. If you, if you feel so inclined. 2 (23m 4s): So I've got two major announcements. One's sad and one's good. So which one do you want? First sad. All right. Sad. So sad news is the sister hood night of worship will be postponed till may. All right. We're pushing that back to may. So that is sad. So it was going to be February 19th, but we're pushing it back to me. So just stay tuned for that. As it gets closer, the good news is, is, Hey, if you have kids and you want to get out for that date night, we are hosting here a Valentine's day kids night. So if you have kids next Sunday, five to 8:00 PM, if you have kids from the ages of birth to sixth grade, you get to come and drop them off at here at Church and go out on a date, go out and get, get, get some time together as a couple. 2 (23m 53s): And I know she wants it. Registration is required ahead of time, just so we know how many students we're very prepared for. There's going to be a pizza games, movie, fun, all that stuff for only five bucks, a kid that's I mean, that's a steal. So contact Leslie or sign up on the events, link on our Church site website. Lastly, we're looking for some volunteers, a few ways to get connected or with the greeting team. And, and, and that's just a one-month to Sunday just, or sorry, one Sunday, a month. I should say joining the greeting team. There's the cleaning team. We were looking for someone to clean the loft once a month, as well as the safety team. 2 (24m 33s): So if you're interested in any of those reach out, I know she wants it. Hit the connect link on your app or on the website. And we'd love to have you, so thanks so much. 3 (24m 46s): Was he going to do this all by herself? That's what I want to know. That's what I wanted to know. He'd help pacifiers a nice touch. I like it. I like it. Yeah, no, I'm good. No, I'm good. I I've got my own. I've got my own. Just nobody knows about it. So don't tell anybody. Don't tell anybody welcome. How is everyone good? We're going to be in first Timothy, and then we're going to be an acts seven, eight, and nine. So in other words, we're going to be here a very long time today. Very, very long time. 3 (25m 27s): I Oh, there is a game today. That's right. This is why I'm going to go long. Test your test, your spirituality or something. I don't know who's playing anyway. I didn't even know he was playing the chiefs and who Buccaneers chiefs and the Buccaneers sounds like a wonderful game. I will watch it. I just don't. It's the only game I've watched all year. So we were just singing this song. I will make room for you to do whatever you want to. I will make room for you to do whatever you want to, easy to sing hard to do, right? Like hard to do last week. I challenged us with a couple of questions. And if we titled this message, there's no title for the message today. 3 (26m 9s): But if we did, in fact, I don't even have an outline for the message today. I just felt like Laura was doing something different this week. And so I'm doing something different this week. So if there was an outline and if there was a title for the message, you would be Two Questions, that would be the title of the message. Two Questions. So last week I asked you Two Questions. I said, when you get up in the morning, ask the Lord, what do you, what do you, what do you want me to do today? And what do you want to do through me today? Number of those Questions w what do you, what do you want me to do today? And what do you want to do through me today? And I just ask you to ask yourself that question. So what I'm going to do is continue to ask you to ask that question. Those two questions all month long, all through the month of February, and just see what the Lord might do before we get into it. 3 (26m 50s): I got a quick joke. You guys ready for a joke? Okay, good. It's kind of a Quip. It's kind of a joke kind of equip. So this young evangelist was invited to the small Midwestern town to do a series of meetings. And so while the young van, if young evangelists is there, he's doing a series of meetings and he decides to write a letter and send it home. But he's, can't find the post office. He's walking up and down the little town and on the main drag. And he's trying to find the post office, but he can't find the post office. So he finds this little guy and says, Hey, do you know where the post office is? He's like, yeah, it's easy. It's up two blocks turn. Right. And it'll be up another block. And that's where you'll find the post office. Well, the evangelist was excited that he had met this little guy and said, Hey, I'm in town as an evangelist doing a series of meetings. 3 (27m 37s): I'm telling people how to find Jesus. Would you like to come to the meeting? And the little guy said, absolutely not. Actually, you can't even find the post office or you can help me find Jesus true story. The evangelists was none other than Billy Graham. Yeah. And then interesting. So little Quip, a little funny, true story. And as I began to think about that little Quip and that little thing, and I thought, I wonder what I wonder what his story, what Billy Graham story is. I've never read his biography, yours. What is his story? Where did he get his beginning? Because you don't just all of a sudden and speak to millions of people in, in, in foreign countries and all around the world, have an audience with millions of people throughout the course of your life. 3 (28m 21s): It just doesn't just happen somewhere along the line. He decided he felt called to be an evangelists somewhere along the line, he felt like God was speaking to him to go do something that was probably outside of him. Now, I don't mean to say anything other than the obvious truth. When you listen to Billy Graham, he's very simple, right? Bless his heart. He's with the Lord. Now he was very simple message, but it was always a gospel message. And there was just something powerful about his message so that when people heard him, they got saved by the droves, by the millions people got saved when they listened to his very simple message. And so I thought, I wonder how he got his start. And then as I'm looking through first Timothy, we just finished up series. 3 (29m 2s): And now we're going to get into first Timothy and start a new series. I can't get past the first verse first Timothy chapter one. And as I am thinking about this message during the week, last week, I usually start writing my message on Thursday and wrap it up by Friday. And as I'm reading through Timothy the first day, I'm like, Lord, I, I know there's a lot I can say about this passage, but what is it that you want me to say about this passage? I don't want to just give a history lesson about first Timothy. I want to give something of manna, something of Rayma, something of food, nutrition, spiritual nutrition for our lives. And so I just wrestled with it on Thursday and then came back to it on Friday. 3 (29m 46s): And I remembered the Questions Lord, what do you want to do with me today? And what do you want to do through me today? And it re and I just was reminded of that challenge that I issued. And I decided to issue that challenge to myself. Again, Lord, I don't want to do anything that you don't want me to do, and I don't want to try to make something happen. I want you to speak through me. And so here we are. So I, you know, 4 (30m 10s): I've, I 3 (30m 12s): I'm capable of writing a sermon. I've been writing sermons for 30 years, but I didn't feel like that's what I was supposed to do today. Just to write a outline with three points. And you know that those are all good things and I'll do, I'll probably get back to that next week. But for now, we're just gonna look at the example of a few people in scripture, we talked and thought about Billy Graham a little bit. How did he get a start? What w how did he end up doing what he ended up doing? It doesn't just happen. Happenstance. This letter is from Paul first, Timothy chapter one, verse one. This letter is from Paul, an apostle of Christ. Jesus appointed by the command of God, our savior in Christ. 3 (30m 54s): Jesus who gives us hope, Paul, an apostle, how did that happen? It didn't just happen overnight. Number one, it didn't just happen because Paul wanted to be an apostle. God actually had a plan and somewhere along Paul's life, he had to agree with that plan. So let's go back to his conversion experience in acts chapter nine, and just see what happened as he was living his life, doing the things that he thought he should be doing acts chapter nine. We'll just pick it up in the beginning in verse one. It says, meanwhile, but Hey, before we do that, let's go ahead and stand up. We haven't prayed for the service yet. So Lord, we're gonna pray. And, and then we'll get into the message. 3 (31m 35s): So as we stand up all over the campus on the patio, in the loft, Lord, we thank you that you are here. Thank you that you are here. The same God that interrupted Saul's life. The apostle Paul's life, the same God who was there, speaking to him once is here and wants to speak to us. And so, Lord, I believe that is true. And we, as a church, we believe that is true. And so in our lives and in our circumstances and in the season that we S that we stand in our lives. We want you to speak to us, and we want you to speak to us as a church as well, collectively and corporately. We want you to speak to us. And so we say your will be done. God, speak your truth. 3 (32m 15s): And God, we commit out of the gate before we even hear what you tell us to do, we commit to do it. That's what we're going to commit to Lord. So if you're, if you, if you want to commit to that, just go and raise your hand. I'm not looking only, God's looking. Okay. Good. Put your hand down. Cause I'm not, I'm still not looking now. Maybe nobody raised their hand Lord, but maybe everybody raised their hand. But Lord, I pray that as you speak, that would have ears to hear, and they'd be ready to go in Jesus' name. So amen. You can be seated. So Paul previously saw all of Tarsus and acts chapter nine. This is his story. Meanwhile, Saul later becomes Paul. 3 (32m 58s): The apostle Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's followers. So this is Paul. This is his Saul of Tarsus days. Let me just read it again, because maybe it didn't hit you. Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's followers. So he went to the high priest and he requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the way he found there. So followers of the way, it's just another way of saying followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. 3 (33m 39s): So Jesus had come as the Messiah. A lot of Jewish people didn't believe a lot of a lot did a lot. Didn't Paul didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah and he was persecuting. Those who were followers of the way he wanted to bring them both men and women back to Jerusalem in chains. This was his, his effort. This was his life mission. He was approaching Damascus on this mission. So we're real quick, we're on a mission before we know Jesus to do whatever it is that you know we're attempting to do. And then when we come to faith in Jesus, he puts us on a new mission, right? So Paul was not just an apostle, but he was a missionary. 3 (34m 21s): He was about the father's business, doing what God had asked him to do. So I wonder if your mission before your days in Christ or is different than your mission after your days as a follower of Jesus Christ, just a little challenge there. As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shown down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? So this is leading up to his Paul and Paul, an apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ, by the will of God, who are you? Lord Saul ass. And the voice replied. I am Jesus. The one you are persecuting now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do that begins his journey. 3 (35m 11s): Do you remember when your journey began in Jesus? I can look back and remember specifically when that journey began for me. And I shared about it recently in that camp when I was in junior high school, that, that camp, when I just finally realized what Jesus was all about and what he was calling me to do, and it was powerful and profound. And life-changing 5 (35m 35s): Changed my mission, 6 (35m 38s): Honestly, as a young man, I didn't even know what my mission was other than just doing what felt good. If it feels good, do it. If it's gratifying, do it. If it's self satisfying, do it. And then something radically began to change. And God put me on a different path after that. What 3 (35m 58s): Is going on in your life? What is your vision? What has God called you to do 6 (36m 3s): As a follower of the Lord? Jesus Christ, because you have a purpose, 3 (36m 7s): Even as Jesus arrested Paul 6 (36m 9s): On the Damascus road and shown a light on him and challenged him and awakened him. God wants to do that with you. 3 (36m 16s): Let's take a look in acts chapter seven, and we'll look at a couple more examples here in acts chapter seven. Again, we're just kind of looking back at some examples of God, interrupting somebody's life and taking them on a mission so that they might follow his supernatural plan 6 (36m 31s): Because we sing this song. I will make room for you to do whatever you want to do. 3 (36m 39s): So it's a declaration and it's a prayer and it's a commitment. I will make 6 (36m 45s): A room for you to do whatever you want to. 3 (36m 49s): That is essentially the gospel. We're saying, I'm saying yes to the gospel. I'm saying yes to Jesus. And I'm committing my life for the rest of my life to follow Jesus. I will make room for you. So there's an intentionality there. It says I have to make room. That means I need to get rid of some stuff that's in my life so that Jesus can fit into my life. 6 (37m 11s): I will make room for you to do whatever you want. 3 (37m 13s): Two so, as we think about Stephen, this young, powerful follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ, he was falsely accused, sound familiar. 6 (37m 22s): A lot of godly men in the Bible and women in the Bible were falsely accused 3 (37m 27s): And acts chapter six, verse 13 says the lying witnesses, the lying witnesses said this man is always speaking against the Holy temple and against the law of Moses. So Stephen is brought before the high council and just watch how he defends himself in Jesus name, acts chapter seven, verse one. Then the high priest asked Stephen are these accusations true? And he didn't try to defend himself. He just wanted to share the gospel and God's plan. As, as, as it was kind of rolled out throughout the history of the Hebrew people. This was Stevens, replied, brothers and fathers. Listen to me, our glorious God appeared to our ancestor, Abraham in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Harambe, God told him, leave your native land and your relatives and coming to the land that I will show you. 3 (38m 21s): So what did Abraham 6 (38m 22s): Do? 3 (38m 25s): He did what God asked him to do. Abraham made room for God to do whatever he wanted to do. So Abraham left the land of the Cal deans and lived in Horan until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you now live, but God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land. So you would think, and let's go back and just read Genesis 12 because Genesis 12 kind of 6 (38m 54s): Highlights the story with a little more information here and helps us understand what God was doing with Abraham. 3 (39m 2s): Because again, God had big plans for Abraham, but it required Abraham's cooperation. It required that he would make room for God to do whatever he wanted to do. So that was true in the old Testament. And it's true in the new Testament. It was true 2000 years ago. And it's true today. We need to make room so that God can do whatever it is that he wants to do in our lives. And so, as we look in Genesis chapter 12, verse one, it says the Lord had said to Abraham, he was Abraham before the Lord changed his name to Abraham because he was on one mission before God got ahold of his life. And now he's on a different mission. 3 (39m 42s): Now that God's got ahold of his life, the Lord said to him, leave your native country, your relatives and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great name. 6 (39m 58s): How old was he? Abraham was Abraham was 75 years old when he gets this message 75. So even back in Genesis, that was kind of getting up there. 3 (40m 9s): All right. So he's 75 years old 6 (40m 11s): And his wife is barren. She has no children and 3 (40m 16s): God calls him to leave his land that he is familiar with and leave his family and go to a nation or go to this new land. And that he's promised that I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous. 6 (40m 31s): Is, is Abraham famous? Yeah. Every, every major religion in the world follows would consider Abraham the father of their, their belief, including Christianity. 3 (40m 43s): I will believe you. I will bless you and make you famous. And you will be blessing a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on the earth will be blessed through you. So Abraham departed 6 (40m 56s): Lord had instructed and lot went with him. Abraham was 75 years old. When he left Heron, he took his wife, Sarah, his nephew lot, and all his wealth, his livestock, and all the people he had taken to his house household to Heron and headed for the land of Canaan. 3 (41m 14s): So at 75 years old, he's got no descendants 6 (41m 17s): Because his 3 (41m 18s): Wife is not able to have children 6 (41m 20s): And the Lord calls him 3 (41m 22s): And gives him a vision and gives him a new mission for his life. And so I would say that God is the same because 6 (41m 30s): I say this because the Bible says it, that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Jesus 3 (41m 34s): Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And so the way he functioned and operated then is the same way. He still functions and operates today. So what he wants to do is he wants to give us a new vision for our lives and a new mission for our lives. So when we ask the question, God, what do you want to do with me? And what do you want to do through me? He will communicate his new vision and his new mission to you. And you'll make those things very clear to you over time, but you have to be willing number as we were praying, I said, are you willing to do what God asks you to do before we even pray? And some of us raised our hands, some of us did, and some of us are like, I'll wait until I hear, because we're used to negotiating with God. When we hear what he wants us to do, we negotiate with him for a better terms or for, for a better plan. 3 (42m 21s): And we just, we think this somehow we can add something to what God has asked us to do. And we, we don't have any bartering power or any negotiating power with the Lord because salvation says, if you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead. You shall be saved. That's the pathway to salvation that we recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I hark on this all the time because it's the truth. So Christianity is recognizing the Lordship of Jesus Christ. So something has to trigger in our lives where we say, yes, I trust you Lord. And yes don't want, no matter what you say, I'm going to agree with it and follow it and do what you ask, 6 (42m 57s): Ask me to do. So Abraham departs and does what the Lord asked him to do. It started there in Genesis 12 and 3 (43m 12s): Lasted throughout the course of his whole life, 6 (43m 15s): New vision, new mission. I will make room for you to do whatever you want to do. Abraham, did that 3 (43m 24s): Leave your native land back to acts chapter seven. God told them, leave your native land and your relatives and come into the land that I will show you. So Abraham left the land of the Cal deans and lived in Horan until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you, where you now live. But God gave him no inheritance here, not even a one square foot of land. 6 (43m 45s): We're awfully impatient with God's plans, right? Like, especially 3 (43m 50s): Like if we're doing something that requires a great deal of faith we want in 6 (43m 54s): Return and God doesn't always do what we expect him to do. God did. 3 (43m 59s): I promise however that eventually, eventually, and we have to be patient in the event, 6 (44m 4s): Truly part of life, right? We have to 3 (44m 8s): Be patient as we wait for God to eventually do what he's going to do. So I I've been 6 (44m 13s): Praying for this camp back here 3 (44m 15s): For 18 years. And you got a lot of, you know, that I'd been praying for this camp back here for 18 years. Cause there's 29 acres of property back 6 (44m 21s): There. And it used to be a Methodist camp connected. 3 (44m 25s): Two this old Methodist facility that we have now as, as Harvest Church. And I felt when we moved, okay, maybe it's not been 18 years. We planted the church 18 years ago. So I've been praying for it for 16 years. Cause we got here at about year two. So I've been praying for that camp that God would give us that camp for 16 years, asking the Lord to give it to us. Now I'm not always the most patient person. And so I'm often looking for a different way to accomplish what God wants to accomplish. And so a buddy of mine who is a pastor in the Pomo, he told me recently, as we were driving together in the truck, he said, Hey, there's a gal in a Royal Grande day who offered to give me some land to build a church. 3 (45m 8s): But I told her I'm not called to minister in a row. Grandam called to minister in Nepal most. So I turned her down. I said, Hey, I'll take the land. I'll take the land. If she's got land in a rig, Grande that I will take the land and we'll build a church and we'll do what she wants to do. So I let him live for a couple of days and I called him up and I said, Hey, would you be okay if I called this gal and asked her for that land? Even if we pay for it, I'll just ask her if we can talk about, he said, no. 7 (45m 38s): I said, 3 (45m 39s): Okay. He said, it just wouldn't be appropriate. I said, okay, I trust you. So then Friday, I'm meeting with a guy and I'm praying, I meet with a guy that about once a week or so. And we pray in the office on Fridays and we were praying and I began to pray again for the camp because my plan B and plan C and plan deed, you know, they never work out, but God's plan a always works out in 7 (46m 0s): God's timing. Eventually 3 (46m 5s): It will come to pass. And so I felt as though, as I was praying that the Lord said, you're closer than you think, as I said, that's good. That's like, we're closer to the rapture. Then you think like we were closer yesterday. Then we work today. There we're closer today than we were yesterday. So I know though that in my spirit, the Lord, I feel like in my spirit, the Lord said that. And so eventually when the timing is right, God will give us that land. So eventually the whole land will belong to, to Abraham and his descendants, even though he had no children, yet God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land where he would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish that nation that enslaves them, God said, and in the end they will come out and worship me here in this place. 3 (46m 49s): God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. Think about the covenant of circumcision before Genesis 17, the covenant of circumcision, the idea of circumcision had never even been thought of as far as we can tell. And so God tells Abraham, Hey, I want you to circumcise cutoff the flesh of your Fort, that your son's for skin. And that's going to be a sign of the covenant that you are entering in with me. That's crazy. Right? I think it's, it seems a little crazy. I mean, if you think about it, it doesn't sound very comfortable. It sounds kind of like, you know, you're crossing the line a little bit. It's maybe if you didn't hear directly from the Lord, but God continue to show him wonderful and supernatural things and even things that were outside of his experience up to that point. 3 (47m 41s): And he continued to do what God had asked him to do all the days of his life. So Abraham became the father of Isaac miracle. Number one, right? Became the father of Isaac. He was not supposed to have kids as a a hundred year old man. He finally had a kid and had to wait about 25 years for that kid. He circumcised him on the eighth day. And the practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob. And when Jacob became the father of the 12 patriarchs of the Israelite nation, verse nine says the patriarchs were jealous of their brother. Joseph. Remember the sons, remember Jacob's sons. Remember Joseph? He, he had this intimacy with the Lord. 3 (48m 22s): I don't know how he established it or developed it, but he had some intimacy with the Lord such that God would give him dreams about the future. And in his foolishness, I will say he shared those dreams with his brothers and his brothers didn't like him because of those dreams. Because in those dreams, his brothers are bowing down to him. And so they're irritated. They're they don't like that. And so what do they do? They sell him. First of all, they throw him in a pit, leaving him for dead. And then they decide, no, let's not do that. Let's sell him into slavery, to the Ishmaelite traders going by. And then the Ishmaelites sell him again. So we sold into slavery again, and then he's falsely accused. And so he gets thrown into jail and to prison. 3 (49m 3s): And he's in prison for a long time, waiting for God to do what eventually God will do because God had communicated in a dream to him, what his plan was for Joseph's life. And so is there an eventually in a Joseph's life? Yeah. Right. So Joseph had a new vision, a new mission for his life, but it took a long time for that. The eventually part of his life took a long time for him to finally get there in the eventually part of his life. He had to keep his heart tender before the Lord. So we know that while he's in jail as a prisoner, he was a, he was a, a wonderful prisoner. He was a great example and a great person within, within the prison system. 3 (49m 45s): And he was given responsibility and authority within the prison. Then ultimately, ultimately he was finally going to be released. Famine came upon the land verse 11 acts chapter seven, there was a great misery. And our ancestors ran out of food. Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt. So he went with the sons, our ancestors to buy some food. And that's where Jacob and, and his other sons ran into 6 (50m 10s): Joseph, who is now the governor of all of Egypt. So God had given him a new vision and a new mission for his life. And now his whole family is going to be blessed as a result. 3 (50m 24s): They keep his heart tender because he knew that he'd see his face or God knew he would see his family again and be part of the delivering process and redeeming process for his whole family. If he didn't keep his heart tender, maybe just, maybe the Lord wouldn't have been able to use him the way that he was used. Let's take a look at Moses. Remember the story of Moses first 20 acts chapter seven. And at that time, Moses was born a beautiful child in God's eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. And when they had to abandon him, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son. 3 (51m 4s): Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and he was powerful in both speech and action. One day when Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his relatives. The people of Israel, he saw an Egyptian mistreating, an Israelite. So Moses came to the man's defense and avenged him killing the Egyptian. Moses assumed verse 25. His fellow Israelites would realize that God sent him to rescue them, but they didn't. What do you do when people don't realize what God has called you to do? And they are naysayers in your life and they don't get behind what God has asked you to do. So when we planted this church 18 years ago, so many people told us not to plant the church. 3 (51m 46s): They said, there's a bunch of churches in a row Grande day. So you don't need to plant another church here in this community. They said you don't have the stamina to be a senior pastor of a church. So you shouldn't plant a church. You should just go be an associate pastor somewhere like I'd been doing for a number of years before that. But I just knew that God had called us to plant a church. We didn't have any money. We didn't have any people. We didn't have any backing. We didn't have any equipment, but I just knew that God had called us to plant a church. Have you ever been up against a situation like that where you're like, I know that God's asked me to do this, but I don't know how it's going to happen. 3 (52m 27s): If you have, then you're walking in the plans and purposes of God, because this is the, this is the way God works. It happened with Joseph. Like people, your brothers will be bowing down before you, your parents were bowing down before how Lord and I'm sure he must have rehearsed those dreams many times. When is this ever going to come to pass? In the meantime, God's doing stuff in his life to prepare him for what God wants to do with and through him, because I'm sure he got up in the morning and said, Lord, I will make room for you to do whatever you want to do. I, I dunno what you want to do with me today, Lord. But I'm going to make myself available. 3 (53m 7s): Do me, do with me what you want and work through me the way that you want. It's his conduct and his character in jail and prison were indications that he kept his heart right before the Lord. And then the Lord was able to use him when it was time. Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that had sent him to rescue them, but they didn't. The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker man. He said, you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other? But the man in the wrong push Moses aside, who made you a ruler and judge over us, he asked, are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday, when Moses heard that he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian there, his two sons were born. 6 (53m 57s): So Moses is now a fugitive, 3 (54m 3s): The backside of the desert, somewhere with his herds, just waiting for God to do what he felt like the Lord was going right 6 (54m 9s): To do. And then just casually casually. It says in verse 30, 28, excuse me, verse 30 casually. It says 40 years later, 40 years later, like it's no big deal, right? Like 40 years later, 3 (54m 30s): You're like, I have a hard time being patient with the Lord for like four days, 6 (54m 33s): Right? Four weeks, four months, 40 years, I for 40 years later 3 (54m 40s): Or in the desert near Mount Sinai and angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning Bush. When Moses saw he was amazed at the sight and he went to take a closer look and the voice of the Lord called out to him. I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, take off your sandals for you are standing on Holy ground. I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and I've come down to rescue them. Now, go for, I am sending you back to Egypt. 6 (55m 18s): 40 years later, God is working in our lives. In-between the fulfillment, the giving of the 3 (55m 29s): And emission and the fulfillment of the vision and mission. He's doing great stuff all along the way, but he's working in our lives and I don't want us to miss out. And I personally don't want to miss out on the, on that preparation, those stages in between where God is about to bring about his great plans and purposes for my life and my ministry. 6 (55m 49s): But we have to be willing to say yes 3 (55m 52s): To God and do what God asks us to do the way he asks us to do it without negotiating, without trying to barter back and forth and make a plan that's different than God's plan. So a couple about three or four weeks ago, 6 (56m 8s): We had 3 (56m 9s): The baby bottles, the lifeline crisis pregnancy center, people here, 6 (56m 13s): And they were passing out baby bottles. 3 (56m 15s): And the idea was, it's a fundraiser for them. So you take your baby bottle home and you fill it up with change or money or whatever, and you bring it back in the next week or two. And, and, and so this family in our church, they had this vacation savings fund, this big water bottle that they were dropping their money into all the time, just to try to save money and raise money for a vacation. Well, when they heard about the baby bottle drive, they decided that they would bring in their jug of money and give it to the baby bottle drive for the fundraiser. And so we heard the story, it was shared through an announcement. And I, as I heard that story, I thought, Hey, I've got one of those water bottle things. 3 (56m 57s): I've got one of those things that I will throw money into just as a stash. And I'll just have some cash and coins in there. And whenever I feel like it, I just dump money into and I've been, it's been accumulating for years and I felt like the Lord said, Hey, you should do that. And so I shared it with somebody who, who was close to me and I said, Hey, I'm going to do what that family did. And that person said, well, why don't you just write a check? I said, well, that's not what God asked me. I don't feel like that's what God said to do. I thought about it since then, if I've read a check, I get credit for it. Right. I'm kind of getting credit for it now, but God only knows God only knows the amount, right. So I think it's not what God asked me to do. 3 (57m 40s): I read a check, I get credit for it. I don't want credit for it. I just want to drop off the money and go. So I decided in that moment that I would take the jar of money and just fill up bottles and give it and just let the Lord sort things out. I think often we hear what the Lord wants us to do, and we navigate a different way. We don't do exactly what he asked us to do, or we wait and we wait and we wait until maybe the moment that the Lord has prepared us for his past. And then we miss out on the blessing that God has for us. Can we get in the habits? Can we get in the habit of just saying yes, immediately to the Lord and just say, yes, Lord, and do immediately what God asks us to do. 3 (58m 20s): I think sometimes the Lord has to take into account our faithlessness and he asks us three months ahead of time. So we actually do it when he wants us to do it. Why does God have to take into account our faithlessness? Why can't he just assume that we're going to be obedient? So will he just knows that when he asks us the newsletter, we're going to do it. We just do it out of the gate, right? Because if we're indeed making room for God to do whatever he wants to do. And if we're indeed asking ourselves this question for this month of February, God, what do you want to do with me today? What do you want to do through me today? It means that we we're we're, we're, we're staying present with the Lord to be present with the Lord just means like being in a friendship, present with a friend in a friendship, like Lord I'm with you. 3 (59m 0s): I want to do what you asking me to do. And then I'm going to step into that. So let's be committed this month as I get ready to write. As I wrap up here, I want, who is with me now? I've got my eyes open this time. Not that I'm going to remember who raised their hand, but who's with me to, let me just tell you what you're raising your hand for, again, this, for this month 6 (59m 23s): On the patio and in the loft as the worship team comes forward. 1 (59m 26s): 6 (59m 29s): I want you to remember this song that we were singing. And I want you to tell the Lord, I will make room for you to do whatever you want to do. I will make room for you. And then when you get up in the morning, ask these questions. So Lord, what do you want to do with me? And what do you want to do through me? As I was talking to a couple of staff members before the first service today, I shared with them what I was going to be sharing with you guys today. And two different responses. One of the staff members got up this morning and having a hard time getting out of bed. And, and this person felt like the Lord said, follow me just the simple little thing, follow me. And that may be what you hear from the Lord. You may hear follow me. 6 (1h 0m 11s): And then throughout the course of your day and your week and your month, you're going to hear the Lord speak something to you, but you have to be close to the Lord to hear it intimate with the Lord, present with the Lord so that you might hear it so that she might do it. The second person said my goal this whole week is that I would end the day feeling closer to God than when I began the day. Isn't that a great idea? So like sometimes we get up in the morning, we have our devotions and we're close to it. We feel close to the Lord. And that just kind of wanes. It kind of wears off throughout the course of the day, right? His goal, this person's goal was to end up at the end of the day, feeling closer to the Lord. And so what that meant is that he had to be walking with the Lord, feeling close to the Lord, being obedient to the Lord, being faithful to the Lord all throughout the course of the day. 6 (1h 0m 53s): So at the end of the day, he felt closer to the Lord than at the beginning. So maybe the Lord will do something like that with you and speak something like that to you, whatever he does. If you're willing to go on this journey with me, because I'm going to go with you. So my hands up, and if anybody wants to join me, just go and raise your hand. Okay? That's awesome. Most of us are saying yes. So I'm going to is with our hands still up, all over the property. Lord, we just pray. God, you see, you see our hands. We want to make room for you to do whatever you want to do. Lauren. We were declaring that as truth. We, we want to, we want to make room Lord. So show us what that looks like. 6 (1h 1m 34s): So as you can do whatever you want to do, Lauren, God is we wake up in the morning as we look to you, no matter how we feel, no matter what's going on, we're going to ask these two questions. God, what do you want to do with me? And what do you want to do through 1 (1h 1m 53s): Me 6 (1h 1m 55s): And God as we make those declarations known and those those statements know, and Lord, we pray that you give us ears to hear, and that we'd be obedient to the smallest things and to the greatest things and everything in between. So thank you for what you will do as we make these commitments for this month of February, Lord. And I pray that it'd become a pattern for all the days of our lives in Jesus name, Jesus' name. Amen. Let's go and worship. 1 (1h 2m 28s): . 8 (1h 10m 56s): You are our foundation that we build our lives on. So we make room for you to do, as you want to do in our hearts and lives this week, in this year, open our eyes to see you in our years, to hear you want to follow your leading your words, your, your truth. There's none like you. Jesus, thank you for being here with us today. Thank you for the powerful word to our hearts. I pray that it would take root and bear fruit that we could shine for. You. Be a city on a Hill that draws people unto yourself onto your love onto your kingdom. 8 (1h 11m 37s): Thank you for this church family. Thank you for the opportunity to be together all around this campus, all around this County. How would you fill us for the week ahead? We love you, Lord. We don't take for granted when you come and meet with us. And so we're just so grateful just to give you our hearts and lives in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Well, if anyone would like some prayer this morning as always, we have staff or volunteers, I'd love to pray with you today. So don't hesitate to come on forward and, and meet someone up here. Make sure you say hello to someone. Feel free to grab some copy. Have a wonderful day. We look forward to seeing you again next Sunday, have a good one.