Alright, would you stand with us?
Joy to the world!
I love this song!
Joy to the world, the Lord is come,
Let every seed grow green, Let every heart prepare him new,
Let heaven and nature sing, Let heaven and nature sing,
Let heaven, heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the earth, the city of glory,
Let man and soul be loved,
A little banter from still damn days,
Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy,
To know all that's in their souls, For God's in fast the crowd,
He comes to make His mercy fall, For as the cross is fall,
For as the cross is fall, For as the cross is fall,
He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations proud,
The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders of His love.
One day when heaven was filled with His praises,
One day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of the virgin,
And dwells among men, example is He,
The Word became flesh and the light shined among us,
His glory revealed, the living He loved me,
God in His saving, wherever He carried, our sins are away,
And as He justified, freely forever,
One day He's coming, O glorious day, O glorious day.
One day when they let Him come down from these mountains,
One day they nailed Him, and died on a tree,
Suffering and anguish, His eyes been rejected,
Burying our sins among His people,
One day when His face shined and shone on our tree,
His glory revealed, the living He loved me,
God in His saving, wherever He carried, our sins are away,
And as He justified, freely forever,
One day He's coming, O glorious day, O glorious day.
One day the grave could conceal Him no longer,
One day the stone moved away from the door,
And when He arose, gently He conquered,
Now He's ascended, our Lord our Lord,
God in our heart, the grave could not keep Him,
Rising again, He loved me, dying He saved me,
Wherever He carried, our sins are away,
Rising He justified, freely forever,
One day He's coming, O glorious day, O glorious day.
One day the child of His Son, O His coming, O His coming,
He loved me, dying He saved me, wherever He carried, our sins are away,
As He justified, freely forever,
As you probably know, we have switched spiritual discipline emphasis.
So we have moved on, not that we have left prayer behind by any means,
Pray without ceasing.
And I hope that you engaged in our spiritual discipline emphasis
and grew in your prayer life and you will do that until Jesus comes again.
That's the goal.
And in about five years, we'll probably be going back over prayer again,
although we do them in random order, so it's not like exactly five years away.
And so we will now be focusing on Bible intake.
And I know some of you have already gotten excited about that.
Some people were sharing with me stories of how they began a Bible reading plan
or they began reading their Bible in a certain way and that kind of thing.
And remember that reading is one method.
It is probably one of the best methods.
I think definitely when God tells us to read His Word and know it well
and even study it, He definitely intends for us to be reading the Bible.
And so this is another of those.
We're going to do a responsive reading.
So you're looking at the page and on this page, you are the Congra.
That's what you are.
It's Congra short for congregation.
So I'm going to read the leader, but this will not always be me.
So if you would like to be the leader next time, so just let me know.
And I will tell you that there are some opportunities.
Holly's volunteering, Chris. Okay, awesome.
Chris, you're first up.
You have to volunteer yourself.
All right.
So if you would like to be the leader next time, then you can do that.
We'll get a list of us going and we'll do this.
So these are the verses Romans 8, 1 through 6.
The idea is twofold.
One, that we do this together and so you will hear it in the congregation's voice
and also the leader's part in my voice.
And so you will take that in and that will be more accessible to you.
Okay, so to do a little illustration here I have in my pocket, this little tiny book.
This little tiny book is almost 150 years old.
I purchased it in the antique store and in it is the word of God, not the entire word of God.
Okay, so for example, I just randomly flipped open and number 25 says,
return ye backsliding children saith the Lord and I will heal your backsliding.
Jeremiah 3, 22.
So now this is a pictorial illustration of Bible intake.
Here is the word of God and I'm putting it in my pocket.
Now, does Bible intake change you just because you put the word of God in your pocket?
No, you've got to actually take it back out and put it into practice.
Okay, so you're memorizing the word, you're intaking the word, you're putting it in you
and then you're putting it into practice.
You're applying it on a daily basis.
The more you put in, the more equipped you are to apply it.
You can never put the book in your pocket.
You can never take it out of your pocket.
So responsive reading is another way that we can Bible intake.
So I'm going to read where it says leader.
I know we have not done this in years, many years we've not done this.
I'm going to ask you to try really hard to do this with me.
I think we've done it at some children's dedication services.
So we've had a little bit of experience with that.
So I'm going to read where it says leader and you all,
and these guys up here will be reading in the congregation too,
and they have microphones so that will help kind of keep everybody focused.
And so you all read where it says, congrats.
Okay, here we go.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh,
God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,
but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit.
For to be heartily minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
This has been Romans 8, 1-6 as read by the congregation of New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church.
Now, as we go this week, we live out this.
Walk in the spirit. Do the things that God would have you to do.
Focus on the things that God would have you to focus on.
Realize there are many good things in this world. Many good things.
And even the Bible says these good things were given for us to enjoy.
But they must not take center stage. They must not get the spotlight.
They must not chase out the one true performer of all history who is our God.
Our Heavenly Father who sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.
And through him and by him we may walk in the spirit.
Where did you know that your baby boy would soon be walk on one?
Where did you know that your baby boy would sing our songs at dawn?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you deliver will soon deliver you. Oh Mary, did you know?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would call a star with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy had walked the range of strife?
And when you kissed your little baby, you had kissed the face of God.
The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the deaf will live again.
The lame will leave, the dumb will see, the praises of the Lord.
Oh Mary, did you know?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nation?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect well?
This sleeping child you're holding is the brave.
I am.
Lord, you are my life.
Drink that refuse day and night, womb and chalice.
For the Lord my God is near.
Though the enemy surrounds me and my heart begins to beat.
Your time of joy will this for me my soul.
You have hidden me securely in the shadow of your dreams.
In your presence Lord is where my life belongs.
Take me to your holy place.
Let me feel your warm embrace.
As my love grows stronger, I'm feeling a lover.
Amen.
Lost in a wind swept land, in a sea of little shifting sand.
I cry out to the lovers, the cats and flies.
They're bearing their bearing ground, in a lightning on their heart.
Trying to serve you my God.
And right now, right now, can't be last much longer, cause while you are right now.
We'll recover you, there's a cross.
Don't do what I did, don't get in the hole, get in the hole, get in the hole.
There's a cross, there's a cross, there's a cross.
When I was about five years old, I participated in a wedding.
I was a ring bearer.
I got to carry a little pillow down the aisle and on the ribbon on the pillow they actually put the ring.
We practiced three times, three times.
And they said, well he didn't drop the ring, I guess he can actually carry it.
So they tied it to the little ribbon in the middle of the pillow and I got to walk down the aisle.
And then when the best man was ready he took the rings from my hand, from the pillow I should say.
So not long after that I participated in a second wedding.
It was in my Aunt Elmi's side yard.
And Aunt Elmi is a sweetheart and a follower of the Lord, but I didn't know that at the time.
I didn't really go to church at all.
And there was a little girl who was my cousin, actually my second cousin, her name was Julie.
And one of the young ladies in the neighborhood who was about 12 or 13 years old married us in the side yard.
We stood under the swing set cause they thought that would make a good backdrop.
And we set our I.D.U.s and became boyfriend, girlfriend even though she was my second cousin.
And at that time I asked Julie as we were sitting on the swing set after the little ceremony had ended.
I asked her, I said, is this what you want for your life?
I said, do you want to grow up and be married and have children and live happily ever after?
And I thought of myself, I said, I don't think I want that for my life.
I want to have a grand adventure.
I want to travel everywhere and see the world.
I want to be like a cowboy or Zorro.
Those are my things.
I want to be the Lone Ranger or Zorro.
And now I look back and man, I'm so glad I'm not the Lone Ranger or Zorro.
But those were my childhood dreams at that time.
And I realized I had made a slight mistake in getting married to Julie because she wanted to grow up and have children and live happily ever after.
And I wanted to be Lone Ranger or Zorro.
Needless to say, our marriage did not last very long.
We have all kinds of strange dreams setting out, don't we?
You might have wanted to be something and now you think of what you wound up being if you're an older adult and you think,
that didn't turn out the way I thought it was going to.
Sometimes they do turn out the way we expect and sometimes they don't.
Today, we're going to look at a passage of scripture and we're going to talk about it from this angle when dreams may end or when dreams come to an end.
Grab your Bibles if you would and go with me to Luke chapter one.
Thank you very much.
So from here on out, what I read is the Word of God.
And this is God's Word.
Now, I have prepared, I have prayed and talked to the Lord and gotten something out of this text that I'd like to share with you today.
But that being said, there's a lot there.
You could walk away with so much more or so much different even than what I am speaking out there.
I hope you will get what it is the Lord has laid on my heart today.
But I also hope that you will pay close attention to these events as they are historical events that occurred in the life of a pretty famous woman who was a pretty common woman before she became famous.
We begin reading in the book of Luke chapter one, verse 26.
We are actually targeting 46 through 56, but we're going to just hear the story because of the discipline of Bible intake.
So take this in as background for what we're going to actually study today.
Now, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth.
A virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming in, he said to her, so this is the angel coming in, he said to her,
Hail, favored one, the Lord is with you.
But she was greatly troubled at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be.
And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.
And Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I am a virgin?
And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
And for that reason the Holy Offspring shall be called the Son of God.
And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age.
And she, who is called barren, is now in her sixth month, for nothing will be impossible with God.
And Mary said, Behold, the bond slave of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.
And the angel departed from her. Hear that again, that last number 38.
And Mary said, Behold, the bond slave of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.
And the angel departed from her. Verse 39.
Now at this time Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
Now that's her cousin.
And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby, which was six months after conception, leapt in her womb.
And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, Blessed among women are you.
And blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.
And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.
Let's read that 45 again.
And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.
Now what follows here in 46 through 56 is a kind of a song or a poem that Mary spoke or sang on this occasion.
It said, And Mary said, My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For he has had regard for the humble state of his bond slave.
For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him.
He has done mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones and has exalted those who were humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich empty-handed.
He has given help to Israel his servant in remembrance of his mercy.
As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever.
And Mary stayed with her about three months and then returned to her home.
Notice she left about the time the baby was born or a little after.
She may have been there just long enough to see the baby or she may have left before the actual labor, which was common.
Okay, so there's a few things I want you to see in here that God really laid in my heart.
The first one is a bit troubling.
It is this, that quite frequently God will take our plans, our efforts, our dreams, what we think we want to see happen,
what we're trying to make come to be, and chuck them out the window.
In this case, God told Mary that she would need to trade her little girl dreams.
She was betrothed to Joseph. She'd been faithful. Joseph had been faithful.
And now he was saying, you will have a child, not with Joseph.
And everyone, of course, will wonder where did this child come from?
You'll be in trouble. You're going into a dark hour. You're going to face difficulty.
As the song we just sang says, sometimes holiness feels like loneliness.
Sometimes God takes our plans, our dreams, and he chucks them out the window.
Little girl's dreams spent and gone for God's glory.
But is there a better dream?
The truth is, what are our dreams shaped by? What are they molded by?
They're molded and shaped by what we experience in our lives.
We see mom or dad or aunt or uncle, friend have a certain situation in their life
and we think, that'll be good. I want that.
I want to have a good job, make good money, have a good house.
I want to have a career with upward possible mobility.
I want to have beautiful children, so I'm going to pick a handsome husband.
Or beautiful children, so I'm going to pick a beautiful wife.
I'm going to become a millionaire by getting some side hustles going on.
We've got dreams like the world's got dreams because we live in the world.
And before we come to Christ, those dreams are shaped by our reality.
What we think, what we see, what we feel, what we hear.
What people say to us would be good, and they're shaped by that.
But is there a better dream?
A dream that takes into account something that goes beyond how long your car will last
or whether or not your roof will leak or whether or not your bills will be paid?
Well the answer is certainly yes, there is a better dream.
It's the kind of dream written by the God of heaven created.
God said, let there be light, and light still exists thousands of years later.
You want to say millions, but in reality it's probably thousands.
Still exists thousands of years later, and light to some extent will always exist.
Yes, it will come from the throne of God in heaven.
The sun will no longer be its primary source, but it will still exist
because God brought it about into existence.
And when God does that, He does it right.
When God writes the dream, He creates something great.
God has a dream for your life too.
The question is, whose dream are you really interested in?
Sometimes we go after the things that we think we want.
Sometimes we go after the things that we think we need.
When in reality God knows you don't really need them, you don't really want them.
I can no longer count on my fingers and toes the number of times
that I told God what I want and God said, you don't really want that.
Let me ask you then, what part of this plan that we're reading about today
requires Mary's willing participation?
That the Spirit of God will settle upon you and you will conceive a son?
You'll be found to be with child.
What part requires Mary to say, okay, yep, we'll do that.
The plan is God will do and Mary will endure and be found faithful.
Which part of the plan requires her to intentionally venture outside her comfort zone
and take on a challenge by choice that she would not otherwise have faced?
The plan is God will do, a child will be conceived, she'll be found to be with a child.
None of those steps require Mary to do anything.
She doesn't have to go and seduce God or show up at God's shack in the wilderness.
There's no part of that that requires her to go outside her box
or to step beyond what she thinks she's planning.
God just says, they're going to do this.
Well, here is the part that is required of her to do some participation.
It's the part where God is glorified.
God does what he does, but the part where God is glorified,
the part where God gets the glory for what he does, that is up to Mary.
Because he tells Mary, he tells Joseph, eventually, he hasn't told him yet.
He tells Mary and he tells Joseph.
Joseph gets it kind of a little more roundabout.
It's not quite as pointed and obvious, but he tells them, but who else knows?
And if she's quiet, if she says nothing, if she does not endure the course,
if she just runs off to a convent to have the child in secrecy
as a woman who's found to be pregnant illegitimately normally might in order to be spared.
If Joseph just puts her away as he was wont to do because he didn't want to see her be stoned in the street for fornication.
If he just puts her away, then how does God get the glory in that?
And so the part of the plan where God gets the glory requires her active interpretation, her active participation.
That part then endures forever.
I'm thinking of a woman who came to Jesus one night while he was at dinner
and she poured a bottle of very expensive perfume on his feet and began to wipe his feet with her hair.
And they chastised her, Judas in particular, right?
Because he was the keeper of the bag of the money.
He's like, that perfume could have been sold for a lot of money
and we'd have used it to take care of a lot of the poor and so on.
And Jesus said, oh no.
What she has done here to prepare me for what's coming,
she will get recognized for all of history and she still is to this day.
And Mary makes a decision here that will bring her to the place that we remember who she is today.
It isn't that God instilled her with a child, although that is amazing.
It isn't that God told her she was favored or blessed, although that is amazing.
It is that she responds to the Lord this way.
I am willing.
Let it be so in the life of your maidservant.
She says, behold, the bond slave of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.
And it was when she said that that the angel departed from her.
It's the part also where God chooses her knowing that she will choose him over her previous plans.
This is where we get in trouble because we make our plans and frankly get pretty attached to them.
We're pretty excited about what we think God is doing.
We're pretty excited about what we think we want to do,
whether we want to do it for the Lord or in our family or for our finances
or to build ourselves so that we'll be ready for whatever God has down the road.
We get pretty excited about the plans that we have.
God needs to be able to look at us and say that when he's about to enact the plans of his heart in our lives,
that we will then respond and say, OK, Lord, go ahead.
Because in that he gets the glory.
It is the very first part of the plan while God is in heaven saying,
I choose Mary because I know Mary will respond this way.
She will say, behold, the bond slave of the Lord. I know she will.
God knows the future. He knows what choice you will make.
And he can pick and choose those who will accept his plan for their lives.
Sadly, there may well be someone in this room whose plan it is to be martyred for the Lord.
If it is God's plan that you should be martyred for the Lord, I hope it's not.
But if it is God's plan that you should be martyred for the Lord, then understand when you say that Jesus is Lord,
then you are buying in. You're accepting that plan.
And then the glory that follows and eternity in heaven with him as the martyrs come in first.
So say at the scripture, that's a pretty good reward for being found faithful in the Lord.
But more often than not, what people say is, well, I've got plans.
I know God wants to say something to me. I know God wants to do something in my life.
I know that anytime I go to Bible study or anytime I go to worship or anytime I open the Word
or anytime I enter into prayer, God may in there reveal some aspect of his plan.
And I may need to say, okay, behold, the bond slave of the Lord.
Lord, here I am. Do what you want to do. Anytime that may be the case.
So sometimes when we say, when I say, I'm sorry, I can't be there because I have other plans.
I'm actually saying, well, if this is the time, God, if this was when the package was going to be unveiled,
if this was when the letter was going to come, if this was in the speaking to my heart was going to take place,
I'm sorry, I am unavailable for that now because I have plans.
And sometimes that's what we do. We essentially plan God out.
We plan out that amazing miraculous moment in which God would say, I expect from you this.
I'm going to do this. God didn't say, is it okay? Is it okay, Caleb?
Caleb, is it okay if I do this amazing thing? God's not going to do that.
But you plan him out sometimes by choosing other things, by being too busy to do.
It could be while you're serving the Lord that he speaks. It could be while you're going to buy something.
For a family in need that he speaks. It could be while you're bagging groceries that he speaks.
It could be while you're reading the Word that he speaks. It could be while you're praying that he speaks.
But if you're too busy to serve and give and be in the church and be the church,
then when he speaks, not only will he probably not speak because he knows you're not going to say,
I will do it Lord. He knows you're not going to say, okay Lord, do whatever you will do Lord,
because you're too busy not doing the things already that he's called you to do.
And so he knows you're not going to. And so he doesn't enact his plan in your life.
Oh, the plans I have for you, saith the Lord. And at the same time,
oh, how I have longed to gather you together as the mother hen gathers her chicks, saith the Lord.
And so we know that there are people whom God has revealed his plan to,
and they are acting out on that plan. They are doing the best they know how.
They're saying, okay, Lord, just keep going. Do whatever you're going to do.
Whatever it takes. However much it hurts. Lord, do whatever you want to do in our lives.
We're ready. We're ready. We're ready. I'm trying to be ready.
And they're in the Word and they're showing up to study and they're showing up to serve
and they're showing up to give. And yet it still seems like it's not lining up with their plans.
It's not working out the way they want to.
I'm asking you, could there not be a better plan? A better dream?
Where God does something amazing?
Where a Sunday school teacher who works in a shoe shop leads one of his students to Christ,
and that man becomes a great evangelist and winds up building one of the largest Bible colleges in the world
on his own dime.
And if the shoe shop salesman, who's also a Sunday school teacher, doesn't wind him to Christ,
he doesn't do, he says, but I want to be the great evangelist.
If I'm going to give my life and possibly be martyred, then it's got to be me.
But what if God wants to use you as a bridge to get to the person that he wants to do something in?
We've got to be ready for God to say, my dreams, not yours.
And that is the moment at which those dreams become what they actually are.
Visions of a possible future. That's all they are.
And if you live now worried about that vision of a possible future,
then you will miss this moment in time where God just might want to do something.
Mary's plans, her dreams for a certain future were going out the window.
But I submit to you, we know looking back 2,000 years that the deal she was getting was pretty darn good.
Oh, she'd have to see her son crucified.
But then she'd see her son on the throne for an eternity.
And she has.
When I first got married, I had no idea that I would be blessed with five children and now six grandchildren,
and probably more yet to come.
God has blessed us in that way.
Many times I've taken my children to the playground and my grandchildren to the playground.
Now a lot of times, I'm just being transparent here, a lot of times that I've taken them to the playground
so that they could pray, I have been tired or sick or depressed.
It's a reality.
Unfortunately, fatigue, sickness and depression kind of go with being a pastor.
I wish it weren't so, but it does happen. The good news is they don't tend to last.
God is on my side in spiritual warfare, so they come and they go.
When I was quite a bit younger, before I was saved, they would come and stay for quite a while.
One such time, I took Amalia, she was about a year and a half old, and I took her to the playground.
I was sitting on the bench and I was feeling rather ill and depressed and didn't really want to walk
as far as I had to walk, it was a northward playground.
The bench that I was sitting on was about 200 yards from the car.
I'd already walked 200 yards and I was huffing and puffing and feeling all drawn out, sitting there feeling yucky.
Amalia is about a year and a half, two years old, and she comes up to me and says,
I want to go play on the monkey bars, take me to play on the monkey bars.
I don't think that's what she called it, I don't remember, maybe she said climbing thing or something like that.
I didn't want to, I didn't want to get up.
I said, well just go play for now and I'll take you over there in a minute.
She went and played, she came back again and she asked me, well take me over there.
I said, just go play and I'll take you over there before we leave.
I don't know why that's doing that, I apologize.
The point is, eventually after four tries or so, it got to the point where I was about ready to go home, frankly.
I made the promise to take her over to the monkey bars and so I said, okay fine.
So I got up and she ran on ahead of me.
Now I'm about halfway there, not moving super fast, and she reaches there.
She's only about yay tall, I mean like down here, right?
She gets there and the first bar is where she needs to grab on to climb up, it's one of those big domes.
The first one she needs to climb on to grab up to get off the ground is at head high.
At that age she couldn't do that.
And so as I'm walking over there, this is what I see, I see her reaching up and she tries to pull up but she can't.
She tries to walk up a bar on an angle and she can't do that, her shoes are slipping off.
And she tries to get her leg up on and she can't do it.
And finally, I'm about probably 20 feet away, she turns around and looks at me and she says, I can't do it.
And I said what I always say to all my kids, which is, Alicia?
She said, I can't do it.
We don't say can't, Stevenson's don't say can't, we don't use that word.
Can't means you stop trying before you did it.
If you're supposed to do it, can't means you stop trying before you did it.
That's all it means.
So I said, you can't.
And she said, well, you helped me.
And I said, well, sure.
And by that time I had arrived and I helped her up onto the first bar.
After about five or 10 minutes or so, she was climbing up pretty brave being that she was two about over my head.
And she's about eight, 10 feet off the ground at a year and a half, two years old.
And so then I had to climb up on the first bar in order to keep her from falling.
She got up to the point where she'd have been about four or five feet over my over my head.
So she's pretty high.
It's about an eight foot drop now.
And she froze.
She's like, huh, huh, huh.
She's like, how did I get up here?
And I saw you climbed.
And when I said you climbed, she realized I was right behind her.
That's the first time she realized I had followed her up.
And my hand was only like four inches from her butt.
And she was still in diapers at that time.
She, Molly was one of our amazing children.
Molly was potty trained by the time she was 12 months old.
That's unheard of.
And then between the time she was 12 months old and a year and a half old, she was playing at Christmas time, fell back and broke her collarbone.
And at the same time got chicken pox.
And so had to she had to lay on the couch with because she couldn't wear a brace like you're supposed to wear a brace when you break your collarbone.
And she couldn't wear the brace because she had chicken pox.
She had to lay on the couch for a week.
She wasn't allowed to get up for a week, which is unheard of.
I mean, for a year and a half, you can imagine.
We had to keep her down for a week.
And so she had to be re-potty trained after that.
And that was terrible.
Anyway, so she still had a diaper on at that time.
And I'm holding on the back, ready to grab any second.
And she would start flobbing, ready to grab her in a second.
And that was when she heard my voice behind her.
That's when she realized she was behind that I was behind her and she felt safe.
And then she said, well, I'm going a little further.
And she went up like another spot.
She was almost at the very top.
Right.
And she's like, OK, I'm done.
I went down. I went down.
I said, don't you want to touch the top?
You're so close now.
See, you can almost touch it.
She goes, OK.
And she climbed a little more.
She touched the top.
And then I helped her down.
Listen to me.
God is a helper.
That's who God is.
God is a helper.
There is no way that God is going to author a dream in your life that he's not going to help you through everything that he takes you through.
God is a helper.
He can help you up and he can help you down.
That's what Mary is saying.
Now, it sounds good.
It sounds really good that God can help you up and God can help you down.
The problem is we are capable, completely capable.
God has made us in the image of God.
And we are completely capable of getting up on our own to a certain place.
It's a place where God wasn't trying to take us in the first place.
But we can get up there.
He can help you up and he can help you down.
It's about the position that he holds in your life.
If God is the top, he can help you up.
He can help you go further than you ever thought you can go.
He'll always be there like Acts 17 says, where they look around and they're like, oh, God was never far away in the first place.
He'll always be there to help you up to the next step.
But if you abort to your own dream, to your own plan, to your own safety, to your own worry, anxiety, or regret, if you abort to that, you're pushing God away.
Just the same as if she was going, oh, oh, oh, and she heard my voice and said, no, I got it.
Don't help me.
Have you ever heard children do that and then do that?
No, I got it.
Don't help me.
And right after that, they fall and then they go to the emergency room.
That's what we're doing to God when we abort to our own dreams, our own plans.
It has to do with God's position in your life.
If he holds the number one spot, if he's the only chief, if he's the chef in charge of the entire kitchen, if he's the coach in charge of the entire team, if he is above all, before all, and you're following him, then he can help you up.
If you or Satan or any of Satan's tools such as money or pride or enticements or even your own flesh are the top in charge, the chief, the coach, then God will help you down.
The servant he finds faithful, Tuesday night we talked about this, and we talked about how God, in Luke 12.37, it says that God, Jesus, when he comes again on the Lord's Day, the servant he finds serving faithfully will what?
Who remembers?
It was here on Tuesday.
So when Jesus comes again, the servant that he finds faithfully, he'll do what?
Somebody that was here.
He'll serve them.
So you expect the master to come and find the servant finding faithfully and accept their service.
That's what you expect, right?
But that's not what it says.
The servant that he finds serving faithfully, it says in Luke 12.37, he will serve.
The God of the universe will serve you when he comes again on the Lord's Day if indeed he finds you faithfully serving.
God cares about you.
He has a better dream than you could ever author.
And truthfully, if it would be something like your margherd or something like you have to sacrifice or give a lot or go beyond your ability, then that's a dream you don't really want to author.
But it's a better dream.
It'll take you someplace you really want to go.
It'll just go through a difficult time to get there or what you'll perceive as a difficult time.
God is a helper and he wants to help.
The question is when he comes again, will there be those who will let him help?
That's why Jesus said, will there be found faithfulness on the earth?
In other words, will I have anybody to serve?
Not will I have anybody to serve me?
Because when he comes again, he's not going to be looking for servants.
He's going to be looking for who already is a servant so that he can serve.
God's dream is better than your dream.
And there comes a moment in time at which you have to give up your dream and replace it with his.
Lastly, God cares about your here and now.
He cares about what you're doing right now.
Holiness sometimes feels like loneliness.
Cry out to him and he'll hear your cry.
That's what we just sang.
God authored that song.
I didn't.
God put it there in the order.
I didn't.
God did that knowing what this message was today.
God cares about your here and now.
Does that point sound familiar to anyone?
It might because we did a sermon series over the last couple of months entitled Being a Fanatic.
And one of the points in I think it's sermon number five of that series was God cares about your you here and now.
He cares about what you will do now with this very moment.
He wants you to glorify him.
The fact that you should glorify him is somewhat predetermined.
Or at least it can be by the decision you made to live for God.
If you said, I will follow Jesus, then when you get the opportunity to make a decision, you should make it in a way that glorifies him.
And if instead you make your decision based on your plans or your dreams in the world or something else, you can guarantee 100% God's not going to send you the big stuff.
That's why Jesus says if you're found faithful with the small stuff, then you'll be entrusted with the big stuff.
The problem is sometimes what we consider the big stuff is actually the small stuff.
So we are thinking about tithing or giving or serving as the big stuff.
That's the small stuff.
Your inability or your unwillingness to carry out the small stuff is stopping that moment of time in which God says, look at what I'm going to do.
Look at this dream I have for you.
What you choose to do with this moment, you have to do to glorify God.
And it will determine whether or not you glorify God.
You could say it another way. You could say, how will you be remembered?
You could say, what will be your contribution to those who go on to do the work after you're gone?
Will they say, hey, my mom, my dad, my other pastor that I used to have, my uncle, my brother, that guy who sits over there,
he sure glorified God. He gave God first place.
He sure gave and served when no one else would give and serve.
He was loving and kind. He was hardworking. He was always there, diligent.
I remember many years ago when John LaPrairie was the assistant associate pastor at East Lido Baptist Church.
He was the music leader and associate pastor there.
And they celebrated there, I think it was 30th anniversary serving in that role.
We all went over to Starr Elementary School. They rented the cafeteria there.
And there was about 150 of us or something, people that didn't go to that church, whatever, that came to celebrate his anniversary.
And it came time and they let anybody get up and speak that wanted to get up and speak.
And I got up and spoke. And this was before I was called to preach.
And I was terrified to get up and speak.
And I said, this much I know, from the moment I have been in this church,
John and Shirley have been pillars of the church.
They have always been ready to work, always ready to serve.
When there was something that no one else could, would, or should do, they would do it.
They were adamant about their desire to serve God.
And that was true. And it was from the heart.
And that was what I felt the Lord wanted me to say.
And I walked away and I didn't think anything about it.
Some years later, I know where that's at now.
Some years later, Shirley, they moved to Mississippi after they retired.
And she called me up on the phone and she said, I just want you to know, it never ever left me.
It's never left me what you said at that anniversary celebration,
that you called us pillars of the church and you said we were always willing.
And I said, that's pretty awesome and I thank you for that.
And it never left me that she thanked me for that.
It had always had, you know what that's called?
That's called God getting the glory because they were served that way.
And then they were recognized for serving that way, not because it's their specials and prideful or arrogance
or we're lifting them up above somebody else.
That's not the point, but they were recognized and God got the glory.
And then they said something back to me and I worked off of it and it fed me and it encouraged me.
And it still has to this day and God's getting the glory.
Who can say what will be your contribution after you are gone?
Can you?
Now, the people who live after you will be able to because they can see the past.
But the past for us is now the future.
So who can say what will be your contribution?
Who can say what they will say about what you did?
Well, you know the answer, right?
Just God.
Because He's the only one who can see the future.
He's the only one who's already there.
And so His dream for you is that people will look back at you and say,
man, He worked God's plan.
She worked God's plan.
They stayed the ground.
They did what they were called to do.
It was clearly not their idea, but they did it anyway.
And they told everyone along the way.
You can add this to your list or possibly start the list of events that your children
and your grandchildren can point to wherein God is glorified by a lowly human being
who chooses to carry out His plan in place of their own.
Maybe, just maybe, this moment if chosen for use in glorifying of God becomes a building block
for a future kingdom of God that is solid and still winning souls.
If you will decide now to enact God's dream for you, God's plan for you,
even though it is not your own plan, if you will dismiss, if you will let go the ideas
that you have about what your future looks like and instead latch onto the ideas about what God has.
This is what I said.
I'm reading it from a transcript rather than playing the audio.
But this is what I said in my sermon about a month ago.
It says, For he who knows to do good and does not do it present day,
not plan to do it, not regret that he didn't do it, but those who know to do good and don't do it, to them it is sin.
Because this is the moment in time.
This is the time at which you can choose what to do.
You must say, I am here.
The minute matters.
I matter more than the lilies of the field, more than the birds and the bees.
God is for me.
The minute matters.
And I matter.
And I am going to, as a person who matters to God, make something out of this moment.
And as you do that, the plans of the Lord begin to get established in your life.
You want to look it up later.
You can find that in minute 54 of the sermon, which is on our podcast online.
And it brings us to our conclusion.
Now it won't be sin, this thing that God calls you to, the dream that God has for you to do.
It won't be sin.
He's never going to call you to become a liar or a manipulator.
He's never going to call you to become a thief or a fornicator.
He's not going to call you to open up a porn channel, right, or to sell people stuff that they don't need.
God is not going to ask you to do sin.
It'll never be sin.
But notice that to others, it may look like sin.
To those who think they know what's proper, those who think they know what's right, to them it might look like sin.
They thought Mary had committed some kind of a sin to get pregnant.
So sometimes when you substitute God's plans for your life for what somebody else thinks is proper,
what you thought your plan was, somebody else might think it's sin.
But because we are not to place a stumbling block for our brothers or sisters in Christ,
Jesus warns against this in Matthew 18 and says it'll be worse for you than if you had a millstone
placed around your neck and thrown into the sea if you caused one of these little ones to stumble,
meaning a young or weaker believer.
And also again in Luke 17, Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 8 and 9 that you're free to do so,
to do what it is that you should do, to enact these plans of God, if you will.
But if enacting them, someone follows your example and sins against their conscience,
then that's a stumbling block and that's bad for you.
That's not what you want.
So sometimes it's going to look like sin when you choose to do something that God has called you to do.
So plant whatever it seemed like God was doing and follow the dream that God has for you.
Sometimes people are going to think that's sin.
And you will have to adhere to the truth of it.
You'll have to say, look, this was not my plan.
I didn't want to do this.
But God has told me clearly that this is what I must do.
This is what I have to do.
And it may even look like sin to them.
And you have to keep saying over and over again, no, it's not sin.
No, I know it's what God wants me to do.
And you go to the scripture with them and help them see that it's not sin.
And in so doing, you may actually free them up to enact the dream that God has for them
so that they too can be on God's plan rather than on their own plan.
You will always have to adhere to the truth of what God has called you to.
And then let God alone defend you from allegations.
In other words, you stand up and you say, no, God said, this is what God says.
This is what God is doing.
It's what He's been doing.
It's what He is doing.
It's what He's going to do.
This is God.
And then they accuse you of not understanding who God is.
And you say, no, this is God.
Take it up with God.
And you continue to walk out the plan that God had for you.
Let God alone defend you from allegations.
But of course, be prepared to humbly receive all accountability because guess what?
You could get it wrong.
Someone may come to you and say, look, I think you have sin in your life.
And you say, okay, please, tell me what it is.
And they say, well, you're doing this when I think you're supposed to be doing that.
And you say, okay, well, I hear what you're saying.
But doing this is not sin.
And doing that stops me from doing this.
And doing this is what God has called me to.
And doing that would stop me from doing this.
So now do you still think it's sin?
Yes, I still think it's sin.
Okay, well, I'm sorry, but I have to listen to what God, like when they were in the temple after healing at the beautiful gate.
And they said, well, you tell us who should we listen to, you or God?
And that's what you do.
So you always subject yourself.
And there might be another person comes and another person comes and another person comes.
And Mary did not hesitate to tell anyone who asked that it wasn't Joseph's baby.
So they could have just lied.
They could have just said, yeah, you know, it's Joseph's baby.
We kind of got busy early.
We were betrothed anyway, so what difference does it make?
You know, and then she would at least, that would have stopped her from being stoned.
But that would have been a lie.
No, they kept saying, no, it's not Joseph's baby.
It's God's baby.
God did this.
I know it's freaky.
I know it's weird that God did this.
But God did it.
Heard from the angel.
Now God did it.
He's just going to walk it out.
But of course, be humbly prepared to receive all accountability.
Allow God to use your example for what might be generations.
Don't you understand?
You could be building now the foundation of something that will last for your children
and your grandchildren and your great grandchildren.
Even until Jesus comes again, someday they might say, that guy, R.J., who used to go to New Heights,
won thousands of teenagers, who won thousands of teenagers, and there's where the revival started.
And we know it was God because R.J. never could have done that.
If you ever met him, you knew he never could have done that.
And God might say that about you, and people hear it, and people are always talking about it,
just as like we're talking about Blackabee, just like we're talking about Moody,
just like we're talking about Billy Graham.
They were all ordinary men.
And they got led to do something amazing for God.
And God replaced their dreams with his dream.
And for generations now, people will, forever, probably forever, until Jesus comes again.
And then you talk about it either way.
You talk about it, and you say, well, I had this plan, and God gave me this plan instead.
This last bit means that when you accepted Christ, you agreed to have his plans be your plans,
and so you must proclaim his goodness, his intervention in every way.
It takes everything that you are aware of, every choice that you can make,
everything that you can make happen, must be submitted to the Lord.
How else will everyone hear and know the same opportunity?
It might not seem big. That's the other problem.
It might not seem like a big thing, like she didn't really have to do anything, just persevere.
For us, it might just be turn left instead of right, or go talk to that guy at the drink dispenser.
That's one of the ones that happened to me.
It might not seem big, like such an important moment.
Like my family doesn't do that, so why should I have to?
My brother didn't do that, so why should I have to do it?
At the time, it may not seem big, which is why you have to do the work to be prepared and ready.
Just as we won't be caught off guard by Christ's coming, we talked about that this past Tuesday as well,
we are faithfully serving Him in the body of Christ, exercising God's ordained spiritual disciplines.
So we will not be caught off guard by Him when He appears, and also we will not be caught off guard
when it appears that we are supposed to supplant our own dreams and replace them with what He is now showing us.
But if you never listen to the voice of God, when the voice of God speaks to you, you won't know who's talking.
If you don't spend time in His Word, you won't understand the kind of message that He may send.
If you don't show up for Bible study and church, if you don't go somewhere and serve God every day,
you won't know the kind of servant that He is.
If it's just a Tuesday-Sunday thing, or just a Sunday thing for you, you better check your heart,
because God is sometime going to come to you and say, this is the dream that I have for you.
And you're going to need to say, okay Lord, let it be so in my life.
And if you are right now in any way, shape, or form, you can think about anything that you think God is calling you to,
and you've not been doing it.
And what's going to stand in your way that time from saying, no, I'm busy, I have plans, I'll get around to it?
As God's story unfolds in our lives, the message we carry remains the same.
It is, God did it, He's doing it, He will do it.
God did it, He's doing it, He will do it.
Of course this message is often spoken by those who are not glorifying God, supporting their own choices.
And while that may confuse the issue for those who do not know God, those who know God will glorify God,
and even those who do not know God will glorify God when Jesus comes.
And there will be a time, but I thought, I thought that hundred million dollar a year author really was a follower of Christ,
and he really was winning everybody Jesus, and I was following him and everything he said instead of listening to Pastor Dan,
or Pastor Insert whoever.
Because there's only 40, 50 people in that church, and that guy's got thousands in states all over the world, or whatever.
So of course he's right.
And then you get to heaven and find out, oh that wasn't actually true.
Because I never read my Bible, because I never listened to the Lord, because I never spent time in prayer,
I wasn't able to discern between one teacher or another what was the right thing.
I wasn't able to discern between one choice or another, and then because I wasn't able to do that,
God never came to me and said I want to unveil my dream for your life in your life.
What is it that stands between you and knowing with certainty that you are glorifying God by this choice?
Ask yourself that question right now.
Had an opportunity last night on date night to watch the movie The Forge.
If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.
It's the new Kendricks Brothers movie.
We heard a little bit about it at the annual meeting, the messengers, some of the messengers who went there.
And it's out now. You can watch it on Prime Video.
Pretty stinking awesome.
Really enjoyed the movie.
There's a moment in time in the movie where a young Christian is in his room, and he's praying, and he's reading his Bible,
and he says, okay, God, what's in my life that I have to give up in order to be truly following you,
in order to make time for you, to make you leader of my life, to put you in the first place?
And his eyes come up and settle on his video game system.
If it's an Xbox or a PlayStation, I'm not good enough to know.
I think it was an Xbox or a Black. Does that matter? I don't know.
Anyway, his eyes settled on it, and he said, oh no!
No! No, no. Not that.
And he got up, and he's kind of walking around the room, and he's in, you could tell he was really in anguish.
He's like, ah, what? No, come on.
And he's already reading his Bible every day.
He's already praying every day, serving, trying to be a man of integrity.
He just asked God, what do I need to give up in order to make room in my life for you to truly be first place?
And God said, give up the video games.
And he's like, no!
Finally, he says, okay, and I'm paraphrasing because I just saw it once.
He says, okay, either you're Lord or you're not.
And you said, give it up.
And so he went over and he boxed up the video game system.
And then he found a few more things in his room to box up, and he took them out and put them on the counter in the kitchen and labeled them pawn shop.
So his mother could take them and get rid of them because it was worth a lot of money.
What is it that stands between you and knowing with certainty that you are glorifying God right now by this choice?
Whatever it is. What is it?
I said, I can't get rid of that. I need that. It's part of my personality.
Give up your dreams. Give up your plans for God's.
Believe in faith.
Believe that God has a plan and he's going to do something.
Try him. Watch this.
You ain't seen nothing yet until you say to God, what is it that stands between me and knowing with certainty that I am glorifying you by my every choice?
What has God called you to or what has he shown you that you're currently not being faithful with?
God said, go and do this. You're like, I don't know. That's too expensive or I don't know. That's too much work or I don't know.
Somebody will disagree. I'll take it. Someone might even think it's sin.
Have you done the work to verify for sure that it's not sin? And if so, and if God is calling you to it, then you do that.
And be prepared for accountability. And don't let it be a stumbling block. Don't cause others to stumble.
Be prepared to do the work. Oh, that's so much trouble. So much difficulty. I'll be tired. I'll be fatigued.
I may be depressed coming out of it. I may be anxious. I may worry. I may regret. I may get frustrated.
So that's your motivators. So maybe all those things need to be put on the chopping block and you get back to God actually being Lord of your life.
And so your mental and physical condition.
Now is the moment to repent of all of that which holds you back and instead choose to be used for His glory regardless of what that does to your personal plans.
His plans are better. I ask the praise team to come and lead us into closing Him at this time.
I'm asking you if when I said, you were thinking, your mind was engaged.
And when I said, what is it that's standing in the way? And you could make a list. One thing. Two things. Three things.
Or when I said, what's God calling me to? And you said, why don't you have to call me to this? And I'm not currently doing that.
Or maybe you could make a list. One thing. Two things. Three things. Then you repent right now.
You turn to God and say, God, OK, your plans, your plans, not mine.
And you give it all up. You'll win the day.
And you'll have at least one moment, at least one moment right now that you can claim with absolute certainty and know for sure that your glorifying God was this morning.
You go and tell everybody, He's been doing it. He's doing it. He's going to do it.
He won't call you to sin, but it might look like sin to somebody. And then you have to prepare for accountability.
Prepare not to be a stumbling block and humbly agree. Remember, God's a helper.
He can lift you up, but He can also help you down.
If you're in this room right now and you're saying, well, I know God calling me to give that up. God calling me to turn only to God.
And I'm not going to do it because I don't want people to think a certain thing. I'm just not going to do it.
Maybe I'll do it at home later tonight or sometime, but I'm going to do it right now.
You need to realize God is going to help you down.
And sometimes when God helps you down and hits your will, it ain't what happened many times.
David saw that beautiful woman. He's probably supposed to be out to war.
I think I think I'm the king. I think I want God helping that horrible curse fell upon his family.
Noah said, I trust you, Lord. Your plan, not my plan.
I spent years building a big box, sealing it up for him and his wife, son and their wives, all in a big box.
It had never rained. It had never rained ever. And God told him it's going to rain for 40 days.
He's like rain? What is that? Rain for 40 days. That's crazy.
Noah built what we call the ark. They got in it. That's an archetype of Jesus.
The truth is if you have not made this decision at least once in your life, you've got at least once in your life,
so, hey, God, your dream is not my dream, then you're probably not saved.
But if you made it and then walked away from it, you need to get back to the Lord.
And the only way to do that is to say right now, Lord, your dream is not my dreams. Your plan is not my plans.
That's what a Lord is. So if you've got something on your way, give it over to God.
And then if you're giving it over to God, make it known.
And say, okay, this is what's happening in my life right now.
Because otherwise you would give it over to God right now and you would walk out of here to get home tonight or whatever and go out.
But I was thinking that was right. God was speaking in my heart. It wasn't very loud.
But yeah, I think it was.
Well, I'll get around to it. Oh, man, I got more trouble than I thought.
And so on.
Say it. I know I need to do this. God called me to do that.
He helped me do it.
Actually sing that song. Would you stand with me and sing?
Would you stand with me?
Oh, so you will be
And you will be
No light in the darkness you see
There's a forerunner, God the Savior.
There's a forerunner, contented being.
He's dealing in your heart right now.
Remember, God's the dealer.
He's saying, I'm going to do this.
You say, okay Lord, do it to your servant.
Do it to me.
Go ahead, change me.
Go ahead, fill me up.
Go ahead, call me out.
Go ahead, make me able.
I'm willing.
You tell God, I'm willing.
I'm not resisting anymore.
In the face of a quill, grow strangely dim.
In the light of His glory and grace.
Through death and to life everlasting.
God's happy, follow Him in.
For I'm not resisting no more.
Go ahead, change your God.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
In the face of a quill.