Intro: "Words fill a page. Pages fill a chapter. Chapters fill a book. Every decision big and small writes the story
of your life. Unfortunately, some people
leave portions of their story unwritten.
Sometimes, that's why you need to go ahead and take the risk. My story -- I decided to GO."
Today, we are concluding a four-week message series called "My Story."
If you missed previous weeks, let me
bring you up to speed. We're all embracing
the reality that we are creating our life stories, that one day we're going to
tell stories about our lives. And the
good news is that many of you, a few years from now, you're going to tell a
story about this chapter of your life, and you're going to have a story that
you're really proud to tell.
So, in this series, we're making four decisions.
Week
Number 1: I decided to start a discipline that would help us to
live the story God wants us to tell.
Week
Number 2: I decided to stop anything that would hinder our story from
being what it should be.
Last
week: I decided to stay the course when it would be easier to
throw in the towel, to quit, to walk away because God will often call you to
stay.
We might have made some decisions that we regret and there
may be a chapter of our life where we really don't want to tell that
story. The decision is up to you. In
fact, the key thought for this series if you're taking notes -- our key thought
is this:
The decisions you make TODAY
determine the stories that you tell TOMORROW.
Let's all say that aloud. The
decisions that you make today determine the stories that you tell tomorrow.
In
this series, we're asking 2 BIG questions:
· "How
do we live a story worth telling?"
· “How
do we live the story that God wants us to tell?”
And we believe the
answer is found in Hebrews Chapter 12:2
Let
us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… Hebrews 12:2
Today, in this chapter of your life, some of
you, you're going to sense that there's something new that needs to take
place.
For others of you, it will be later on in life in a future
chapter, but you're going to suddenly realize, "Man, I'm supposed to take
a new step of faith. I'm supposed to
venture out. There's something new,
there's something different, there's something that I didn't expect. And somehow, I just know that there's
something more that I'm supposed to do."
When you get to that place -- here's a key thought if you're taking
notes -- and that is:
Sometimes, the best decision you can make is
to GO when it would be
easier to STAY.
Sometimes,
the best decision you can make is to follow the hunch, to take the step of
faith, to go when it would be easier to play it safe and live in your comfort
zone.
ILL: When God moved us from NC to Northern
Va. April 1981
That
decision to GO – has direct correlation on the decision to be here today. It was a combination of decisions to GO
from different ministry positions that over 8 years ago - God directed Sharron
and I to move to North Carolina and God open the door of opportunity to
minister at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene.
Today, we're going to seek Jesus to see when he calls us to
go when it would be so much easier to play it safe. And the Old Testament story I want to use
today that illustrates this perfectly is the story about Abram who later became
Abraham.
Here is his story:
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your
country, your people and your father’s family. Go to the land I will show you. Genesis 12:1
This seems obvious, but I want to go ahead and say it. And that is, "to go somewhere else, you
have to leave where you are." To go
somewhere else, you have to leave what's known, what's comfortable, what's
predictable and what's easy.
Let me say it this way:
To step toward your destiny, you might have to step away from
your security.
God
gives Abram a great promise:
“I will make you into a
great nation. And I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing to others. I
will bless those who bless you. I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. All nations on
earth will be blessed because of you.”
Genesis 12:2-3
We are not changed by the promises we make to God,
we are changed by believing the promises made by God.
Abram
trusted God –
So Abram went, just as the Lord had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was
75 years old when he left Harran. Genesis 12:4
I'm telling you, there are untold consequences that would
be different if Abram didn't have the faith to obey God.
I'm here to tell somebody, "There's going to come a chapter
in your life when you sense there's something new, something different and to
go where you believe you're supposed to go, you're going to have to leave where
you are and if you don't have the faith to do it, but instead by fear, you
don't, you have no idea the blessings you'll miss if you don't obey." You have no ideas what you might miss out on
if you don't obey. Sometimes, the best
decision you can make is to go when it would be easier to stay.
This leads me to ask the BIG question I have asked each
week for the past 3 weeks - you know what I am going to ask:
WHAT DOES GOD WANT YOU TO WANT?
And I promise you, every single one of you, if you just
take a step back from your life, and if you look at It from a broader picture,
you know there's something that should be different for your story to be what
God would want it to be. What does God want to you want?
Now, based on what God wants you to want:
WHERE
DOES GOD WANT YOU TO GO?
In other words:
WHAT
STEP OF FAITH DO YOU NEED TO TAKE?
Based on the story that God wants you to tell, what step of
faith do you need to take so your story will be what God wants it to be? Based on what God wants you to want, what
step of faith do you need to take to get what God wants you to want? I want you to think about it because it
could change your life when one day you decide to go when it would be easier to
stay.
Let me be clear about something:
· I am NOT telling you to leave your marriage
– every marriage is worth a committed love that is in a relationship with God –
a three stringed cord is difficult to break.
· I am NOT telling you to leave your job -
seek God and ask for His divine guidance through His Holy Spirit to be clear
for a decision like that.
· I am NOT telling you to leave our church and
follow the path of many today who love God but have little commitment or
dedication to the church – which Christ loved and gave His life for. God
created us for community and Church is more important in your spiritual life
that I could possibly explain.
I
AM SAYING – Based on what God wants you to do – what step of faith do
you need to take to receive God’s best for your life?
But you may say, "But I don't have the faith to finish
the journey"; that's the great news.
You don't have to have faith to finish, you just have to have the faith
to start. You just have to have the
faith to take the first step.
By faith
Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his
inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. Hebrews 11:8
Second
Example: Moses
So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to
bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I
should go to Pharaoh and bring the
Israelites out of Egypt?" Exodus 3:10-11
Moses said to
the Lord, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor
since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."
The Lord said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute?
Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go;
I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." Exodus 4:1-12
What I want to do today is I
want to ask all of you that when that
time comes, when you sense that it's God, I want to ask that you commit today,
whenever it is, to go, even when it would be easier to stay. Then, I believe when that times comes, that
the Holy Spirit will remind you of this moment, and will help build your
faith. And you'll say, "yes, God,
even though I don't know, I will go when it's easier to stay."
Without faith
it is impossible to please God. Those who come to God must believe that he
exists. And they must believe that he rewards those who look to him. Hebrews 11:6
PRAYER: "Heavenly Father, I give you my
life. I am a sinner and I need a
savior. Jesus, save me. Make me new.
Fill me with your spirit so my story could be your story. Thank you for
new life. Today, I give you mine in
Jesus name I pray Amen!
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