Keeping Your Momentum Going

I believe all of us have a call for greatness which comes from God, and I am also aware very few people will ever attain that greatness. It becomes an issue of keeping the momentum going. God has called ordinary people like you and I to such an extraordinary vision to life. There is however not a one of us who has not come to that place in our lives when the vision is overwhelming, the task ahead seems so impossible and the desire to withdraw rather than push forward has not come to tempt us. How do we keep the “mo” going? How can we press through to the greatness God has called us and not shrink away. Lets talk about it tonight. Take the message and relate it to your life, and if you are in one of those low “mo” moments, use it to get yourself back on the right track.

I want to look at an Old Testament example of lost momentum, using it as a stepping stone to lift us to a higher level. It comes through the life of Nehemiah, found in chapter 4. You know the story. Nehemiah is working as a servant in exile from his Jewish roots. He is overcome by the reports he has heard of the condition of Jerusalem so he asks his boss, King Artaxerxes if he can go to Jerusalem and get the city back intact. The Jewish race is an example of lost momentum throughout their history. At times they are doing great, and other times they are in the pits of life. Victory and defeat were both common experiences for them. Nehemiah, securing permission to go discovers the lost momentum of the Jews in Jerusalem.

In verses 10 and 11 we glean lessons for motivation. In Judah it was said, “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, Yet there is much rubbish; And we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall”

And our enemies said, “They will not know or see until we come along them, kill them, and put a stop to the work.”

There are four things which will cause us to lose the momentum of life we can see from these two verses.

1. You lose your “mo” when you lose your strength. It was said in Judah their strength was failing.

2. You lose your “mo” when you lose your vision. There was much rubbish because they had lost the focus on where they were headed, the vision for rebuilding the wall.

3. You lose your “mo” when you lose your confidence. They came to the place where they no longer believed they could rebuild the wall.

4. You lose your “mo” when you have lost your security. They were now listening to what their enemy was saying, not to what God had been telling them.

If I were to spend time talking to each of you concerning your life, more than likely I would discover the plans you had when you were younger have been altered considerably as you have grown older, or should I say, more mature. In our teen years we had this burning desire to become world changers, and as we grew older it seemed all we were changing was diapers. The plans and purposes gave way to the here and now, bills that needed to be paid, jobs which we needed to do to pay those bills, and the vision which once sat at the front burner now has been moved to the back, and we don’t feel the heat, the passion as much as we once did. We have excused it, promising to return just as soon as we can, but the just as soon as we can has just not materialized to provide us with the fire and passion we once had. I have had people come into the office and tell me of their life plans and the how one day they are going to get back, when the kids have grown, when they have more money, when things are just not as hectic, when…

What is the when for you? As I said, I believe everyone has a call to greatness in their lives given to them from God, and I am also aware very few people will ever attain it. They promise to, when…

What can keep you on track. Ron Reagan, speaking of his father said, “I think if left to his own device, he might have ended up hosting Unsolved Mysteries on TV.” The conversation was directed toward the driving force in former Reagan’s life, his wife Nancy.

Who are what is driving you and how does one get back on the right track when they have pushed their momentum to the back?

I have been facing up to the fact we here at the church have been slowed by momentum busters just as Nehemiah dealt with in Jerusalem. It has been the history of the church, not just here, but universally, to be slowed from progress. The progress we have experienced in the last two years has been great. We have transitioned the church into the 21st Century, revamped the constitution and bi-laws and began to become a church without walls. Unfortunately the progress has also become our enemy not just our friend. It is easy to say we are doing okay, or we are doing great and think momentum continues just because we have developed a false sense of progress. Mo needs to be build everyday, 24/7. You can never rest on the past, you need to be moving forward in the present. The people who boarded the Titanic had a false sense of security for their trip. They thought everything was going well on the voyage, even when they hit the ice-berg because they thought the ship could not be sunk. A little think like a piece of ice could not sink the unsinkable. It is not the big things in life which will slow and stop your momentum, it is the little things, the things you should have been watching out for but thought it was no big deal, you could cruise through the waters without any problem.