Video “Something New.”
Are you ready for something new this year? My life has begun a new journey. After 34 years of waking up 5 days, a week and delivering bread there is no need to now. After 34 years of job security, I find myself more dependent on God than ever. A new journey has begun and each of you is on it with me. Because what effects me will effect you in some manner. The one assurance I have is I know I am following the call of God for my life. At whitestone ministry our reads “Helping people discover their victory and true identity in Jesus.” I am about to discover my identity and it is a bit frightening.
Has God ever spoken to you in an audible voice? In Genesis 12: 1 we read where God spoke to Abram. “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.”
I remember the first time God spoke to me in an audible voice. He said, “Read the Book of Acts.” I remember where I was when I heard it, driving down old Hwy 16 in front of Jones’ Exxon. It was not like a voice from my radio or from the sky, but I knew it was more than just a thought. In addition, as if to assure me of that fact I heard it again, “Read the Book of Acts.”
As soon as I got in the house I grabbed a Bible and told Debbie, my wife, that I was suppose to read something in the Book of Acts. As I scanned through the pages, a passage caught my attention. “So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. However, if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!” (Acts 5:38-39) Then I heard the voice of God again, “Read this to the church.”
I now must pause in my story to give you some background on how challenging this was for me. This episode took place 25 years ago. I was a relatively new Christian. I was attending a church of 3 to 4 hundred. No one knew me. I was the quite type who did not participate in anything. The Pastor and I had developed a relationship but not a close one. I had never spoken before a crowd and never desired too. Nevertheless, I knew I had too.
This church had developed some major issues. The Pastor had taken a stand against certain agendas that had ruffled the feathers of some of the power- driven leaders, which had led to arguments on whether he should be removed or allowed to stay. It was becoming a house divided. On one particular Sunday, there was no chance for any repentance or deliverance because as soon as the message ended all the visitors were asked to leave so a business meeting-shouting shouting match) could begin. This had become so common that once my two small children saw the British Parliament meeting on television and one said “Look Daddy. They are having a business meeting.”
It was this atmosphere that served as a backdrop to this passage, a warning that the church could very well be fighting against God. And I was to give them this warning. I called the Pastor and explained to him that I felt lead by God to read a passage Sunday. He said that he would need to get the deacon board’s approval. I thought that was the end of the matter. As protective as this leadership was, I felt sure that approval would not be given. But I was wrong. He called me back and said they approved my request.
Suddenly my mind was overcome with scripture references that I had never seen; Exodus 32:9, Acts 7:51, Deut 10:16, Proverbs 29:1, John 21:17. What was to be a simple Scripture reading turned into a 15-minute tirade against the leaders and the Pastor of the church. I called wealthy men “stiff-necked” and berated the Pastor for bringing church politics into the pulpit and not feeding God’s sheep with the word. After I had finished my “sermon” and was walking back to the pew, I was suddenly overcome with the Holy Spirit to the point that I would have collapsed if not near my seat. And began weeping because I knew God’s warning had been ignored.
The church split. I left with a group to start a “new work” and we called the Pastor to join us. He did so but began taking the church in a direction that made many felt uncomfortable. Soon our numbers dwindled from 180 to 50. Shortly afterwards the Pastor felt called to move on and left the church in a power struggle between myself and the youth pastor. I had become one of those “stiffed-necked” people. I also left and in doing so caused such unrest that the church was forced to close.
For 8 years, God had allowed me to co-pastor a church. I was able to preach the word on occasion. I had felt such a satisfaction in being able to serve this way. But I had become prideful and it led to my downfall.
A couple of years passed with out my family and me having a church home. Then we joined with a church new to town that would meet in a movie theatre. For 2 years, I served simply as one who set up and tore down every Sunday. I never was in a service and certainly never asked to speak.
Then we found Cornerstone. The staff embraced me. Soon the Pastor encouraged me to go through the process of becoming a licensed minister, which I accomplished in 2008. I felt that God had restored me.
In 2009, I became Assistant Pastor but I begin to feel an unsettling in my heart. The Pastor had talked of leaving and handing the church over to me. I was still working a job that required me to wake at 2 am and work 12-hour days. I was not ready and began to plan a way for me to retreat by leaving before he did. In addition, 85% of the church body, 30 people, were his relatives and I knew they would be leaving also. By my estimates, there would be five people left. So one day I decided to go hiking at South Mountain and climb to the top, view the waterfalls, and pray for direction.
The climb was difficult, especially since I was fasting and totally out of shape. As I neared the top of the falls, I was exhausted. I collapsed on a wooden bench and stared at the final flight of stairs. The sunlight was shining on an open field at the top. To my left were the steps heading back down, into the cooling shadows of the trees. Those steps going back down would be much easier to navigate. Then God spoke to me for the second time in my life, not a thought but a voice.
“How long will you keep climbing to only go back down before you reach the top? Will you reach for the sunlight or again retreat into the shadows? Why do you have no hunger pains? Have you quit hungering for me? Do you love me? Feed my sheep. When the shepherd fails, they are still your sheep. Why do you stoke the fire (of controversy)? When will you break your poker? Have I not called you to a task? Why would I change my mind? Am I not a God who never changes? How long will you seek man’s counsel above mine? Why do you seek man’s wisdom when its foolishness compared to mine? Love me, listen to me, agree with me, seek me, and climb with me.”
In 2010, I became Pastor of Cornerstone and acting upon a vision for a church that God gave me 20 years ago, we have become whitestone ministry.
I share all this because I feel a bit like Abraham must have.
Abraham is actually not Abraham yet but rather Abram. Abram was born in the city of Ur in Babylonia. We find in Gen 11:31 that God was already leading him to Canaan through his father.
“One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there.”
Lesson one: You may choose to stop and settle
Terah was not the one chosen to inherit Canaan, Abram was. Instead, they settled for less; they settled for Haran. In Haran, Terah became a maker of idols and for the area he was in, it was probably a prosperous business.
But there are two key words here to look at; they stopped and settled. You have an enemy that wants you to stop and settle this year. He wants you to stop growing. He wants you to stop listening. He wants you to stop seeking your identity.
Rather he wants you to settle. Settle for what you got and don’t believe God for more. Settle for who you are and don’t believe God can make you more. Settle for the world’s provision and don’t trust God for his. There are many things we could settle for.
If Abram has settled for Haran, would there have been a chosen people? Would there have been a lineage for Jesus to come through?
If I had settled for the shadows, I would not be here today. If I had settled to stay on the shelf, would God have spoken to me?
What are you settling for? What in your life have you decided that it’s just the way it must be? Are you going to settle for 2013 to be just like 2012? You don’t have to settle. God is calling you to continue.
Lesson 2 Partial disobedience is still disobedience.
“The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)
There are certain things we must make note of here. Notice the word “had”. God had already spoken to Abram about leaving his “native country.” At this time Abram was in Heron, not his native country of Babylonia. So Abram had already heard from God, began pursuing the calling of God, but rather settled against the wishes of God. And in doing so, delayed the progress of God.
I wasted a few years of my life by not putting aside my own agenda and personal ambitions to pursue the calling of God in my life. I delayed God’s agenda waiting for retirement or winning the lottery. Because in doing so I failed to trust him. He had to remind me that He was the one who called me to the task. And in doing so would insure my success.
How about you? Have you been guilty of only going part of the distance that He has called you to go? Are you guilty of delaying a useful ministry because you feel inadequate or not interested? Will, in 2013, you set aside your own desires and agendas and travel the distance He has called you to travel?
Lesson 3 Believe God for a ministry that will bless others.
“I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.” (Genesis 12:2)
Abram at this time is 75 years old and his wife Sarai is 65. But God is making him a promise of being a blessing to others. There are conditions to this promise. Abram must not stop, must not settle, and must be obedient. And in doing so others will reap benefits.
I worked with a young man who struggled in believing in a loving God in such a cruel world. We talked often about the reality of God but I never could seem to get him to understand.
Many years had passed when I got a phone call to tell me this young mans daughter had died of cancer at the age of 9 and he wanted to talk to me. I struggled with what I would say to him. How could I ever convince him now of a loving God?
But when I called I was stunned with what he said. He wanted to thank me. He had become a Christian, and even tried to model his Christian walk after me. He wanted me to know that through the faith which I lived he was able to find comfort in his daughter’s death. Over the years I have discovered lives of more than person that I have influenced, to the glory of God.
Whose life will you bless in 2013? What testimony awaits your ear from a changed life because you did not stop and settle but rather obeyed?
Lesson 4 Grab the promise.
“And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.” (Gen 17:8)
There’s an old saying; “You can pick your nose and your friends, but you can’t pick your relatives.” God has picked Abram and his descendants to be their God. He has picked no one else, not even the Canaanites who live there. The Jews, the descendants of Abram, have and will always be God’s chosen ones. And through the sacrifice of Jesus we also have become God’s chosen ones. And notice what He gives, the entire land, not just a portion.
God chose me to be here. God chose me to shepherd you, to counsel you, to care for you. And God has promised me the entire land. He has said to me if I do not stop and settle for the mundane, He will give me the entire promise. He has said to me if I will obey him, He will let me posses this area for him. He has said to me if I minister to his people as He calls me too all of you will be blessed.
Will you claim your promise in 2013? Will you go to places unknown so that you can posses God’s promises for a lifetime?
Abram was tested. I believe he stared out slow but finally relinquished and discovered the purpose of his life and his true identity. Abram passed this first test. Will you pass yours?
