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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:13 I wanna talk to you on planning the future with God in mind. And I cannot tell you, I wish I had better planning ahead skills, but I don't.0:25 I wish I could tell you that I orchestrated that the Sunday after we would have the land sign for, I would be in this text, but I'm not that skilled. Everybody knows me knows I'm a last minute kinda0:37 guy with where the Lord's leading us on the weekend and what I'm preaching. I believe a rough idea, but the Lord really solidifies that idea as we get closer. I'm old school, Pentecostal, charismatic. I follow the Holy0:48 Spirit. Any anybody with me on that? Not enough people down here. I'll pray for you. Okay. I I follow the Holy Spirit. I don't know who you follow, but anyway, this text is1:00 absolutely pertinent for what we're doing as a church. It really, really is. And you're gonna find out why in just a moment. I wanna before we read it, wanna1:11 put put it back in context for you of what James is talking about in this text because he's called us in James 4 verse 10, we'll put this on the screen, to humility. Somebody1:23 say humility. Humility. Because he says, humble yourselves before the Lord. This is James 4 verse 10, and he will exalt you. Now last week, we1:35 looked at the next verse, verse 11, he says, don't speak evil against 1 another brothers. So how do we how do we walk in humility? Humility starts with how we talk about each other.1:47 Humility starts with, lifting each other up, building each other up. Don't get gossipy. Don't slander your brother. Don't speak lies about each other. That's where humility1:59 starts. Starts in the mouth, but then he turns the page from the mouth to the future. And in that context, he's talking, here's how you humble yourselves before. Here's where humility2:11 hits the road. And with that in mind, we come to verses 13 to 17. And I'm gonna ask, not you, but every other location, could you stand for the reading of God's word? Because if you all stand, you get in the way of the2:23 camera and they come to see me, not you. Okay. Amen. So let's take our bibles. James chapter 4. That joke's getting old, you still laugh. I thank God for that. James chapter 4 13 to 17, Water Church, Apollo Beach, you2:34 stand in your heart. Okay. Here's what we say. Here's what James says. Come now, you who say today or tomorrow, will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know2:45 what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, want to say, if the Lord wills Somebody say, if the Lord wills. If Lord wills. Now, I2:57 wanna just say, if the Lord wills, we will have a building on that land. Amen. Let's just settle that right now. If the Lord wills, we will have a building on that land. But but here's what James says, if the Lord wills,3:07 we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him, it is3:19 sin. This is God's word. Let's pray. Father in heaven, speak through your servant. May my words be governed by your holy spirit. May our ears be open, our hearts receptive, and our minds3:30 renewed. And may our eyes see Jesus. In his holy name, we pray. And everybody said Amen. Amen. Every other location, have a seat. God bless you in the presence of the Lord.3:43 The Panama Canal is perhaps 1 of the greatest engineering feats the world has ever seen. A waterway right through cent the Central American country of Panama that3:55 did not formally previously exist. It took countless hours and tons of manpower and tremendous engineering and advanced4:06 planning to make that thing come to pass. It changed global shipping ever. By the way, it also made a bunch of things cheaper because ships didn't have to go as far4:18 to deliver things across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. But did you know that before the Panama Canal was successfully completed, it was actually unsuccessfully4:30 completed. It was actually a disaster with train wreck. In the 18 hundreds, there was a company called the Suez Canal Company started by a Frenchman whose name I won't dare pronounce, who4:42 was behind the success of the Suez Canal in Egypt that connected, the waterways in Persia to the Red Sea. And the success of that canal,4:54 which was actually longer than the Panama Canal and more intensive intensive in terms of how much manpower it took, led the Suez Canal Company to an overabundance of confidence, good5:06 old fashioned pride. And when they were hired to build the Panama Canal, this is back again in the 18 eighties, it turned into an absolute disaster.5:18 The company filled with arrogance did not prepare for the mountainous terrain, which was different from the Egyptian terrain. They did not account for the different kinds of diseases resident in5:30 Central America as opposed to Northern Africa. Many of the workers and engineers came down with malaria and yellow fever and the harsh climate of Central America doomed the project completely5:41 and cost the lives of the Suez Canal Company and the French government 20000 people. 20000 people died because of poor5:53 planning, because of aiming for something without humility in their heart. Last week, we talked about how harsh words at David cost the lives of6:05 40000 people because words can become war. Today, I wanna talk to you about how you could potentially ruin your life with a overabundance of confidence, pride that could doom6:17 your future. And I wanna tell you something, God doesn't want that for you. He wants it to go well with his people. And I believe with all my heart that God has good things in6:28 mind for the church. Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. We've got a good6:40 promise from the father through Jesus for the future of the church. Amen, somebody. Amen. But we need to plan the future of our lives, the future of our church with God in mind. Humble6:52 yourselves, James says, he will exalt you. And here's 4 points on how God wants you to plan your future. Number 1, write this down in your notes. If you're not taking notes, write it down anyway. Here we go.7:03 Identify my overconfidence. Humility starts with understanding that pride can sneak up on you. You don't always know when you have a little bit of pride and7:15 arrogance in your life. You've gotta ask the Lord and the Psalm has said this as well. Search me, oh Lord. Try me. Examine my heart. See if there's any way in me that is7:27 unbecoming to you. I don't know where I might be losing or leaving you behind in my advanced planning. James says in verse 13, come now. Somebody say, come now. Come now. That's a way of saying,7:39 hey, wake up. Pay attention here. Because you get so caught up in your plans that you can leave God out of it, and you're just heading for disaster. He says, come now you who say, today or tomorrow. That's an7:50 overconfidence in your time. He says, we will go to such and such a place. That's an overconfidence in your geography, your location. He says, we will spend a year there. That's an overconfidence in your schedule.8:03 He says, we will trade. That's an overconfidence in your industry. What I can do with my hands, how much I can produce. And then he says, and make a profit. That's an overconfidence in your returns, your prosperity.8:15 All those things can lead to a tragedy in your life if you're not bringing God along with you. I want you to write this down. The ultimate overconfidence is planning as if God doesn't exist.8:27 The ultimate overconfidence, single people, is preparing to get married without God involved in the marriage. And I say this to married people. No. No. No. No. I say this to single people all the time. And I think I need8:38 to say it from the pulpit because it seems to be that a conversation I keep having with far too many people. Can I tell you plan for marriage with God in mind? Here's how I know some8:50 of you aren't planning for marriage with God in mind, and now I'm going to poke the bear a little bit. But you love that. That's why you love this pastor because I poked the bear. You're not planning with God9:02 in mind for your marriage if you are living together outside of marriage. You're not planning for marriage with God in mind if you're shacking up with random people or sleeping9:14 around with several people and thinking that God's gonna bless it. Friends, God never blesses disobedience. He just doesn't. It would be out of character for him to bless9:25 disobedience. Here's what God blesses, obedience. Here's what God blesses, honoring him. Here's what God blesses, trusting him. Plan your future with God in mind.9:37 Likewise, when you're looking for a house, don't always look for the biggest house, the most elaborate house, the most special neighborhood. Don't lust after the things that this world lost after to give you some sense9:47 of, you know, validation or some sense of self worth. No. Look for the house that God has in mind. Look for the location God wants in your life. And and make no9:59 mistake, James is not in any way, trouncing on the idea of making plans. No. The Bible's filled with verses about planning and preparing and advance scheduling and all. It is10:10 absolutely biblical to plan in advance. Let me give you a couple passages. Proverbs 21 verse 5. The plans of the diligent lead to what? Abundance. But whoever is hasty comes to poverty.10:22 Jesus himself said in Luke chapter 14, he said, which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down, count the cost, whether we have enough to complete it. He says,10:34 otherwise, when you start and and the foundation is laid and you realize you're not able to finish, all who see it will begin to mock saying this man began to build and was not able to finish. No. No. No. Scripture is10:43 clear on this again and again and again. Planning, preparing, scheduling, all very spiritual, scriptural, and biblical things to do. But do them with God in10:55 mind. Do them knowing that God is ultimately in charge of the results. As the bible says in This is not on the screen, but Proverbs 16 3 says, commit your work to the11:07 Lord and your plans will be established. Here's what I want us to do as a church in Apollo Beach and our other locations. Let's commit this church to Jesus. How do we do that? We make this church11:19 about him, not about me. We we make this house about his kingdom and not my kingdom. This is not about my name. This is not about my ministry. This is about you. Ladies and gentlemen, please, please, please, if you come11:30 up and talk to me, and some of you do this, and I wanna correct you here. Some of you come up and say, congratulations, pastor. Good for you. When we take a new property or we build a new sanctuary. Please don't11:40 congratulate me. That kinda implies that it's my thing, and it's not your thing. No, friends. We're all in this together. God does not call a man. He calls a people. We are the family of God. It's just 111:52 I'm just 1 person, but you are my brothers and sisters. You are my partners and fellow soldiers taking ground from the devil's kingdom and bringing people into the kingdom of Jesus' light. Join12:04 me. So if you say congratulations, I'm gonna say congratulations to you. Because it's not just about me, it's about us. God is moving through us. Somebody say, God's12:16 moving through me. God's me. And and some of you don't even realize this yet. You're here maybe for the first time. I don't think for 1 second that you are here by accident or by happenstance.12:28 I believe God's called you here at all of our locations to build the church of Jesus with the power of the Holy Spirit in you working through you.12:39 So acknowledge, identify. Maybe there's an overconfidence in you. Maybe you haven't even realized that you've kinda left God out of your scheduling. You've left God out of your planning. I12:51 believe that we should have business leaders being raised up at every location. Start your own business. Don't always be working for somebody else. Step out in faith. I'm so proud of the young men who have come to me13:01 recently and said, you've inspired me to do it. I started a business. In fact, the person who's helping us make plans for the architecture at the new location is sitting right there. His name is Jared. He started an13:11 architecture business last year. It's going gangbusters. You know what Jared does? He gives it to God. He calls it waymaker architecture, and he gives God 10 percent of all that comes in, and the Lord has poured13:23 abundant blessings back into Jared's life. I'm bragging on him because he trusts God. That's how God wants it to go for you. Wants it to go for all of us. The Lord bring the Lord with13:35 you. Your plans will go better. Amen somebody. Number 2 though, acknowledge my vulnerability. This is what James wants us to do. He wants us to do a little personal check. And and we've got some vulnerabilities that we13:46 need to acknowledge as we start to set out and make plans in our lives. Verse 14, he says, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. 313:58 areas of vulnerability. I want you to write down. 3 areas of vulnerability. Letter a, I have no guarantee of tomorrow. I have no guarantee of tomorrow. I don't want to get14:10 depressing for for Anya, but I I do have to tell you about some things. Some news items from the past 2 weeks. Mark Westwood, a 38 year old father of 4, had just spent the night with14:21 his fiancee planning their wedding, went to bed that night, did not wake up. Just like that. 38 father 38 year father of 4. TikTok star, Taylor Grigg,14:33 1400000.0 followers. Something that young ladies across the world aspire to achieve. Opened up about her struggles with asthma, and a couple of weeks ago, went to bed, had an asthma14:45 attack, and passed away. Martin Curtain, a 50 year old truck driver, put his truck what he thought was in park, got out of the truck on a slope on a on a on a shallow slope, realized the truck was not in park, yet rolled14:57 down the hill. He tried to stop it with his body very foolishly. The truck pinned him against the wall, and he lost his life. None of those people did anything egregious. None of those people did anything overtly sinful15:06 to to to merit death. But they just exhibited the reality that none of us get tomorrow guaranteed. Not a single 1 of us. 1 of my favorite movies is called Castaway. Anybody ever see this15:18 movie? I I watch that movie on a regular basis because it's therapy. It really is. I love the movie's premise. A guy named Chuck knows Nolan. He works for, FedEx. He's a15:30 team leader. Opening scene is he's lecturing his employees. He's just bellowing at them and talking about being on time and and chastising them for being late with their pass packages, and and he's just15:42 going off on these people. And he says this famous quote. He says, we live and die by time. We must not commit the sin of turning our back on time,15:54 end quote. And then a couple days later, he's in a plane over the Pacific Ocean and there's a plane crash and he's the lone survivor on an abandoned island and he spends 5 years there. It's a fictional story. And then he16:05 has a friend named Wilson. He's a volleyball. You all know this story. Right? And and and he's and I the the funniest scene to me in that movie is is when he's talking about his quote from before he got into that crash,16:16 and he's almost laughing at himself. Let us not commit the sin of turning our back on time because he realized that when life throws a wrench in your plan, suddenly time doesn't matter as much as you thought it did.16:27 You don't have any idea what's going to happen tomorrow. There's a story that Jesus tells in the gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 12, about a man who had a bumper crop, a major increase in his16:39 industry. He had a bunch of money come in basically. He looks at himself and he says, now what am I gonna do? And the bible says in Luke 12 that he looked at himself, he said, I will tear down my barns, verse 18, and16:49 build bigger ones. And I will store all my goods and I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, fool,17:01 this night your soul is required of you. And the things that you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is for anyone who lays up treasure for himself is not rich toward God. I think about the the man's game plan was17:12 not inherently sinful. I mean, he was basically doing the American game plan. I will work at this company for 20 to 30 to 40 years. I will get my pension secured. I will have my guaranteed17:24 income, and then I will move to the great state of Florida. I will play golf every day and just live out my years in relax and enjoyment. You17:36 don't have tomorrow guaranteed. I have a great uncle I never met. His name is uncle Henry. And uncle Henry fought in World War 2. My17:48 father tells me that he actually ran fuel to the front lines. This man was heavily involved in the Japanese front in World War 2. He survived all 4 years, all 5 years of the war. His ship landed up in18:00 California after the end of the war. He got into a car with his friend. They were gonna travel cross country from California back to New England, for 2 weeks. They got into the car. They drove off to see the great United18:11 States firsthand and they died in a car accident on the way home. You can survive a world war and perish in a car accident. I don't mean to18:23 depress you, I mean to give you perspective. The proverb says, do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring. Our second18:34 vulnerability, let her be write this down. I'm not the center of the world. I'm not the center of this story. So many people look at their life as if it's a great big novel. You're the main18:46 character. Everybody around you are secondary, supporting casts, if you will. And they're there to serve you. They're there to make sure that your dreams come true. They're there to make sure that your story works out.18:57 Friends, can I tell you something? Life's not really like that. First off, everybody that you think is a supporting character in your story thinks you're a supporting character in their story. How's that for turnabout?19:09 Secondly, it's not about you. Your life is not about you. My life is not about me. My life is about the glory of the name of Jesus. I'm here by his design.19:21 I didn't get chose. I didn't choose when to be born. I didn't choose where to be born. I didn't choose who would come into my life and who would leave my The Lord is writing a story about19:33 me, but it's ultimately for his glory. Here's what James says in verse 14. What is your life for you are a what? Mist. Now everybody do this at every location. Just breathe19:44 in and then do this. Don't do it in somebody's direction. Be nice. Okay? Now now it's cold this morning, and if it gets cold enough, okay, you do that outside and you'll19:56 see what do you see? You'll see a little fog come out of your mouth. That's what James is talking about here. That's what you are. You are you're here for a little while and then gone. And I20:08 thought about it also. Every miss that we ever produce is always the production of somebody else's agency. What I mean to say is what I think James means to say is that you are the result of God's agency.20:20 We didn't invent God. God invented us. We didn't create this planet. He created this planet. We didn't bring ourselves into the faith. He brought us into the faith. In other words, we are the20:32 direct object of the verb that is life that God put in our spirits. Amen, somebody. And that means that my life is not ultimately about me. My life is to reflect the glory of the 1 who made me. Letter c write this down.20:44 I'm prone to cause problems. Now we're just doing diagnosis for these first 2 points, so bear with me though. Here's what James is saying. You rely on yourself, you'll make a mess.20:57 You move ahead without God involved in your future and you will hurt you. He says later on in verse 16, all such boasting and arrogance is what? Evil.21:08 Underline that word. Evil. It's it's not just making them. It's evil. It's harmful. It wrecks people. It wrecks you. Destroys families. Destroys communities. Planning21:20 and purposing without God in mind will wreck your life. Later on in verse 17, James says, so whoever knows the right thing to do and doesn't do it for him, it is what? Think about these 2 descriptors that James21:32 gives us to planning without God in mind. Evil and sin. I don't want to be involved in evil. Evil destroys. Sin destroys. Sin harms. Here's what James is saying. Stop moving ahead without God. Stop moving ahead without21:44 him in mind because if you do so, you're gonna cause untold damage to yourself and to those around you. Now, the good news is that James doesn't leave us there. He doesn't just say, hey, listen. Stop bragging. Stop21:55 boasting. Stop planning. No. No. No. Actually, he calls us to properly plan, to plan the way that God wants us to plan. And I believe that if we can embrace these last 2 points from James' text, I believe we can see22:07 a bright future in every single 1 of our lives. So I want you write number 3 down. Here we go. Number 3 is embrace God's agreeability. Embrace God's agreement over your plan. Make your22:19 plans. In fact, some of you might need to do this. You don't plan at all. So, you might need to write some things down. Where do I wanna go? What do I wanna do? Where do I wanna get in life? I I I believe in that.22:31 You know, the the old saying says, if you don't, if you fail to plan, you what? Plan to fail. So I'm all for planning. And and some of you, this is where the Lord might wanna lead you today22:43 or tomorrow after after this weekend. Sit down, write down some things to my some agendas that you have in mind for where you want your life to be, where you want your children to be, where you want your marriage to be,22:53 whatever it is. There's nothing wrong with that. But here's what James says. Add a qualifier to all those plans. What does he say? Verse 15, instead you ought to what? Say. In23:05 other words, say it out loud. Confess it. Make it part of what comes out of your being because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And here's what you need to say over all those plans.23:17 If the Lord wills, we will what? Live. Don't miss that moment. He doesn't just say, if the Lord wills, we're gonna go over there. No. No. First,23:29 if the Lord wills, we will get tomorrow. If the Lord wills, we will see our children grow up. If the Lord wills, we will see our our marriage or our grandchildren be born. So if the Lord23:41 in other words, we are vulnerable, we are helpless, but there is a God in heaven who wants to do things in us and through us that are good for us. And let's do some advanced23:53 scouting about our future, but at the same time, let's leave it in the hands of almighty God. Now, here's what you need to understand about this. Embracing the Lord's24:04 will over your desires is perhaps the most Christ like thing that you can do. It probably is the most Christ like thing that you can do. Every time Jesus was challenged about what he was doing, he went24:16 back to, I'm not doing what I want. I'm doing what he wants. John chapter 5 verse 30, Jesus said, I can do nothing on my own. Think about it. This is Jesus, the lord of glory. This is the son of the most high god. And24:27 what does he say? I can do nothing on my own. I can only do the will of him who sent me. When you say, father, I want your will to be done in my life,24:39 you are exemplifying the mindset of Christ. I am here not to do what I want. I'm here to do what God wants, and I believe that God wants to do great things in you and through you, in your life, in your industry, in your24:50 business, in your family. But ultimately, lay it down, put your plans on the table, spread them out before the Lord, and say, Father, if you want me to do this, give me the give me the power, give me the anointing, give25:00 me the time to get it done in Jesus name. I believe you're gonna be far better off in the long run. So if the Lord wills. And I thought about this. Some of you approach the Lord's25:12 will really poorly. And I know you do because I used to do it too. I used to do it too. Here's how we unfortunately read verse 15.25:24 Well, if the Lord wills, I guess, maybe. And and and what we'll say about the Lord is, you know, I really wanna accomplish this thing, and I really wanna do this plan, and I really wanna go here, but you know,25:35 I know the Lord is really in charge and so he's really just gonna stifle a lot of things because he's no fun and he wants to limit me and he wants me humble and he doesn't want me to accomplish because he doesn't want25:43 Friends, can I tell you that that's a lie from the pit of hell? That's a lie. Where are you getting that language that God is not for you, that God wants to limit you, that God wants to hold you back? Where do you get25:55 that language? I guarantee you get that language from the enemy who wants to steal it from you. Jesus said, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. John 10 10. I have come that you might26:07 have life and have life, what? Abundantly. Now I'm not a very smart man, but I know that abundant is a lot. Some of you this Thursday,26:19 you're gonna have an abundant amount of mashed potatoes on your plate. You know what I'm talking about? Anybody? Mashed potatoes abundant? Yeah. How about stuffing abundant? Come on. How about the whole plate? Just26:30 abundant. Just abundant everything. Alright. That that Can I tell you that God is a God of abundance? He's a God of more than enough. So I thought about this. Leaving26:42 behind the Lord in your planning and purpose. Can I tell you something? You need to hear this. Is leaving behind the best person you can have involved.26:52 You're actually robbing yourself. When you move ahead without God, you're robbing yourself because God is for you. He's not against you. God wants to bless you and prosper you. He27:04 doesn't come and steal from you. See, some of you still gotta get this in your heart about giving and tithing because you think giving and tithing is losing. It is not losing. It is trusting. It is honoring.27:16 It is saying, God, I know that you're the source of all my increase. You're the source of all my abundance. And this world can't give me a fraction of what you're able to give me. You're not the thief, Lord. You're the27:26 abundant provider. So we gotta make some confessions about our plans. I got 3 of them for you under this point. I want you to write them down. Confession number 1, God's will is a good thing. It's not a bad thing.27:38 So when James says, you should say, if the Lord wills, what you're saying is, I'm going to embrace God's will because I know ultimately that God's will is good for me.27:50 God wants to bless his people. He wants to empower his daughters and his sons today. I think about the people of Israel who abandoned the Lord for about28:02 500 years of their history. They abandoned the Lord. They walked away from him. They followed the idols of the nations around them. God handed them over to the Babylonians, and then God sent a prophet named Jeremiah.28:13 Jeremiah said, listen, I know you're being disciplined right now, and I know that God is chastening you for your sins right now. But can I tell you that God still has big plans and good plans for you? And in Jeremiah 3228:25 verse 41, the Lord says through Jeremiah, I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness with all my heart28:37 and all my soul. I think about God's amazing grace to ancient Israel, and they're still in that land to this day. They are standing in that land, 1 of the most prosperous advanced nations surrounded28:49 by their enemies and standing still 3500 years later because God is a God of faithfulness to his promises. He said to Abraham, I'm giving it to you forever and it's gonna be yours and no one's ever29:01 taken him out of that land. When I look at Israel, I look at the fact that God is faithful and he wants to bless his people. That's your promise by the way. That's your promise by the way.29:13 Because the bible says in the book of Galatians that we are blessed with the Abrahamic blessing. Amen, someone. Amen. Our church is blessed with Abraham's blessing. Why are we stepping out and starting all these29:24 locations? Why are we starting that school up in Massachusetts? Why do we why do we go and aim at these incredible task? You know why? Because we've got an anointing, a blessing from God upon us. Confession number 2.29:36 Here's a here's a big 1. If God's not in it, I won't want it. You know why you wanna say if the Lord wills? Because sometimes saying if the Lord wills will stop29:48 something that the Lord doesn't will. You following this? And I wanna tell somebody here today, you want that to happen in your life. You want that to30:00 happen in your life. If the Lord wills, young people, you'll say, if the Lord wills, I will marry them. But here's the fact. You have no idea what they're gonna be like in 30 years. You30:12 have no idea what kind of person you're marrying, really. It's all a crapshoot, ultimately. You wanna make sure that they love the Lord, but at the end of day, I've seen many people who say they love the Lord, they don't30:20 really love the Lord. I've seen many people say, will love you and promise to be faithful to you all day, and they're not faithful. You never really know. So the best thing that you can do is say, if the Lord wills.30:30 Because if God is not in this, I don't want any part of it. Amen, somebody? You know why? Because God holds it together. God holds lives together. He holds you together. He's holding you together right now. Colossians30:42 1 17 said, he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. The book of Hebrews says, he upholds the universe by the word of his power. I want what God's involved in. I want what God is30:54 doing. I want that over my life. Henry Ward Beecher, the old preacher from Mass, from Maine in the 18 fifties said it like this. Imagine a man constructing a house, but instead of following the architect's plan, he31:06 chose to just scurry about and do his own ideas. And as the work progresses, the architect checks in only to find out that the construction has no alignment with the original design. The result, absolute chaos. In the31:16 same way, when it comes to building a life, Hebrews tells us that God is the builder and maker. He is the architect. Only a fool would ignore his design and follow their own31:28 fleeting whims. That's good preaching. Lord, I I if you're not involved in this advancement for our church, I don't wanna be a part of it. If you close this door that I wanna walk through, father, I'm gonna embrace31:40 that. My bible tells me that he's the God who opens doors no man can shut, and he's the God who shuts doors that no man can open. So I wanna be on board with his plan and not my own. Confession31:51 number 3, when God is in it, I will ultimately enjoy it. This is a big 1. This is a big 1, and it's an important qualifier. Lest any of you32:03 leave our churches today and think, well, I heard the Lord. He wants to bless me. He wants to prosper me. Good things are in store for me. So I'm just gonna yes. If the Lord was, and I'm just gonna wait for all these32:14 wonderful things to happen to my life. Okay. Pause. Hold on. Not everything that the Lord allows in your life according to his will is pleasant. Not everything that32:26 God allows to come at you is is gonna make you feel all that great. No. The Lord also has some discipline that he wants to put in you. The Lord also has some patience that he wants32:38 to develop in you. The Lord also has some kindness that he wants to draw out of you. But sometimes the only way to get our attention, because we tend to be stubborn. Anybody stubborn? Look like me. I'm star32:50 because we're stubborn. Only way to get our attention is he afflicts us. The Psalmist said, 1 19. Psalmist said, it was good that I was afflicted that I might learn your statutes. Sometimes the affliction33:02 comes so that we shape up. Sometimes the affliction comes so that we don't keep walking in the wrong direction. I believe this is what Peter had in mind in first Peter chapter 4 when he says this, since therefore Christ33:13 suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. In other words, your your suffering and your and your struggle is is there for33:24 sanctification. And I gotta I gotta tell somebody today, God is far more interested in your sanctification than in your satisfaction. He is far more in he is far more interested in33:36 your holiness than in your happiness. Amen. Amen. I'll amen myself if I have to. But I understand why you didn't say amen because nobody wants to be unhappy.33:48 Nobody wants to be, you know, put through the ringer. Nobody wants to go through the fires of affliction. But sometimes that's what God the Lord has to do for us. But here's what here here's how Peter finishes that33:57 thought. He says, you suffer, you cease from sin, and then you learn to live the rest of your time in the flesh. No longer for the passions of this world, but for the will of God. In other words,34:09 every fire that God puts through through you puts your life through is a fire of purification, and it's never a fire of devastation. It's only there to make you a34:21 better you imagined in the image of Jesus Christ, your savior. That's why I say that the confession is can we put it back up on the screen? The third confession? When God is in it, I will ultimately34:33 enjoy. I might not enjoy every part of it. Some of you, that's where you are right now. Some of you are right there with your marriage right now. Some of you are right there with your job. Right. You're right there maybe34:44 with your schooling or your educational process, and you and you just say, really? Really? Do I have to go through this really right now? I can I can see it almost in some of your eyes? I can see it. I can feel it. The34:53 Lord wants to say something to you. Just give me time. Just give me time. I'm not done with you. I'm not abandoning you.35:06 You just hold on to my hand, walk through this fire with me, and I'm gonna come out of it with you on the other side. And as I said about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and there's gonna be no smell of smoke on your35:17 person. There's just gonna be a fragrance of God's grace over your life. Amen somebody. I love this prayer at the end of the book of Hebrews. Well, actually, no. Before we get there, write this down. Write35:29 this down. God's will is not a barrier to success. It's a bridge to blessing. Don't don't say if the Lord's will begrudgingly. Don't say, well, if God is in it, no no like35:41 like it's a bad thing. No. It's a good thing. Here's number 4 though, finally. Move forward with accountability. And that's what I think verse 17 is about. Don't move forward headlong rushing35:53 in your own way and not get God involved. Now James chapter 4 verse 17 is the penultimate passage of the sin of omission. Some of you36:05 have never heard about this, but I'll tell you about it. There's sins of commission. Those are the things that we do that we shouldn't do. There's also something called the sin of omission, the things that we should do36:13 that we don't do. And here's how he says it. Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. Now in the context, James chapter 4 17 is actually about running headlong in36:25 life without planning with God in mind. It's just leaving God out of your future. Can I tell you the greatest mistake anybody will ever make in all eternity is planning their future without God?36:38 And I'm not just talking about life in this planet. I'm not just talking about life, future in this time. I'm talking about your eternal future. Some of you say, well, I'll surrender to36:50 I'll surrender to the Lord eventually. I'll I'll give my life to Jesus someday. But for right now, I just kinda wanna do my thing. And maybe when I'm old and gray and I'm all done,37:01 then I'll come to Jesus. Friend, just back up a little bit in the notes and in the passage, you don't know if you've got tomorrow. That's why time and time again, the passage the scripture says, today if you hear his37:13 voice. Today if you hear his voice. Today if you hear his voice. Do not harden your heart. Do not resist the call to the of the Lord to salvation. Do not put God on the back burner of your life. You put him in the front37:23 seat. You let him do the driving. You let him take charge of your life. I'm telling you, God's will is a good thing, not a bad thing. And he's got good and ultimately wonderful, enjoyable plans for you. It might go37:33 through some seasons of trial and testing. It might go through some waters in in which you feel overwhelmed. But the Lord is gonna be with you, and he who called you is faithful to bring you to completion until the day37:43 of Christ Jesus. And there is no life outside of Christ. Let me just tell somebody that you need to hear today. There is no life outside of Christ. There is no fun outside of Christ. There is no enjoyment outside of37:55 Christ. He is the true and everlasting joy that never runs dry. I'm telling you something. And some of you need to hear it and some of you need to receive it because you've been38:07 straddling the fence with the Lord for way too long. It's time to just fully immerse yourself in his purpose and in his plan. I love this prayer from the book of Hebrews verse 20 of38:19 chapter 13. Now may the God of peace who brought again the Lord Jesus from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you withShow more
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Guest Message - Pastor Geyser Pastor Tim Hatch
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