Celebrating Progress | Dr. Phillip Pointer

I'd like to share with you a bit of a word that the Lord has placed on my heart for you in this season it's in the book of second Samuel 2nd samuel chapter 6 and here in second samuel chapter 6 I'd like to place emphasis on one verse but I want to read a bit of a runway to that one verse to provide us with context for our discussion and understanding a man now this is my first time to miracle City and it's your first time seeing meeting me and so we need to establish some ground rules for the preaching of exercise and experience if I say something all right you're supposed to say Amen I say something you don't understand just blink at me I'll try to say it again in a way that we all can connect and understand and we're gonna be a whole right 2nd samuel chapter 6 beginning at verse number 5 i'm reading from the english standard version listen to what the Bible says and David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with songs and lyres and harps tambourines and castanets and cymbals and when they came to the threshing floor of Anakin Moosa put out his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it for the oxen stumbled the anger of the Lord was kindled against scusa and God struck him down there because of his error and he died there beside the Ark of God and David was angry because the Lord had broken out against who'sa and that place is called Perez who'sa to this day and David was afraid of the Lord that day and he said how can the Ark of the Lord come to me so David was not willing to take the Ark of the Lord into the City of David but David took it aside to the house of obed-edom to get tight the Ark of the Lord remained in the house of obed-edom to get tight three months and the Lord blessed obed-edom and all his household and it was told King David the Lord has blessed the household of obed-edom and all that belongs to him because of the arc of God so David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of obed-edom to the City of David with rejoicing and when those who bore the Ark of the Lord had gone six steps he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal and David danced before the Lord with all his might and David was wearing a linen ephod so David and all the house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn verse 13 is the verse that I'd really like to focus in and when those who bore the Ark of the Lord had gone six steps he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal I'd like today to talk to you from this somatic through us I'd like to preach about celebrating progress celebrating progress it's more natural for us brothers and sisters to celebrate beginnings and endings but not very many of us celebrate middles the happy couple who receives the doctor's report that they are indeed with child celebrate the beginning the birth of the baby is an exciting time for that family the end is a time of celebration but some mother knows that middle it was not very easy to celebrate the celebration of being accepted into that institution of higher learning given that application you've given them your your your your your best presentation of yourself and finally the admission committee says you are in graduation day with your cap and gown and your mother and father standing pika proud at your accomplishment it's a wonderful time of celebration but that middle well you've got to wake up early for class you've got to write papers spend long nights in libraries spend long nights preparing for final exams that middle is not always easy to celebrate the wedding day is a wonderful day of celebration when you put on that right gown and he puts on that tuxedo and there you are standing at the altar surrounded by family friends well-wishers and some others and there you look into one another's eyes and you join right hands and you say I do and then when you get to that fifty year that's sixty year that golden anniversary 50th anniversary grandchildren are around and children are saying how they model their lives after your consistency and that love that they have lifted up but all if they only do the middle it wasn't always wonderful days with with with hot passionate love there were days where you wanted and perhaps even determined to what we middles are hard to celebrate is what I'm trying to say but brothers and sisters it's because middles are money they're miry they're filled with holes we like beginnings we like endings but we don't quite like middles but I think today I think I'm trying to say middle get a bad rap they're often blamed for lack of enthusiasm it's it's the middle in our text that is the culprit seemingly for the untimely death and delay of bringing the ark back to the City of God it's the middle they were celebrating in verse five of our text they're celebrating in verse 15 of our text but somewhere in the middle a man named Musa reaches out his hand of my brothers and sisters so that he can study the art of God to keep it from falling to the ground but God kills him for touching the art brothers and sisters the truth is that Wow David seeks to abandon the project of bringing the art of God back to the City of David because he's blaming the middle it's not the middle no it's our management of the middle that makes the difference some of our memories of our middles are erroneously negative it's not the middles fault that you got your Sturridge it's not the minerals fault that you love Springs it's not the minerals fault that you ran in the financial struggle it was management of the middle we're focused on the difficulties in the middle rather than the opportunities of the middle we'll miss manage it and the Ark of God represents the holy presence of God taken from Israel during a period in their history where they had forgotten to put God first they took it to war to fight the Philistines they lost the war and the Philistines took the ark from them David is now the newly anointed king over all of Israel he has established his capital at Jerusalem and he has it in his mind to bring the Ark of God which represents the very presence of God to the City of David and he starts this project my brothers and sisters with great enthusiasm and great excitement we're bringing the glory back it's going to be a dining the time of worship and praise and it's going to crystallize and Colin since the chorus David's power as the as a new king over all of Israel and here we are with the art but brothers and sisters they carried it wrong which is why we have a messy middle the Ark was designed to be carried on two poles between between priests four priests were to carry the Ark of God on poles but David carries the ark on an ox cart it takes the glory of God representing the presence of God in the in the Ark of God it's it's a wooden box overlaid with gold it has in it a pot of manna that they had from the wilderness Aaron's rod that budded Moses his brother and it also had the Ten Commandments inside this Ark was to be carried on the priests shoulders above their heads but instead David listen carefully is trying to carry it the same way the Philistines did he's trying to do God's thing the world's way he's trying to get God's results with his process and whenever you and I try to do God's thing our way or the world's way inevitably the mini middle is going to get muddy and there's going to be some loss in the middle because God listen carefully would rather have the ark on the ground than an ark painted by flesh allusive reaches out his hand to touch the ark to steady it and he dies David abandons the project suspends the movement gives up and drops it off at the house of a man named obed-edom and obey items house flourishes and prospers and and grows and David says maybe God will let me do it again but this time he does it the right way this time he knows how it's supposed to be done here's what I'm trying to get to on the way to what I'm getting to I'm trying to tell somebody that your goal your dream your aspiration your desire your intent to glorify God was good it was your process that needed revision and I'm saying that you need to go back and pick up what you've dropped off I'm saying there were some callings there was an anointing there was a destiny that God had placed on you but you saw how the world did it and you try to do it that way and when it did not work for you you've abandoned the project that's why you perhaps are sitting in the back of the sanctuary today that's why you sit in the shadows and hide and hold back on your gifts that's why nobody knows that you're a writer that's why nobody knows that you can sing that's why nobody knows that you can cook it's because you abandon the project God said go back pick it up but this time do it my way here's the text when we arrive at verse 13 it's not just David serving honoring God with the right process its serving and honoring God by intentionally pausing yeah the first verse verse 13 is about it's about purposeful pauses on my way to destiny because hear me good hear me good successfully managing what seemed to be difficult muddy and uneven middles requires intentional periods of pausing so that we can properly navigate life's journey I'm saying that purposeful pausing honors the holiness and grace of God so it means that we should leave here today but living listen God honoring lives that take time to pause here it is and celebrate progress I'm trying to give you an antidote for the disease of perfectionism trying to help you to see that you don't have to be at the end to celebrate God's glory can I cannot get up can I take verse 13 as as if it's a prison can hold it up to the white light of interpretive integrity and and see what it refracts on the wall in terms of the rainbow of truth let me let me let me say that that that pausing is necessary because pausing allows for reflection here it is there it is pausing allows for reflection you should move forward while looking back so you gotta pause so you can reflect watch me good reflection is vital to destiny because there can be no gratitude where there is no reflection so if you don't pause on purpose you'll forfeit the opportunity to honor God watch me for your journey thus far see that's the explicit intent of the text telling us that it was six steps and when I preached this in Baptist context they have to I have to build the bridge but I know you know that six is the number before seven and seven is a Sabbath number watch me it's a Sabbath number it means that they journey six steps we don't know if this is literal steps or if it's seven units of measurement of distance but whatever it is every time they accomplish six of them they stopped and they sacrifice which made the sacrifice a Sabbath step it's it's its intent then is to honor God's divine instruction and God's divine model in creation listen God not tired not weary not needing a break decided after six days of creation two sets of Trinity the first day he makes the lights the fourth day lights in the heavens the Sun the moon and the stars the second day he makes atmosphere and water the fifth day he makes birds to fly in the atmosphere and fish to swim in the water the third day he makes dry ground up here the sixth day he creates humankind and the animals that would crawl on the dry ground and on the seventh day God says let me pause to reflect let me look back over what I have created up over the work that I've accomplished and say that it's good I'm talking to somebody here and you are so focused on achievement you have outgrown gratitude God says pause and look back down the hallway of show history and see how far I brought you from watch me here it is don't let vision make you unfold only vision make you don't think I was observed at the beginning of of 2017 I was I started working with a mean horrible trainer named sterben serving as a member of the church I passed and stirring now everybody else thinks he's nice but I know he's mean because he wants me to lift more weight then I want to lift he wants to be to run faster than I want to run or father then I want to run he doesn't want me to eat what I want to eat he doesn't like for me to go to popeyes chicken like I really enjoy serving as a mean trainer masterven before we started serving took me into a room and and and said P we got to take some before pictures got take something before pictures he says let's take let's take something before pictures and so I stood there with my gut hanging out and my and all this Karen on Karen old and servant took some before pictures and and and and and and and I was whining real bad a few months later I mean I'm really fussing it's not working stirring I still don't have the strength I should have I don't have the stamina I should have man it's not working yet he said well let's go back and let's take some more pictures I said sir I'm not taking any more pictures and I don't feel like taking the pics today he said come on baby just take some up last week and I took some pictures and and and starving later sent me a text with my before pictures not with after but with during pictures and I saw all the pictures something I could not see just looking in the mirror I saw how far I had come I had not yet gotten to the destination but I had come further then I want to talk to somebody here and say you may not be exactly where you want to be in life but you ought to thank God that you are much better than you used to be let me tell you my testimony things I used to do I don't do it often places I used to go I don't go as often I made some progress and when I reflect on where the Lord has brought me from I want to help you today pulsing allows for reflection can I give you another movement of this get out get out can I show you another color on the wall not only this pausing allowed for reflection but listen pausing also controls pace him a good you ready here immigrant life lived too fast this honors God and depletes you did you hear me life lived too fast dishonest God and depletes you his word slow down David had the ark on an oxcart because he was trying to hurry it back to the city of David Jerusalem the problem is however that the Philistines could get away with using an ox cart because they lived by the sea it flat ground but David's Jerusalem is a tale a te L it is a city built on the city that's built on a city that's built on the city it's a city that is built on the ruins of other cities it creates a mountain or a hill which means the terrain is not even you can't move too fast ox carts don't work on Hills because the elevation creates instability this is why the Ox stumbles this is why the cart tips and that's why who'sa tries to reach out and save it and dies because whenever you are elevating you are always going to deal with some instability in fact the higher you go or the steeper the climb the more you need to take your time and measure where you place your feet slow down because people who are ahead of you are necessarily above you stop measuring your life but the you graduated with stop measuring your life with the people who are in your same same age group just because they seem to be ahead of you does not mean they are above you you got to slow down here's the text here's the text David has to carry has the priest to properly carry at this time which means they can't move as fast but they can be more careful with where they place their feet I was I was preaching Dave I was preaching a preaching conference in Jacksonville Florida several years ago but I still lived here in the area and and I was I was snowed in and we had a couple of feet of snow a couple of feet of snow one of those blizzards we had a few years ago couple feet so couldn't get back in the into BWI so so I in Florida in Jacksonville had a friend who passed it in tempest a drive down to Tampa so and just preached for me on Sunday since you can't get back so I I went to the rental car counter at the airport and uh and and the rental car agent sweet guy and lady talk me to death I could feel the whole growing in my head she would talk to me dead where you're from what you doing here why are you here well why can't you fly oh my goodness I'm so sorry so she told me she rented me the car she said that listen you could take the highway down to Tampa but instead you really should take route 301 our same 301 take route 301 and and and and and and it's a beautiful Drive you'll have to you'll have to go through several towns here's what she told me watch the speed limit if it says 25 do 25 it'll change it'll go from 40 to 25 from town to town from from from 52 to 30 from town to town what's the speed limit she said if it does if it says 30 don't do 35 cuz they will pull you over and give you a ticket for doing 35 small towns that have nothing better to do than to pull over tourists and give them tickets in their towns I went through Laurie I went through a town called Waldo which had a billboard where it bred for being the most ticketed town in the United States I went through start I went through Hawthorne I went through Zephyrhills y'all listen I ruled with my windows down I roll with my music playing uh spent some time talking to God I saw beautiful sights and saw beautiful people and here's what the lady was trying to get me to see you're still gonna get there but you'll have a better journey if you take your time and obey the speed limit you gotta watch my brothers and sisters because sometimes God tells you to slow down and because even though the journey is longer have a better ride and God don't want to have to pull you over to the side of the road because you won't stop so he's got to stop you scenery was amazing the journey was relaxing the pace was refreshing refreshing because listen sometimes what we see as unfortunate delays are simply divinely orchestrated pauses that are God's gift to us they remind us here it is him application that I'm moving they remind us that the destination is not the only place I can have joy I don't have to wait until I get there to get happy because God is not just the god of there he's our God of here too he's not just good there he's good here - I'm not only blessed when I get there I'm blessed right here - I'm blessed before I get the new job on this job you're not helping me I'm blessed before I get married in my season I'm singleness I'm blessed before I graduate before I'm healed before I retire before can I tell you something else about pulsing pulsing also helps you to manage the weight of the assignment it's a wooden box overlaid with gold it's got a wooden top with two cherubim angels whose wings touch in the middle it's got the Ten Commandments y'all do know that wasn't written on paper they were written in stone it's got Aaron's wooden rod and a pot of manna and it this thing is heavy and they have to carry it up a hill to get it to where it's supposed to be and the priests were faithful honorable holy men of God but I can imagine what it must have felt like have that corner of the box digging in this shoulder and you want to honor the holiness of God and you're holding it high but man they're going up that hill bearing the weight of God's glory it had to get heavy I'm talking to some mother here you love your babies but they get heavy sometimes some some teacher you so Gladys you lie you love those children but but educating them and having to be a social worker it's heavy sometimes I'm talking to someone volunteers and you're doing all you can to improve the world around you and leave it a better place but good God it gets heavy sometimes that's why you ought to pray for your pastor he loves you he might not ever tell you this and I might not ever get invited back for being the snitch but you and your issues and your idiosyncrasies and your multiple personalities you get heavy sometimes but can I help somebody out God does not expect you to carry this thing without ever putting it down [Applause] sometimes you gotta tell your children and your husband and the church even oh I love you but I gotta put you down because God has not called me to die on my way to my destiny Jesus already did that he called me to carry you and to pause from time to time and stretch my shoulders and get my strength back so I can carry you the next six steps I'm through I got I got to leave you pause on purpose cuz pausing allows for reflection pausing controls pace helps you manage the weight of the assignment but then the text says the pausing creates a context for true sacrificial worship I'm sorry to be so boring but it's the best I got pausing creates a context for true sacrificial worship watch what they do they put the art down they take the Ox they sacrifice an ox whenever you see ox or a horned animal it represents strength horns in the Bible represents strength they sacrifice an OPS it's a beast of burden it's a working animal strong animal that's they give God their strength then the text says I'm very unusual and a fattened animal I know I know this doesn't this doesn't thrill you but it thrills me I'm gonna explain why it thrills me an I'm sitting in my seat you ready it thrills me because on the journey on the road in the middle where it's muddy where it's mire II where it's uneven they give a fattened animal now I know I understand I see the confusion what but why is that exciting because the fattened animal was something you saved for special occasions birthday parties the birth of a child significant highlights marriages that's what you say you the fat and animal for that you saved it for for something special for something unique but David there's something unusual in our text he does not wait until they get the arc in the Tabernacle in Jerusalem he gives the fattened animal in fact a series of them on the journey what should have been saved or was reasonable to expect it to be saved for the end David gives in the middle can I tell you why it's because david knew that god is as worthy in the middle as god is at the end and so I'm going to give God the same type of raise in the middle I got to go then I will give him at the end would you shake somebody's hand come on act Baptist for five seconds would you shake somebody's hand and say neighbor don't wait to the end to give God your best praise don't wait to the end to give him your hallelujah don't wait to the end to give him you'll thank you Jesus but right here in the middle with tears in your eyes with the pain in your body with the trouble in your marriage give God your best right here and right now because the same God that is taking you from the minute beginning and as promised Juliana is keeping you right in the middle we got to go but would you shake one more hand I got I'm done but would you shake one more hand and say neighbor here's what we've got to do we've got to stop waiting till the end to give God an ending praise let's give him our best phrase right here where we are because he's brought us so far because he's kept us through so much because even though it's not everything I want to be it's better than it used to be I've seen the lightning flash the Thunder own shouts it breakers - try my soul but I had the lies telling me still fighter

Channel: Miracle City Church

Views: 10,460

Rating: 4.967742 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: mdyLBK97hl4

Length: 32min 33sec (1953 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 15 2018