Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer - Strengthened by God

for silicon give her a big hand well hi y'all Dara and I are so excited to be here all the way from Dallas Texas where we live and it is a privilege to be able to share with you today you know miss miss Joyce talks about Andy feeling a little bit of her message Virginia means think about how it feels to be me after the end of a day and a half already of us receiving that they have pretty much taught the whole Bible they may have taught the whole Bible so I've decided that you're going to turn to the back of your Bible we're just gonna talk from the map but you know what it is my prayer it's my prayer that what God would do in this moment that you and I are going to spend together that he would just allow me to be a partner with Miss Joyce and putting a big ole exclamation point on this long sentence God has already been writing throughout the time you and I have been together that he would feel this word in our heart that we would know beyond the shadow of a doubt before we leave this place exactly who we are in Christ and so it is a privilege to be able to stand on this platform to be able to have an opportunity to share with you miss Joyce and I have several mutual friends um and so I have also obviously heard so much about her and the wonderful woman that she is not only on the platform but behind the platform when the life and the spotlights aren't on and don't you know that's where it really matters people love integrity and character several of our friends have called her in my hearing they've called her mama Joyce and I thought to myself well I would just I would never call her mama Joyce because we're not familiar enough with each other for me to call her mama anything well last night when she pulled out Spanx on the stage I knew we will be friends and I decided after the Sphinx I can call her mama joy and I want to thank you mama joy for your ministry to all of us we'll just say thank you mama joy listen I'm excited to go God's Word today excited about what it is he wants to share with us there's been a simple yet I think pretty profound principle that over the last really year of my life the Lord has just been cementing in my heart and in my mind and in my soul and I want to share that with you today let's pray together Lord Jesus thank you so much for your word thank you Lord that it is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword lord I pray that in these few moments you would do what only you can that is take one little simple message divided 20,000 different ways so that every single person under the sound of my voice will know beyond a shadow of a doubt they have heard from God in Jesus name Amen my brother and I have actually three siblings I have an older sister and I've got two younger brothers and my baby brother his name is Jonathan we call him John dong and my baby brother does what baby brothers do when they come over to your house as an adult he comes over to my house and he immediately goes right to my refrigerator every single time in the pantry of the refrigerator and recently he came over my house and he went over to the refrigerator and he opened it up and I guess if he was foraging around my refrigerator it reminded him of this story that he began to tell me as he was looking into my refrigerator now I've got three boys and my youngest boy his name is Jude so we've got a ten-year-old named Jackson and then we have a nine-year-old named Jerry jr. then we got a little surprised four year old his name is Jude we don't actually know where he came from and we named him dude because that is as close as I can get to Revelation because it is finished it is done its complete and so my little dude is actually the exact same age as my brother's oldest child Kelsey so I've got this nice her name is Kelsey she is a wild little sassy precocious thing all the curly hair on her head I don't know where she got any of that from and he was telling me this story about Kelsey and about how when Kelsey was few years old she would go over to the refrigerator in their home when she was hungry and she would point at the big box that had the food in it and say hey so John John said I would go over to Kelsey and I would pick her up I would run her over to the table and sit her down in the booster seat so that I could bring her the food that she was asking for but Kelsey now far removed from what she thought was the place she needed to be to get the food she would throw a temper tantrum and cry a river of tears and she would wiggle her way out of that seat and storm her way back across the kitchen in front of the big box where the food was and she would point out and say hey he would then grab her and put her back in her booster seat at the kitchen table and he would throw a temper tantrum and cry a river of tears and wiggle her way out of the chair walk back across the kitchen floor stand in front of the big box that had the food in it and say he he would then pick her up and take her back to the booster seat she would wiggle her way out walk herself across and say he said Priscilla we went through this over and over and over and over again and he laughed as he told me the story but he said for the last time it wasn't funny he said I had so much patience with this girl as I tried to get her to understand that where I was putting her was actually the best place for her to be positioned to receive this what she was asking me for that even though in her mind it didn't seem like the best place for her to be to receive what she was requesting I knew because hummer daddy and I loved her that where I was putting her was the best environment for her to be and for her to receive the requests that she had in her heart and on her mind and has done John told me the story I doesn't say I just laughs if I thought about my little curly-headed niece and her little sassy self I laughed hysterically and as I was laughing the Holy Spirit stopped me in my tracks and said don't laugh too long or too hard because that would be you Priscilla how often is it Priscilla that I try to put you in the right place I try to tell you where to go what to do give you that Holy Spirit guidance that disjoints was talking to us about I try to leave you and yet you rebel against it or ignore it or refuse to follow the directions that I have for you for us more patience and John John has to be with little Kelsey I have got to be with you I became right there in the kitchen listening to the story so not only convicted and challenged but appreciative of the patience of God towards me and I begin to think about how grateful I am but I cannot where God out how grateful I am he's got enough patience to handle me and all my drama and you and all your drama anybody glad about it sometimes when we think about how powerful our God is we think about his demonstrations of power how in the Old Testament he was able to cause the walls of Jericho to come tumbling down or the Red Sea to divide our house in the New Testament he made Lazarus raised from the dead and we think about God's power and how it is overtly demonstrated but I want you with me for a few moments this morning to think about the flipside of God's power that is equally important and impressive to us not only that his power is seen in what he can do but his power is also seen in what he chooses not to do his power is not only seen in what he releases but what he is able to refrain himself when he does not give us what he deserved what we deserved that he loves us enough to be long-suffering that you are important enough to him beautiful enough to him that he's got enough patience to handle your life your history your past your weaknesses your strengths your personality our differences our uniqueness is listen God doesn't need a good map before he can handle us I'm grateful today for the patience of God anybody so for just a few moments today I want to talk to you about one of the most simple and yet profound characteristics of our great God that really will make a difference in our lives and let me tell you why because I've met some people recently and I have had seasons in my life and in my relationship with the Lord where I have been kind of walking on eggshells in my relationship with him kind of stepping gingerly because I just felt like if I make one more mistake if there's one more mishap if I head in the wrong direction one more time it just might be the straw that breaks the camel's back that God just might be done with me but he might not be able to use me that I might not be able to partner with him and his purposes and so if the enemy can get us to thinking that that we might be able to out sin the grace of God that in some way will be beyond his reach if he can get us to walk gingerly in our relationship with God then we'll never experience the abundant life that he's called us you will never be willing to just throw our head and hearts and hands back and say Lord anything you want for me I'm willing to go and I realize Lord that it might not always mean that I'm perfect I won't be perfect but thank you that your grace is sufficient for even my mistakes and my mishaps and my wrongdoing and so I think that a revelation of God's patience listen y'all it can literally set you free a revelation of the fact that God has enough patience for you and for me can cause you to finally and me to finally live the abundant life that we have been called to patients when we think about it when I think about it patience is a characteristic in the soul of a human being that really has to be matured over time it's a lot of the reasons we need the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit causes us to be able to develop these characteristics and let me tell you I need help in the patience Department anybody need help in the patience Department all right I am naturally an impatient person I like the things to be fit kind of quickly whenever there's a problem I kind of come up with a real quick solution it might not be the best solution but I just love the fact there's a solution on the table let's just get on with this and get it done and do you know the way that the Lord helps us to grow in our level of patience if he most of the time will put us in scenarios where we got away so he causes you to marry somebody lord have mercy it causes you to get married to somebody who takes 24 48 72 hours to make a decision help me do so I'm gonna pipe it as soon as there is a problem man I have figured out what we can solve this thing and move on with our lives my husband on the other hand has to think about it pray about it fast on it seek wise counsel regarding it sleep on it helps me Jesus and do you know most of the time most of the times when it comes up with a solution three or four days later it is actually the exact same thing that I thought of in the first five minutes that we had a problem one thing J will do though if he will make good decisions because he started all the way through so in this relationship in this scenario god hyung pinned me patient the reason why you sit next to that co-worker on your job that run but if she says one more thing to you you go knock her out that one reason why he puts you in that scenario is because he knows that dynamic is going to hone in you patience so don't be pointing at the person next to use it so because patience is something you and I need help with we tend to put that same dynamic on God and we think that because we get frustrated with our kids when they ask us the same thing three four five ten twenty times or with that co-worker who we have a low tolerance for we think that because we get set up that God must also get fed up with us just like we do with others we think that that patience is something he must need to grow in as well in his relationship with us because that's what we need but you need to understand patience is not just a characteristic that God has at his disposal the very essence of all the patient's work ever meant to be God is completely and entirely he is not growing in his level of patience he is the old patient one my friend he is God fully and completely and he's not applying for the job he's got it covered in fact when you think about all of the things that make up the characteristics of God his omnipresent his some sovereignty his omniscience when you think about all of the the links in the chain that make up the the character of God really his patience is the most sensual and most important of all the links when you think about it because if it weren't for his patience we wouldn't exist long enough to get to the Grace and the myrrh see and the omniscient and omnipresent it is because he is patient with us he is slow to anger Exodus 34 that's the reason why we get to experience the brightness of our God one scholar put it this way and I loved it so much he said it is the patience of God that held our sinful hands and led us to the doorstep of his mercy so that we could enter in it's God's patience that allows us to experience his kindness and his greatness he is a bottomless pit of patience it is overflowing and limitless and boundless you cannot out sin the grace of God there is nowhere you've been there is nothing you've done that causes you to now not be beautiful to our great God he loves you with an everlasting love somebody say everlasting everlasting his patience it's sufficient for you you cannot wear God out there is one place in scripture that I want to direct your attention to today not not in the map there's actually one scripture I found that we have not covered yet throughout the course of her we did and it's in the book of first Timothy to you if you have your Bible and you want to turn there with me to first Timothy Paul the Apostle is writing to this young Minister as he's getting started in life in ministry and he wants to tell him some things to help him along the way and of all of the guidance that Paul wants to give Timothy he wants to tell him about the patient thing he knows that Timothy of going to have a long road in front of him yes there are going to be mistakes and mishaps along the way and so he wants him to know right upfront listen God got your back Tim you need to know that God's patience is on your side he is for you he is not against you and so he shares with him among the many things that he wants to say to Timothy in first Timothy he shares with him a message about the patience of God 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 16 Paul says and yet for this reason I found mercy in order that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ might demonstrate here it is his perfect patience what kind of patient service his perfect patience has an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life I love this verse so much because Paul wants to be clear because I want you to understand the kind of patience we're talking about here when we're talking about God's patience it's not a good patience it's not even a great patience it is a perfect patient meaning even when you go to the farthest extremities of God's ability to be patient with you there is not one little bit of imperfection even along those outward edges he has a perfect level of patience for you and Paul says just in case you're wondering wondering and just in case you need clarity on how much patience God must have for those who we love so dearly just in case you're curious Paul says take a look right over here because I am a demonstration he says that the patience of God because have you ever wondered how perfect God's patience is and whether he can endure with you and your life and the details of all that have gone on and your existence he says you have to look much further than me Paul says if he can put up with me I'm telling you he's got your back Paul said I'm a demonstration he called himself the foremost of all sinners he says you ain't done nothing I haven't already done you haven't been anywhere I have not been your odds have not seen anything your ears haven't heard anything you have not touched anything you have not participated in anything there is no pitch deeper that you have been in than the ones I have been in pause yes take a look over here I'm a demonstration of how perfect God's patience must be he says you never have to wonder again if you just look at me how perfect God's patience must be and he starts that verse with this phrasing in the NASB new American Standard Bible that I'm reading from he starts it with this phrase yet for this reason for this reason love that because any time you see a phrase like that for this reason in the scripture it's almost like seeing the word therefore anytime you see therefore in Scripture you need to see what is there for because it is there for a reason so he said for this reason which means there are already some reasons he has listed that he wants us to be aware of there are some things that caused him to come to this conclusion and verse 16 about how perfect God's patience must be so I thought for just a few moments today you and I could look back just a few verses one kind of backtrack so that we can see what the reasons are I want to know what makes Paul such a demonstration of the patience of God because if you and I look closely at what these reasons are not only do I think you and I will see that Paul's not the only demonstration of how patient got is but I think it's also going to free us up because when we recognize and see his patience already demonstrated in our lives it will cause us to want to live completely and fully and abundantly so I want to point out these reasons to you is that I right with you this morning the very first reason is found in verse 15 so we're backtracking up one verse he says it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world here's the reason to save sinners among whom I am the foremost of all Paul writes the very first reason that he wants you and I to know why God patience is so profound and so boundless and so abundant and so limitless he said if you've ever wondered whether or not God's got enough patient for you would you remember that Christ came into the world to save sinners he says the very first reason that tells us that God have got enough patience and or anything that could ever happen in our lives to justice one simple fact he saved you he's safe y'all it is a straight-up miracle that we're saved and we should never let the fact that God's Spirit lives in us and that we have the gift of spending eternity with God we should never allow that to roll off our shoulders casually as if it's no big deal the fact that you and I know Jesus Christ as Lord is a miracle beyond any miracle you will ever experience in your life the only reason why any of us ever come into relationship with God if not because we were looking so hard for him it's because the Hound of heaven was looking for us it's because despite all rebellion despite the fact that we had turned our backs on God despite the fact that we had chosen our own way despite the fact that we would refuse him time and time and time again he caused our hearts to be softened so that when someone came to us and said the name Jesus Christ we wanted to respond and say yes to him being our Savior that wasn't by chance my friend that's a miracle do you know that the enemy of this world works over time to blind the eyes of the unbelieving so that they cannot see clearly he hardens their hearts you might have somebody like that in your life if you're a family member or friends and you constantly consistently share the good news of Jesus Christ with them but it seems like over time the more hardened they become to it anybody anybody know what I'm talking about that's because the enemy is about doing the business of trying to keep as many people as he can from responding to the gospel which means when you and I evangelize it can't just be about what we're saying out of our mouths it also has to be about being down on our knees and praying for the Holy Spirit of God to soften their hearts so that they will respond it is a move of God that brings people into the kingdom which means the only reason why anybody in this room the ones thousand people the other night who gave their hearts to Jesus Christ you need to know which because he brought you into this place the Hound of heaven it's not because a girlfriend bought your registration see my friend yes because the Holy Spirit have this night on the calendar of your life just weekend on the calendar of your life it's because he was looking for you and so when you and when I respond to the good news of Jesus Christ when we see the cross of Calvary and it's not just two pieces of wood put together anymore but we see our sin that was born by a loving Savior who didn't have to pay the wages but he chose to pay the wages of our sin and we respond and say yes Lord that's because he is working a miracle in our lives my friend miss joy said it so well of the other night she said of him that you know even our physical birth is not there's nothing chance about it I mean the fact that you and I live in this day in the Asian generation there's nothing chance about it y'all we live we live in the most blessed day and age and generation not only for the Church of Jesus Christ but specifically for women there has never ever been a time in history where you could call a women's meeting and 20,000 women just show up because they just want to know the things of God not by enlarge like this there has never been a time when you could just go into a Christian bookstore and find Bible study resources by women for women not like this there has never been a time where you can just walk down your street at least in Dallas Texas and on every corner there is another church that is proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in our city we got two Christian radio stations not just one one with gospel music if you like that another one with contemporary Christian music that's what you like you can find any Bible in any translation in any language that you would like don't ever take for granted that you and I happens to be born in this blessed day and age and generation getting to serve the body of Christ that's not by chance yo that's not my chance he planned it you and I aren't in this room by chance he planned this young I mean think about it with the 7 billion plus people that are on the planet your great-great grandfather just happened to find a woman that would be your great-great grandmother but two of them came together and created your great-grandfather then your great-grandfather was the 7 billion plus people that are on the planet he just happened to find your great-grandmother and the two of them came together and created your grandfather and then your grandfather with the 7 billion plus people that are on the planet he just happened to find person that should be your grandmother and then the two of them came together and created your father and then your father with the 7 billion plus people that are on the planet he's just happy to find a woman that should be your mother and the two of them came together and this is a little graphic but this is Women's Conference the millions of sperm there was the exact one that met up with baguettes the exact right crime supreme there is nothing dance about that your physical birth is a miracle my friend and if your physical birth and my physical birth is a miracle then how much more of a miracle is it not that we were born but that we were born again [Music] that's America think about the patience of God that was required from the beginning of time to make sure that centuries later you and I would come into relationship with him think about the endurance that he exhibited when he was just waiting when we were on his mind when he hung on Calvary's tree the love that was extended toward us even then do you know you've been on his mind like since before Genesis 1:1 before time began you and I were on the mine of God and there has been a cosmic battle in the heavenlies that has been taking place and has been working itself out throughout history there has been a battle between God in the enemy for your soul my friends I want you to think about it like a giant chess board and you've got God sitting on one side and you've got the enemy on the other side and they are both vying for your soul so Genesis 1:1 opens and God makes the first move he creates Adam and Eve in a perfect scenario with perfect fellowship with him but then the act the enemy not to be outdone he decides to make a move he's slithering his way into the garden he calls Cindy enter into the scenario went into the hearts of man before you know it Cain killed Abel and now murder is on the scene and it seems like everything will always be separated now from a holy God but our God never to be outdone on the other side of that cosmic chessboard he makes another move he causes anima knees to come back together and they give birth to a little baby named Mina or Seth rather and Seth gives birth to eNOS in Genesis 4 says that what he knows was born everybody to get to praise God again but the enemy not to me I was done on the other side of that cosmic chess board he makes the move he cause of rebellion two feet back into the hearts of mankind it proliferate so cross the earth so much sold in the world has to be destroyed by God never to be outdone he makes another move he finds this guy named Mel and he says Noah go build an ark Noah said build alike because I want you to build an ark and so Noah obediently build the home an ark and mankind is preserved as a result of his obedience but the enemy makes another move and rebellion seats back into the hearts of mankind proliferate the cross yours but our God makes another move and he goes to this little pagan town called her and he founds the finds a man named Abram any rays of the muffiny says I'm going to change their name and I'm going to change your destiny and I'm going to create a brand new nation out of you called the nation of Israel and these people are going to bear the staff of my name in my protection in my provision and my favor will always be upon them the enemy not to be outdone he made another move and he calls now the nation of Israel God's chosen people to go into each of them for 400 years Pharaoh had them completely bound and it looked like the enemy had warned our God never to be outdone he makes another move and he finds a little baby boy they know this and he causes Moses to be raised as a Prince of Egypt and there at the right time he sends Moses to Pharaoh and he says you go tell Pharaoh to let my people go and after 10 miraculous plagues they're released from captivity for 40 years they're in the wilderness but then they come into the Promised Land but the enemy wants to make a mother move and he causes now the children of Israel to turn their back on Yahweh the one through God and they begin to worship idols by the time you get to the end of the book of Judges the last line of the book of Judges says this everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes kind of sounds like America in the year 2013 budget sounds like exactly what they was teaching us yesterday morning but our God never to be outdone he makes another move and it goes to this little town called Moab and he raises up a woman named Ruth and Ruth had tragedy in her life she has chaos in her life and it looks like no good will come of until she meet her kinsman redeemer and seeing her kinsman redeemer have a baby called Obed and all that gives birth to Jesse and Jesse gives birth to a baby boy named David and with that one move the enemy doesn't even know that the checkmate have already on the way and as the Old Testament comes to a close y'all there are 400 years of pilots and God is on one side of a chessboard the enemy of on the other and there it is completely silent and all of history wait to see who's gonna make the next move and then the New Testament opens and God makes a move that the enemy to this day still has not had a response to Jesus Christ from and he dies on the cross for you [Applause] wait the Lord and he did that for you and he did it for me and if we had enough patience to have you on his mind and in his heart since the beginning of eternity I want you to always remember that you've got enough patience to handle you while you're here in time and history if he had enough patience to handle the last couple of millennia he can take care of the last six weeks of your life my friends there is nothing you can do to escape the long suffering nature of our God he is not mad at you but y'all that's just the first reason [Applause] T'Pol does have some more reasons he says if you've ever wondered about the patience of God you can't just look at the fact that he saved me salsa but there's another reason that he says in verse 13 even though I was formerly somebody say formerly even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor yet I was shown mercy now when class first told us in that verse 16 he first told us that he was the foremost of all sinners that he was a demonstration of how patient God must actually be when he first told us that he didn't give us details on his sin resume like he didn't map out all the things he's ever done he just said trust me I'm the foremost and you know what I'm kind of glad he didn't give us details because if Paul would have spelled out for us everything on his sin mob resume we might have been so distracted by his resume that we forget we got our own resumes we actually don't have time to look at anybody else's sin resume comparing as Andy Stanley said to us we don't have time to be comparing ourselves with other people we are ourselves our own demonstration of how patient got it because looks an affirmative picked up with a microphone and we just passed it around this whole room with all of us man we'd be here into the next year going over all our resumes of how God has rescued and delivered us but in this first verse 13 he does give us three things he labeled for us three things that are there on his sin resume he says I was a blasphemer I was a violent aggressor I was a persecutor of the church he said that's who I was there were three things but before I label these three things Paul said before I tell you some details about my sin resume I'm going to put a big old head and right here at the top of the bag just so that we're clear before I give you any of these details I you know that these things they are who I used to be they are not who I am anymore I was formerly somebody say formerly in other words Paul says the reason why I'm a demonstration of the patience of God if not only because he saved me but because he changed me because he couldn't leave me in the state I was in because he's molding me and changing me and remaking me so that I am a different person today than I was yesterday I love so much when this Joyce had the UM the the mannequins up here on the stage because she pointed a hope so clearly that God comes and him dwells up we are made brand-new on the inside you remember the spirit over here we're brand new on the inside but then listen to this we don't have to do the hard work of changing ourselves because the Holy Spirit one of his jobs he's got many jobs on the inside of us he guides us he comforts us he encourages us but second Thessalonians chapter of 2:13 says he also sanctifies us sanctification is the process by which we are made into the image of Christ Jesus it means when this part of us begins to spill over into the mind will and emotions part of us and causing us to not what stuff we thought we would always want causes us to what stuff we thought we would never want it causes our likes and our dislikes to completely change so that we are when we look in the mirror not the same person that we used to be I'm so glad for the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit no I'm so glad that when I look in the mirror today I don't see the same person that I saw five years ago I'm so glad that the thoughts I had I don't have anymore I'm so glad that the ambitions I had are not the ambitions I have anymore I'm so grateful that God can take anybody and make them a brand new person I wonder if there's anybody discouraged today because you would you're wondering if you can never change listen to me the Holy Spirit's work in you his delight in you is to be patient with you as you change you're a demonstration of the patience of God Paul says not only because he saved you that's your justification but because he's changing you that's your sanctification [Applause] sanctification where he chips away at everything that doesn't look like Jesus a sculptor was once asked as he stood in front of the huge stallion that he had carved out of rock and an admirer was standing near and they were looking at the stallion that had been carved out of a huge block of rock that was sitting over here in the the admirer just asked the guys the artist how in the world do you do this how in the world do you take a big piece of rock like that make it look like a stallion and the artist stood there for a moment with his chisel in hand and he just thought about answering that question and finally he responded and said well actually it's pretty simple I just chip away at everything that doesn't look like a stallion this is what the Holy Spirit does with you and with me hips away at everything that doesn't look like you and then he causes us to be conformed to the image of Christ takes patience for that but he's committed to walking with you every step of the way he doesn't abandon us during the transformation process he hangs with us walks with the reason why he hangs with us listen to me is because he's the one doing the work listen if you try and I've tried to change ourselves we will be tired I mean straight up exhausted all I'm telling you there is nothing you or I could do to change ourselves and listen we're beautiful enough to him we're his masterpiece we are his workmanship it is his goal as the artists of pain live long enough till we look just like you it is his work in his best work his finest work is you it's you his patience his long-suffering nature indoors with us forever you cannot wear God now have you ever wondered how popcorn pops somebody say yes I'm so glad you want to know so when you have a kernel of a popcorn that hard little shelled kernel of corn inside every kernel there is a microscopic drop of water and so when you put a bag of microwave popcorn into the microwave what the heat in the microwave is doing is not actually heating up the shell is heating up that microscopic dot of water that is inside the shell so that that microscopic god of water begins to create steam and the steam begins to press against the shell and if it continues to heat up it presses more and more powerfully until finally it's just tip up so the outside looks completely different from the inside not because outside was heated up but because what was the knee inside will heat up well this is what happens the holy spirit is on the inside of you and if you try to keep yourself up from the outside again you're working against the dynamic of what the holy spirit was designed to do but as you cooperate with the holy spirit on the inside of you by renewing your mind with the word of God fellowshipping with believers in Christ being Obito B D n't to the conviction of the holy spirit remaining filled by his spirit every single day as you do that you heat up the power of the holy spirit on the inside of you and he begins to press and press against the shell of your body so much so till eventually you just you puff and you look completely different than you used to look so then you come home from the conference and your family goes who's that who's that Cleaver but not only do you look completely different but I don't know but y'all movie popcorn is my favorite snack of all time put some butter and some salt on that I'm just happy I'm just happy thank you Jesus put a coke with it oh girl so when you come home not only did you look different but then we are fed to a lost and dying world that needs to see our God is good we change it up and he is patient enough for that he's going to hang with you through your transformation process as you're delivered and set free and grab hold of all that you've been taught this weekend and spend the next days and weeks and months going over the notes that God has given us if we listen listen to this teaching and praying and praying over and doing over it and talking about it with our friends who are here as we grow listen your friends might not hang with you but God will hang with you your mama she might not have hung with you but God will hang with you somebody felt they couldn't hang with you tell you change there is a God who will never leave you nor forsake you he's with you through the change my friend he's got enough patience for that Paul says if you're wondering about whether or not you can count on the patience of God would you always remember that if he was patient enough to save you justification and patient enough to change you sanctification he's got your back every single day for the rest of your life but that's not the only reason Paul says it's not just that you're saved and it's not just that your change but there is another reason in the next reason is found in verse 12 so we're still backtracking up through these verses he said that Saint Jesus Christ our Lord who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful here's the reason putting me into service putting me into service Paul says now this one I can't believe it was a miracle enough that he saved me and it's a miracle enough that he hang with me long enough to actually change me but I cannot believe Paul says that he would actually use me for his glory I cannot believe not only that that I've been justified and that I've been sanctified I can't believe there's been justification I can't believe there's been sanctification but now God is patient enough to put me in a specific location should be used for his glory concept he's put me in the service and Paul cannot think and believe it I mean after his history his past where he's come from what he's done he can't help neither should you or I I'm gonna tell you that I cannot believe God would use me to accomplish anything for his purposes I cannot believe and when I say that let me tell you that I don't necessarily just mean on this platform this is a privilege and an honor but when I say I can't believe God would use me for his purposes I mostly mean in the smaller spheres of influence that God has placed me I'm talking about like being a wife to my husband my goal is that when Jerry sees Jesus face to face Jesus look sediment says well done dear and God has entrusted me to support and encourage this guy enough so that when he sees God he gets the applause of heaven I can't believe God would entrust me with that then I look at these three little humans God has given me have you ever left the hospital and gone I'm sorry are there instructions excuse me anybody know an approximate so I look at these little boys who will grow up and be warriors for cry for houses face them [Applause] but tell I look at these little boys and I can't believe God would entrust but he would allow me to partner with him in the shaping of these little souls and y'all here's what I found what I found is that the what the enemy is doing is trying to get you and I all of us to discount the significance of the locations where he has placed it he's trying to get all of us to think that the location were in the small spheres of influence to which God had called us aren't important so what the church unfortunately kept capital C Church what the church has done is applaud and admire the gifts that require a microphone on a platform while at the same time didn't meaning those that are behind closed doors but nobody ever sees and yet the best most impactful ministry no it's not only what is happening from this platform it's the person that loves the Lord enough to be one-on-one in discipleship across the table at Starbucks faithfully and weekly with that person who needs to grow in their relationship with God it's the father that recognizes that being around that dinner table with her family and sharing just a simple verse of scripture with her children is it insignificant but she's raising up the next generation of those who will be Christ's followers it's the single woman who sees this season of her life as an opportunity to just be gung-ho for God going every which way she can take in every opportunity she can to serve the Lord it's a pastor's wife who sees these same 40 or 50 people that they're serving week in and week out who has becoming discouraged because she thought it would just look different than this when she decided to marry this guy see some life wouldn't look completely different if the person that sees the significance of those 40 or 50 it's the Bible study leader but holding that Bible study in her home and she's got those five people that have been coming faithfully for five years but she thought by now there might be more that would be a part of this ministry it's the person who does not discount the sphere of influence that they're in what the enemy wants you to do is think that the place you are is insignificant to the plan of God so then like Andy Stanley told us he causes us to look elsewhere and go but if I only had that if I was only in her location if I was only able to do what she is able to do in all the while that we were looking outside of our own sphere of influence we are simultaneously downgrading the value of where God has placed us and listen y'all on the stage of life there is a role you have been given to play and if you and I are trying to play somebody else's role who in the world's going to play you who's going to play you there is a girl in my church her name is Rashidah Rashidah 35 years old and Rashida really sensed that God was calling her away from her job this is two years ago good job benefits and you know regular salary and she was on the upward scale and her company and so she just was excited about it but she just over a period of time really sensed conviction but she needed to leave that job so out of obedience after sometimes she did and she just expected that that what that would mean is that God had something kind of you know bigger better for her and that she was just waiting on that to materialize and so she just took some jobs as a babysitter along the way that's really how I know her I don't know where as much from church as I do from babysitting my sister has five children my cousin has four children we all live within a ten-mile radius of each other so Rashida would help babysit Crystal's kids and then with my cousin winters kids and I knew her mostly from that cuz I'd go over with my kids so that all the cousins could play in min Rasheeda would talk all the time and that's on you and she expressed the fact that she was really battling with this whole babysitting thing because she loved it she actually loves kids and doing it but after a year went by and then a year and a half went by she was really discouraged because she's just so like you know I thought the next thing would have materialized by now so she said bricolage you know I'm discouraged and she said honestly over time I have really felt like I've been cheated by God somehow I mean I obeyed and did what he said but here I am just hopping around to different families I love it but I'm still doing it it's been a year and a half I feel a little bit cheated and if the truth be told there are many of us in this room that feel cheated do because we've obeyed to the best of our knowledge we have done what God has asked us to do and yet it hasn't turned out the way we thought that it wouldn't and if we're honest like Rashida was Whitefield us who have been cheated by God and take sin so Priscilla I prayed a lot about this I said lord I need you to show me what's up here I've done what you've asked me to do and yet I feel kind of cheated by you I need you to give me clarity and she said Priscilla I kid you not ask after I was praying about that I went over to a family's house to babysit as I normally do she said I had a casserole in my hands and I had baked up for that family that night and she said when I walked up to the front door before I rang the doorbell I realized something was really different this time it's almost like the Lord was giving me spiritual vision so that I could see everything that was happening that night not from my perspective but from his perspective she said I rang the doorbell the kids all ran up to the door and answered the door when I walked in the smiles and the look on those kids faces weren't just I'm happy to see you miss Rashida kind of smiled it was like an invitation from God to invest in the lives of these little people and she said wasn't only that when I handed the casserole to the mom she had had a crazy frazzled day and the look of relief on that mom's face showed me that I was being such a blessing to this this woman's life and then she said the kids started scouting out these Bible verses to me they was a Bible verses I had taught them the last time I babysat them and they were all eager asking me what's the next Bible study lesson you have for us today mr. Sleater like what now wait to sit down and get the Bible study from her so she realized though she wasn't just telling them stories she was literally investing in the lives of what would later be spiritual giant then she said the husband and wife they went out for a date they hadn't had a date a long time they went up for a date and occurred to me that night it had never occurred to me before but it occurred to me that night but I was literally hoping to build a strong marriage she said for Scylla that night I realized that I hadn't been cheated but that I'd been chosen chosen by God with it I want to tell somebody today you haven't been cheated my friend he has not cheated you he has chosen you for the location you were in to have specifically designed the dynamics of that location in your home in the high school in that University on that job he has specifically created that dynamic and then set you down inside of it to be his represent representation in the midst of that circle my friends don't let the enemy cause you to discount the location where God will use you Paul says God is patient because he saved me because he changed me because he's using me and finally verse 12 I begged Christ Jesus our Lord because he has strengthened me you know what the good news is about this whole weekend yo is that when miss Joyce goes home and mr. Dave go home and I fly back to Dallas and and least Andy's five back to his home when we all leave each other that God doesn't just go with one of us that is not enough for all of us that he is omnipresent that he is as much with you as he is relief that the Holy Spirit of God is with us listen to strengthen you that in the location God has planted you he's not just gonna set you in that location and then back off and say well hope you do all right over there the Holy Spirit actually walks with you do you think he loves you enough to die for you but then doesn't love you enough to walk with you do you think he loved you enough to ransom his own son on your behalf but then doesn't have enough love for you to continue to strengthen you every day of your life you do not leave this place in just a few hours you don't leave this place alone my friend you are strengthened by our great God it is his patient that caused you to be saved and causes you to be changed causing you to be used but for the glory of God and it causes you to continually be strengthened every single day of your life God spirits in you strengthens you steady for anything that might come your way miss Joyce has said it again and said it before and I'm going to say it again to you he does not call you to do anything for which he does not simultaneously give you the anointing and the strength to handle the pass he does not call you to do anything that he does not ask the exact same time instill you with the grace to handle he does not ever call your eyes to participate in any task in any location to do anything to put on rann see any plows that he does not have the exact same time give us the anointing and the power and the strength and the Grace and the wisdom and the discernment to handle the test that is a hand the joy of the Lord is your strength my friend I'll tell you this in closing when one of my my boys my oldest son when he lost his first teeth I'll never forget it he was turning five and he had been waiting on those suckers to fall out I mean he has just been wiggling that thing trying to get it loose because he could not wait because we had told him that when this tooth falls out there will be a tooth fairy that will come in the middle of the night she will exchange that tooth for a treasure so he could not wait and on the day that it fell out he was so unbelievably excited I have never seen that boy go to bed fast ever in his life so to this day but he ran to his vanity went to sleep but he tried to go to sleep every 60 seconds he would look under the pillow to see if anything had happened finally he fell asleep in about 3 o'clock in the morning no no he fell asleep earlier but about 3 o'clock in the morning be 250 pounds six foot three 230 that I sleep next to every night he got up went upstairs and exchanged the tooth for a treasure I knew exactly when Jackson got up in the morning I knew it because I just heard chaos upstairs he was so excited because there was some under his pillow he bounded down the stairs and he ran into our room and he had his two fists clenched closed he said mama tooth fairy came and he opened up his first hand it was a package of gummy bears he was so excited then he opened up the other hand and it was $5 exactly what happened to dimes and nickels so my husband could see the sun's expression on my face because you know when mama ain't happy laughter Jackson ran off my husband said babe don't worry he said do you remember last month was Jackson's fifth birthday I said yes he said River we always have our family over on the kids birthdays them and last month when they all came they all brought cards with them and in those cards were five dollar bills for its fifth birthday you can do you remember we took all those five dollar bills we put them in bus birthday four well this morning at 3 a.m. I went right over to that birthday drawer got one of those five-dollar bills out and put it inside that's good financial stewardship right there is pathetic [Applause] but here's the thing I watched my boy get so excited about treasure that you really already had [Music] y'all know what this week has been about about reminding you about treasure you already have the responsibility you and I have now is to go home from this place open up the door of God strengthen and spirit on the inside of us and live what the beautiful treasured women that we are you don't have anything new my friends it's just you're going to release what God has already given you the moment you came to know in the Savior amen thank you for the job

Channel: Going Beyond Ministries

Views: 1,199,062

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Id: KNqRPx7z88o

Length: 60min 18sec (3618 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 24 2017