"I'm Taking My Cues From God!" - Dr. Lance Watson

what's going on everybody I hope your week has been blessed we're almost there the fortieth celebration of the pastoral evangelism and Leadership Council our theme this year is be 40 evangelism Remembered reimagined and reignited and if you haven't registered go do it now you don't want to miss it we've been having some powerful messages these past several weeks and we've got another good one for you today I have no doubt that you will be richly blessed and inspired until December may God bless you and keep you and we'll see you soon bow your head with me for just a moment if you will and god we thank you tonight for Jesus for what he means in our lives for sending him on our behalf we thank you for his life we thank you for his death we thank you for his resurrection for his ascension for his soon-coming return we thank you that every day he walks with us talks with us and reminds us that we are your own so as we assemble tonight around your word we pray that you would speak to us at the point of our need that we might leave here different than we came love us and do anything you want with us have your way that we might do what you want us to do here what you want us to hear and be who you've called us to be and it's in the precious name of Jesus that we pray and all the people said hallelujah say amen amen glory the God and we give all praise and honor and glory to God from whom all blessings flow to our host pastor tonight dr. Carlton Byrd to dr. Jesse Wilson to the university president to all of the pastors and preachers to our honoree for tonight dr. Wayne Snodgrass we are grateful to God to see him and to all of the pastors and ministers of the gospel people of God assembled in this place and certainly to all of these musical ministers who have serenaded our souls with a singing of songs of praise and all of you the people of God God is great and greatly to be praised I used to say as it's customary to say God is good and people say all the time and I'd say all the time and they'd say God is good and I was preaching at a rural church once and I went through that mantra back and forth and afterwards an elderly lady about 92 years old came walking up to me on a walker and she said reven chicken is good she said when you talk about God you have to say God is great and greatly to be praised and so we thank God for his greatness and his goodness for God is indeed good all the time I want to pause long enough to appreciatively applaud and thank dr. Jesse Wilson for this kind of coveted invitation to come and to share as a part of this spectacular conference it's good to be here and as he mentioned Delta called me this morning and said your flight is canceled and there's no way we can get you to Huntsville and I was agonizing because I didn't want to make that call and tell him that I could not come because I really really wanted to be here and when I talked to him he said well there are other ways we can get you here and so they flew me into Birmingham and my dear brother here another past it was okay and to come over and scoop us up and drive us an hour and a half in fact they flew me from Birmingham over to Huntsville and so I'm grateful to God for them and I made it but my clothes went to Miami but I'm here in Jesus name Amen [Applause] tonight now now help me set the atmosphere on your road just turn to your neighbor on the left and right just smile at them show them your thirty-two your twenty-two your twelve your two whatever you're working with just smile I don't smile at amen amen and I'm not going to keep you long tonight I want to direct your attention to the first book of the Bible as we contemplate this theme greater as we contemplate what God would do in our lives I want to direct your attention to the book of Genesis chapter 6 and the context out of which would like to share versus nine through twenty two out of the New Living Translation of the Bible and I'm not going to be long tonight I've been working on this newbie attitude that goes bless it are the brief or they will be invited back [Applause] so from Genesis from Genesis Genesis chapter 6 I want to just read verse 22 out of the New Living Translation of the Bible and in that place the Bible says so Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him and all the people said Amen do me a favor if you don't mind look at your neighbor and say neighbor as we move towards greater I'm taking my cues from God amen and if you want to do something that you've never done you're going the need and expertise that you've never had let me try and explain a couple of years ago was my honor and my privilege to direct the entire Richmond Symphony Orchestra now I'm not a conductor nor my musician by training but I along with five others served as a celebrity guest maestro to raise money to fund music programs for kids in the inner city and mass I meant was to direct the piece called ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner knowing that we were novices the symphony provided us with a couple of conducting lessons but that was not merely enough or a task of this magnitude almost overwhelmed by the responsibility and having no desire to publicly embarrass myself I could feel my anxiety level rising until I came to the end of the second rehearsal at the end of the second rehearsal the conductor brought a young woman to me and introduced her by saying dr. Watson this young lady is your new best friend I said how so and he went on to explain she's going to be sitting on your right and as you conduct the orchestra will not really be following you said instead they're going to take all their cues from her and so if you lose your place if you get off temple if you forget where you are just look at her because the music is going to be great because she will keep them on point and you just get the privilege to wave your hands can I help somebody right there because see it's good to know as we attempt to do things that we've never done that we have somebody near us who is able to direct us and if we lose our place if we get off tempo if we forget where we are all we've got to do is look to him and he'll get us back on track because ultimately God is directing the score of our lives and we just get the privilege to wave our hands bump somebody and say wave them hands select god direct because God knows not only where we've been and where we are but God knows where we are headed where we are destined and the best way for us to get there and yet I should caution you that divine direction will always enlist your participation and stretch your imagination that living a God directed life being a witness for God in this age and culture will always challenge us to bring our faith from the background to the forefront of our lives because God will not permit any of us to be a permanent passenger on anybody's Underground Railroad indeed God often produces poignant periods of pain and pressure whose ultimate target is to thrust us up and out of comfort and ease into a state of challenge and effort and that is exactly where Noah found himself as we trail the tapestry of the text set before us tonight so for a moment can I act like I'm Mavis Staples and take you there because Noah lived in a challenging time it was a time of excessive corruption moral laxity political schizophrenia and economic disparity and Noah was under pressure to conform to the culture and the crowd to fit in in the hope that he could get in and yet his love for God and his walk with God would not permit him to subscribe nor surrender he was tempted at times and that were moments went frankly it would have been easier for him just to acquiesce but his love for God and his walk with God would not permit him to give in his love for God stablish some boundaries in his life that he was not willing to cross can I talk to you for a moment because when you have a real relationship with God I'm not just talking about a weekend rendezvous because you realize that most people don't want a real relationship with God most people just want to date God we want to be a friend with benefits but when you have a real daily vibrant relationship with God where you get to know God for who God is that what God is trying to achieve in your life and in your ministry then my brothers and sisters it will always move you to build some boundaries around your life it's not that you are perfect or that you are not prone to entertain some thoughts that have not yet been transformed it's just that the presence of God in you make certain things for you off-limits and out of bounds that the presence of God keeps you off the bus of dysfunction and out of the taxi of what I used to think how I used to feel where I used to go and what I used to do I ain't gonna get a lot of help right here but if we're honest we got to admit that we have some thoughts now that are tainted we've got some ways now that are not in God's will we have some urges now that are yet unchanged and it's only by the grace of God that we're not tore from the flow of it's not that you didn't want to give in to them you almost answer that email you almost responded to the text message you almost picked up the phone you almost made that run at 2:37 in the a.m. but you were kept from it by the grace of God it's not that you were so holy it's just that the presence of God in you put things in check around you see Noah's reverence for God caused him to live differently distinctively and dynamically Noah couldn't assimilate because even when he wanted to participate it was immediately apparent to everybody that he was not a part of the crowd normally nor one of the crew and somebody here knows that experience because God's claim is on your life and even though you try to go along so you can get along you smile when ain't nothing funny and scratch we're done done it no matter how hard you try you still don't fit you're a square in a room full of circles you try to sound like others but your tone is off you try to move like others but your rhythm is haphazard you try to operate like the culture but the impact is not the same because when you are in Christ and Christ is in you he you are in the world but you are not of the world you are unique you are uncommon you are particular and you are extraordinary I dare you to bump somebody say you better recognize the night scene or didn't realize that his life had come to the attention of God and that God was monitoring the decisions that he made and the response is that he gave Noah didn't realize that he even mattered that much in the eternal scheme of things and yet he discovered that God was not only watching him but God was watching everybody because God's eyes are on every person in every place can I take you to the Bible second chronicles 16:9 says the eyes of the Lord searched the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him God saw something in Noah that was magnetic and attractive God saw that Noah had a reverence for God and a desire to please God and that is why he heard from God some people never hear from God because the truth is they don't reverence God nor desire to please God but out of all the people on the planet God chose to share with Noah his plan and his purpose you know it's amazing to think that we are on the mind of God but it's challenging when God begins to talk to you about what else is on his mind because what God begins to talk to you about what else is on his mind it's going to enlist your participation and stretch your imagination God began to talk to Noah about his plan determining all things and start all over again things have become so deviant aberrant and dysfunctional that God decided just to shut it down and start all over again and God informed Noah that he would be the agent of redemption and recreation because whenever God chooses to share his plan it will always enlist your participation and stretch your imagination God called Noah to participate in the production of in art God instructed Nora to build an ark 450 feet long 75 feet wide and 35 feet high called for his skills his talent his capacity and his ability and his resources there were no banks to which Noah could go to borrow the money they weren't loan him back then either somebody got it somebody didn't he had to build it out of what he already had though I had to make his skill his ability and his resources available for the work of God and the same is true with you and me there are so many people who want to give God what they don't have but God wants us to serve Him out of what we already have God wants us to step out of passivity in the participation and bring who we are and what we have so that God can work in a sacrificial way in all of the places where God has planted us now I'm aware that that's a significant challenge but God sent me all the way to Huntsville by way of Atlanta and Birmingham tonight to tell you that not only can it be met it can be overcome but first it's going to require you get this to believe the unlikely summit Allah believed God spoke to Noah about something that was highly unlikely a flood covering the entire earth please understand that geographically speaking the area where Noah lived did not possess abundant water resources it was the void of oceans lakes and rivers and add agony to insult it was a part of the world that saw almost no rainfall God asked him to believe what he had never seen and believing what you have never seen come here requires you to stretch your imagination because the truth is we are all prone to discount things that we ain't never seen you're skeptical about things that ain't never been seen they never been done that ain't never been achieved that ain't never been accomplished because according to our limited logic if it's never been seen had never been done that never been achieved that never been accomplished then it's not likely to be seen it's not likely to be done it's not likely to be achieved it's not likely to be accomplished and therefore we see no need to attempt it try it believe it pray about it support it or invest in because while we'll acknowledge that it's possible we quickly add it's not probable our idea of likelihood it's limited by our experience and yet God was asking Noah to believe something that neither he nor anybody he knew had ever experienced come in he couldn't ask his mama him he could ask his cousin's he can ask his crew he couldn't ask his homeboy he couldn't talk to anybody about a flood because nobody he knew had ever experienced a flood and that meant he could only conceptualize it by faith because he had no previous point of reference if God had called upon him to do something with which he had experienced that only meant he had to remember but since it was something he had never experienced that meant he had to dream that with this project he could not refer backward he had to dream his way forward see there are times when God calls on us to do things through remembrance when God calls on us to look over our shoulder and remember where we were how we were and who we were to remember how God made us and saved us brought us and taught us healed us and delivered us however there are other times when God wants you to imagine when God wants you to dream when God wants you to envision and in those moments there will be no previous point of reference because where God is trying to take you has never been seen and never been done it's not larger than some past memory it is hidden in a future revelation now I can tell from that glazed-over look in some of your eyes that I'm gonna have to come out there and help you with this because after all God has already given us a divine example because isn't that really what the 2008 and 2012 presidential election was really all about because I don't know if you remember but I do that prior to 2008 nobody believed that an african-american male or female tall or short rich or poor horseback walking or ridin would ever be elected president of the United States in our lifetime and we didn't believe it because it had never been seen it had never been done it had never been achieved it had never been accomplished what God brought about what had never been seen down achieved and accomplished not through backward reflection but through forward imagination can I talk to you for a minute because look look I came all the way to Alabama tonight to talk to my brothers and sisters and tell you that God is calling us not just reflectively backward but imaginatively forward that God is calling on us to serve Him not just out of memory but out of imagination the greatest tragedy of the contemporary church is that we serve God solely out of memory when we could serve him out of imagination we keep talking about what he has done and that's important but has it ever occurred to you there might yet be something that he wants to do right now see somebody listening to me tonight knows what I'm talking about because God has been tapping you on your shoulder he's been telling you to see something that believe something and do something that has never been seen before nobody in your sphere of influence has been called upon to operate in the mode and manner that God is calling you and based on your lack of experience the likelihood of your being able to pull it off appears to be small but God is calling you tonight to move not out of memory but out of imagination that means you gonna be a trailblazer that means you gonna be a pioneer that means you're going to be a pacesetter that means you have to stop being the tail light because your destiny is to be a headlight that you're going to be the point of reference and not just a passing reference God calls for a faith that will respond not to the likelihood of something but to the faithfulness of somebody see can we be honest most of the time we base our faith and our actions on the likelihood of something rather than the faithfulness of somebody sometimes though you got to move based on the reliability of some body and the faithfulness of someone you pursue the dream because God is faithful you pursue the dream because God is true because God is reliable because God always keeps his promise because where God God's God provides because what God orchestrates God consecrates because if it's God's will it's God's bill when you cannot stand on the experience of something it's in those moments you got to stand on the faithfulness of somebody because that's what Noah did when he could not stand on the experience of a flood he stood on the faithfulness of Almighty God when he didn't know what a flood was he knew who God was and that's where we've got to stand in order for God to take us to greater we may not know what it is but we ought to be able to testify that we do know who God is that I know who God is in my life I know who God is in the world I know that if God said it it's gonna happen if God declared it it will come to pass I may not understand all of what God is saying but I do know who it is that Santa is there anybody here tonight who don't mind testifying to your neighbor that you do know God then touch two or three people and say I do know God I'm no God I'll make away I know God I'll open the door I know God I'll fight my battle I know God will feed me in a famine and rescue me a recession and take stuff that was working against me and make it work for me I do know God so I'm taking my cues from God and if you can believe the unlikely since faith is a progressive journey which you exit eat that statement for your neighbor look at them and tell them ebonic lee say that means you ain't there yet amen see see sets faith it's a progressive journey that God says if you can believe unlikely I've got to step up your protocol because now I want you to do the unthinkable well you ain't ready God told Noah to build an ark and then he provided him with a detailed plan as to how it should get done I should pause right there long enough to say that God is a God of incredible detail there's nothing happening in your life that is accidental but God provided detail because Noah needed detail Noah needed detail because they had never been in art before they've never been in art before cuz there never been a need for an art before and necessity is the mother of invention and art was unthinkable unimaginable and unbelievable no body of water in proximity to Noah could even hold a boat of this magnitude God called him to do the unthinkable because never before had anything that large or massive been constructed in the region and yet God said this it's what I want you to do can I park on that curb if I promise to keep the motor running because there are moments when God calls on people to do the unthinkable that there are times when God leads us in the places and spaces that are inconceivable to our mind but not to the mind of God Isaiah speaking for God has already informed us that my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways that God calls us to believe the unlikely that we might turn around and do the unthinkable that's what God is trying to do in the church God is calling us to do the unthinkable that the power of the Holy Ghost as I remind all my charismatic friends it's not just the ability to jump run shout dance speak in tongues and flip over pews but the power of the Holy Ghost is the spiritual energy and spiritual impetus to do what you have not done go where you have not been try what you have not tried and achieve what you have yet to achieve and I'm preaching to somebody tonight that God has been talking to about some unthinkable stuff stuff that eyes have not seen and ears have not heard neither has it entered into the hearts of anyone what God has been telling you I want you to get this in your spirit while it has not been thought of by you it has already been thought through by God you yo shout that God called Noah to trust that an ark was possible because God had already thought that thing out and thought that thing through examine the detailed nature of the divine instruction God had thought that thing out and thought that thing through God knew the dimensions it needed to be God knew the weight load that he could carry God knew how many occupants he could house because God had thought that thing through and thought that thing out and God calls on us to pursue what appears unthinkable because god has already thought it out and thought it through God calls us to trust not in our own thinking but to trust in his thinking and his thinking includes a level of detail that is far more extensive than anything to which we have access because God has thought through every contingency possibility and scenario nothing catches God by surprise nothing takes God off guard nothing cancels the plans that God has for your life and your ministry nothing can avoid God's favor nothing can permanently disrupt your destiny thing may happen that kept you off guard that take you by surprise that snatched the wind out of your sail but nothing catches God by surprise because he knows the end from the very beginning and therefore God challenges us to go after what he promised believing that God is able tap somebody say yes he is to lead us through every difficulty because God has already thought that playing out and thought that thing through I knew I need a witness right here come here Moses can you testify tonight yes Lance I can testify we took our first steps of freedom walking out of Egypt and God told me to head on down to the Red Sea it didn't make no sense to me but since I'm taking my cues from God I did what he said and we weren't ready for what transpired because we thought we were done with Pharaoh but apparently he wasn't done with us we looked over our shoulder and there he was with his entire army it looked like we were done it looked like we would be destroyed it seemed like it was over we thought that we went through but when I cried out to God God said shut up and lift up that staff in your hand and keep stepping towards the seat it didn't make no sense to me but God had already thought that thing out and thought that thing through God had already consecrated the crisis so that it would glorify his name God had thought that thing out and thought that thing through by the Red Sea would first be a wall and then he flipped the script and turn it into a weapon to bring closure to the conflict for the last God had thought that thing out and thought that thing through and I want somebody to understand that God will never steer you we hadn't already seen you God has taught that thing through and thought that thing huh and he's telling us tonight just believe because watch this as unthinkable as building an ark was listen it was more unthinkable to believe that one man could get all them animals in the one boat tap some I say no need a lineup here tonight on because Nora wasn't a veterinarian he had no zoological skills nor was a construction worker he had no experience heard animals and chasing cheetahs embracing elephants and captain eagles I go flop there together and can I be real honest tonight some of the animals who had a reservation on the heart he was scared of wheat or my lions and tigers and bad oh my and how are you going to pursue what you scared of and yet God told him to do it so that he could elevate his faith above the level of his anxiety and that's why God is pushing somebody in the back in here tonight because he wants to elevate your faith above the level of your anxiety I know that you're well-read I know that you're well educated but all of us are eternally students of Scripture and that's why you got to pay attention when God talks to you because some of the stuff you're afraid of ain't even real okay I'll prove it to you cuz if you go back to chapter five and six God never told Noah to catch the animals [Applause] and ain't in that God said the animals are gonna come to you y'all miss that amen God said I created them I know how to speak their language I know how to communicate with them I know how to make every one of these animals do what I want them to do all I need you to do is what I told you to do and let me do what I alone can do I need you to push two or three people and say stay in your lane stop trying to be God stop trying to control everything and control everybody because while you trying to figure it out he's already worked it out [Applause] I'm taking my cues from God God says okay that means you got to believe the unlikely you got to do the unthinkable and if you could do the unthinkable because faith is a progressive journey I have to step up your protocol because I want you to understand that taking your cues from me may sometimes mean you have to wait in the unbearable look at your neighbor and say I don't know if I'm gonna shout right here all night at amen and I don't blame you I don't blame you look look look God told Noah to build what had never been built in anticipation of a flood that had never happened he gave him detailed instructions nor did it and when he finished people looked at him like he had lost his mind because what you gotta understand is he is building a boat in the middle of a desert that went right over here you can hear people saying was a flood we never seen you fluid well your food my mother knows you know flu but the Bible says Noah kept on work and tap somebody said keep on working it took him roughly 10 years to build it and I don't miss that because many of us are ready to quit if it takes 10 days it took him 10 years just to build the ark and during that entire time there was no precipitation there was not an inch of rain when you meet Noah in chapter 5 he's already 500 years old by chapter 6 he's 520 it took him 10 years to build the ark he's 530 but he is 600 years old before any rain falls that meant that for a minimum of 70 years he had to wait on God for 70 years he had to wonder when it would rain for 70 years he had to struggle with his own doubts for 70 years he had to handle his critics and deal with his haters for 70 years he had to manage his embarrassment for 70 years he had to explain to his wife why he had taken their entire 401k and built a boat in the middle of a desert for 70 years he had to wait in the unbearable he had to talk to himself and remind himself that God had spoken to him and we are all brothers and sisters so let's be honest tonight nothing is as hard in spiritual life as when you have to wait tap some I say I know that's right that waiting can be unbearable because when you've got to wait doubts loom large and get in those moments he had to remind himself that God never told him when it would happen God all they told him that it would happen and that's my question to you tonight can you believe God for that when you don't know the wind what do you have to know the wind in order to believe God for that because if God empowered him to believe the unlikely and do the unthinkable then God was able to give him whatever he needed to wait in the unbearable because the same God who thinks that thing out and thinks that thing through it's the same God when his on time he will come through never got a witness have somebody next to you and say God will come through in spite of your fears in spite of your critics in spite of your doubts in spite of your limitations God will come through and sure enough God did come through it didn't happen in a day but 70 years later and almost started coming from everywhere Eagles and sparrows started flying to the ark up she does that hyena son started running to the archive rats and roaches began crawling over the wall huh tigers and lions became the march in lockstep and one we later the Bible says the waters rose from beneath her and fell from above that's just a little detail but it's in the Bible to remind us that the God we serve is never limited to one resource he can bring it down from the top or raise it up from the bottom which you act like just act like you only the Adams for a moment and tell your neighbor say neighbor I don't care how he gets here just can't hear huh if you can it can come by Trailways it could come by railway God can bring it from wherever he needs to bring it because God has stopped that thing out and pop that thing through God can turn your desert into an ocean I don't know how you feel about it but I'm taking my cues from God because there is no time horizon that extends beyond God's knowledge I heard Isaiah asked have you not heard have you not known that the Lord God the creator of the ends of the earth does not grow weary and neither does he grow faint but he gives power so the weak and at them that have no might he increases strength for even to use shall faint and be weary and young men shall utterly fall but you ought to shake somebody and say I'm in that crowd that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength up mount up on weight and stop run and not be weary walk and not plank that God is calling us believe the unlikely to the unthinkable even if we got to wait in the unbearable because God saw Abraham I'm gonna make your name great sir but Abraham died and God started talking to Isaac said don't let the dream die but we did your daddy's will stop Isaac died that God started talking to Jacob and said Jacob you're gone into bondage and your people are going with you but don't panic I will bring you out it took 400 years but God delivered them from the unbearable because they did the unthinkable and the same thing happen to a teenage girl down in Nazareth by the name of Mary it is that angel showed up you don't have a child your name and Jesus top but Mary said that's highly unlikely because a sister ain't never been with a brother before angel said the Holy Spirit will overshadow you and what's unlikely will take place then angel visited Joseph that's hey Johan don't be afraid to marry Mary she be running around but what's conceived in her it's not the Holy Ghost so if you like it put a ring on it for nine months they had to wait in the unbearable no the unlikely was born Shepherd's came across the wilderness Wiseman came bearing gifts angel sang in the nighttime but then the unthinkable happened he was hunted by Herod had to be smuggled into Africa raised in the ghetto called Nazareth baptized in the muddy Jordan tempted in the wilderness it was unlikely but he came out preaching it was unlikely but healed the sick it was unlikely but he raised the dead the real good I just want to tell somebody if God can think through carefully if God can think through death if God can take through resurrection then surely he can handle your stuff somebody say yes he can yes he can somebody else I know you [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Jesse Wilson

Views: 15,107

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Id: w4_ykHoIvQA

Length: 47min 43sec (2863 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 24 2019