The Day of Small Beginnings - Mark Batterson

that was fun well welcome to all eight of our campuses and special shout out to our extended family who listened via podcast thanks for being part of what God is doing in and through National Community Church this weekend we kick off a new series mountains move if you have a Bible you can turn over to Zechariah chapter four and can I ask that we stand at all of our campuses as I read God's Word Zechariah chapter four and verse number six this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord what are you mighty mountain before is the rubble you will become level ground then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of God bless it god bless it we just finished series titled blessing number 10 and we talked about this Priestly Blessing may the Lord bless you and keep you may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you may the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace I said that the priests would with their hands form the Hebrew letter shin do you remember this good coz it was only one week ago I can see the ruble raising his hands towards that mountain listen we don't give the middle finger to our mountains we give them shin we don't curse them we bless them why because that mountain is going to make you into the man into the woman that God has destined you to become you're going to be bigger and you're gonna be better because of the opposition you encounter because of the obstacles you overcome and you're going to get a test monie out of the deal amen then the word of the Lord came to me the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of the temple his hands will also complete it then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you do not despise the day of small beginnings for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin to see the plumb line in Zora bubbles hands you can be seated you don't need another sermon you need a word from God this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel that's where it starts when we talk about moving mountains it starts with the word of God four words let there be light that spoke everything into existence in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God through him all things were made without him nothing was made that has been made and so the word spoke mountains and oceans and stars and planets and galaxies into existence and if God can do that with four words what are we worried about to the infinite all finites are equal there is no easy or difficult there is no possible or impossible his word does not return void and he's watching over his word to perform it and so if you need to see a mountain moved in your life what you need is a word from God and the way you get a word from God is to get into the Word of God and so that's what we're gonna do this weekend over the next seven weeks verse six not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord I say this all the time but let me say it again it might be worth jotting down the answer to every prayers more of the Holy Spirit see we think we want more love and joy and peace is throwing patience kindness goodness gentleness faithfulness and self-control that last one especially right we want more of that but those are fruit of the Spirit and so what we really need is more of God's Spirit so that more of that fruit then becomes produced in our lives we think we need more power more wisdom but what we really need is more of his spirit because that's who God is and what God does listen without the Holy Spirit I'm below average but with the help of the Holy Spirit all bets are off all things are possible why because the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me and you God wants to do things in you and through you that are beyond your ability beyond your intellects beyond your resources and beyond your imagination why so that you can't take credit for them and so he gets the glory then when that mountain moves and so would it be appropriate at the beginning of this series to say come Holy Spirit fill me stretch me and anoint me not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord verse 7 what are you mighty mountain before zerubabbel you will become level ground several years ago my spiritual father dig both by the way dick is speaking next weekend yeah you're gonna want to be here that book that he recommended I bought it and then it sat on my shelf for years but I finally read it two years two weeks ago on a plane on my way to California it's a book by Irving stone titled men to match my mountains anybody anybody read that one right there okay it's a book about the way the West was won about the brave heroes who risked life and limb and blazed a trail and one of them was John C Fremont on January 19 1844 he attempted something that had never been done before crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains in the dead of winter stone describes it as the longest 70 miles in the history of exploration they suffered from snow blindness hypothermia near starvation they ate their dog I don't even know if I should have included that in the message but you need to know that's rock bottom right there when you eat your dog in the end three men Kit Carson broken hand Fitzpatrick and John C Fremont made it over the mountains and when they did the last barrier to westward expansion had been breached and the mountains were no longer impassable or impossible and I love the phrase that Irving Stone uses to describe these men in this moment became the title of his boat but the men matched the mountains oh I like that a lot the men matched the mountains I'm not sure what John C Fremont said or did when they got to the other side of the Sierra Nevada mountains but I know what I would have done if I was John C Fremont what are you mighty mountain before John C Fremont you will become level ground I don't know what mountain you face we're talking about a lot of them during this series for some of us it's a mountain of fear or anxiety for some it might be a mountain of failure amount of bondage or addiction and it might seem impossible or impassable but maybe maybe maybe maybe it's time to believe God for a miracle maybe it's time to believe that it's not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord maybe it's time to say what are you mighty mountain it's past your read a biography of Warren Buffett perhaps the greatest investor ever figured I can learn a thing or two from the Oracle of Omaha so let me share one principle Warren Buffett had a partner Charles Munger who had a mantra that encapsulated their approach to investing and here it is and you can write it down invert always invert sounds like mr. Miyagi right I always look I invert always invert Munger said I had long look for insight by inversion in the intense manner counseled by the great algebra is Carl Jacobi invert always invert what are you talking about and what does that have to do with this verse listen I think most of us are really good at talking to God about our problems we explain our problems to God as if he doesn't know how to solve them we complain about our problems as if he doesn't care and then we remind God of our problems as if he's forgotten but at some point you got to stop talking to God about your problems and you got to start talking to your problems about God you need to start preaching the promises of God to your problem you need to invert always invert you got to preach the goodness of God to your problems surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life you need to preach the supremacy of Christ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me you need to preach the preeminence of God if God is for me who can be against me you need to preach the power of God he is able to do immeasurably more than all I can ask her imagine according to his power that's at work within me and you need to preach the love of God to your problems I am convinced that neither death nor life neither Angels nor demons neither the present nor the future nor any powers neither height nor depth nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord we need to preach the promises of God the goodness of God the love of God the power of God to those mountains in our lives listen to me this is not a Matt Foley motivational speech this is the Word of God this is the Word of God and we have to declare it faith it's focus isn't it you can focus on your problems or you can focus on the promises of God one way or the other your focus is going to determine your reality remember the 12 spies who go into the promised land and then after 40 days they bring back a report 10 of them bring back a bad report they say that there are giants in the land and then they specifically say we were like grasshoppers in our own eyes well of course you were because you were focused on the size of the people in the land but two of them brought back a good report why because they were focused on the size of the promise that God had given to them listen if we focus on our problems I'm not saying you don't diagnose it you don't admit it you don't deal with it but at some point you got to shift gears you got to invert always invert and go back to the promises of God you got to put faith in the driver's seat right now you can't put faith in the passenger seat hey there's not a backseat driver and faith is not the voice on GPS know you've got to determine then I'm gonna live by faith and you got to let faith be right in that driver's seat that's how you're gonna get where God wants you to go if you measure your problems with the measuring stick of your ability and your resources you will always come up short but if you measure your problems with the measuring stick of God's grace God's power God's love then all things are possible let me Buffett you one more time Warren Buffett's father Howard Buffett was a four-term congressman and I like this he carried a handwritten piece of paper in his pocket for many years it said I am God's child I am in his hands as for my body it never meant to be permanent as for my soul it is immortal why then should I be afraid of anything here's what I might recommend pick a promise any promise it might be this promise right here in Zechariah 4 write it down on a piece of paper put it in your pocket keep it on your person go back to it again and again and again keep believing it keep declaring it you know George Bernard Shaw said that reasonable man adapts himself to the world the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man you know who preaches to mountains unreasonable people who aren't afraid of looking a little crazy I just I am NOT going to adapt to my circumstances I'm gonna adapt to my theology I'm gonna adapt to the promises of God because at the end of the day there's a reality that's far more real than what you can see and hear and taste and smell and touch and it's a reality the truth of God I want you to know this weekend God's not losing sleep over the promises he made you know what he's just waiting for someone to step up to step in and to believe him against all odds why cos he's watching over his word to perform it so what is the hardest thing that you could we've got four during this series what is the bravest prayer that you could pray over the next seven weeks all I know is that Joshua asked the son to stand still and then Elijah asen iron axe head to float oh and then Jesus asked his father to raise a man who had been dead for four days you can ask God to move that mountain let me be very transparent you said all right pastor mark and what what is it for you what is that mighty mountain I've had asthma since that was three years old I've been hospitalized more weeks and you can imagine I've taken more pus of an inhaler than anyone could possibly count it's frustrating I prayed every prayer and I've tried everything but I want you to know now I'm going to keep speaking to that mountain because I believe in a God who is able to heal now in the meantime I'm able to tell you that I wouldn't be Who I am or where I am without that Florin in the flesh God has used it and redeemed it in my life there are certain things about my personality or about my character that I don't think I could have learned any other way and so it's crazy in one regard I'm grateful and I know that someday I'm gonna go jogging on streets of gold and I will not grow weary and it won't be my lungs that hold me back from what it is that I'm trying to do so two weeks ago at our prayer night I just felt like is you that challenge what's the bravest prayer that you could pray so I asked some people to pray for me and say would you pray again that the Lord would touch my lungs and heal my asthma now I want you to know that in the last couple of weeks I've had to take my inhaler you need to know that but I also want you to know that I four days without taking my inhaler it's been years and years and years that I went for days and then I hiked Cadillac Mountain without a single puff of my inhaler up in Acadia National Park and so I'm not gonna I'm not gonna wait for a hundred percent healing I'm gonna celebrate the improvement I'm gonna celebrate when I discern that God's movie now I'm not gonna despise the day of small beginnings I'm gonna celebrate the little things and I'm gonna believe God for complete healing because I know that he's able and that may seem unreasonable to some people so be it a few years ago I did Chapel for the Minnesota Vikings were in there were in town playing the Redskins and I met Adrian Peterson Adrian Peterson the all-pro running back for the Vikings it's famous for his handshake he's got big hands he's got strong hands and we shook my hand was like a submission move it was a little embarrassing actually the next day you may remember this if you follow football he tore his anterior cruciate ligament and season was over and for many running backs that would be the end of the road but Adrian Peterson is a freak of nature because six months later he's back to full strength and and that season gains 2097 yards the highest a second highest total in NFL history after blowing out his knee so there's a story this week on espn.com about his training and his habits and and how he defies age you know most running backs don't make it past 30 but Adrian has said that he might want to play until he's 40 and so someone asked his trainer James Cooper if he thought Peterson could continue at that current pace if he could play that long and Cooper answered that question with an anecdote he said he was running at a track event 100 meters and he said I'm running and I feel this old man right next to me and it threw me off that he even got even with me that old man was Bill Collins the track and field Masters champion in the hundred meters that he'd he ran a ten point five eight at forty six now I want to tell you something forty-six isn't old but by track and field standards that's the Ancient of Days and so the next heat he runs a ten point three and just and I love what James Cooper learned from that experience he said it taught me that forty is not the age to submit oh come on we can do better than that there's got to be more people over 40 that could say Amen right about here okay and then he says fifty is not the age to submit come on I love that then he could have kept going because I think Caleb could have said eighty-five is at the age to submit oh and Sarah could say ninety isn't the age to submit one of the things I love about Dick folk is that he doesn't submit to H he's me authentic retention youthful qualities into adulthood a couple of years ago he's 70 years old and we're hiking a mountain together which right there is awesome at 70 and that's where we decided to write a book together a trip around the Sun and then the next year at 71 he's all excited he calls me up said mark I just did a life plan with a life coach which at 71 and it's because he doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up and then a couple of months ago I'm out in Fort Collins and and I'm telling dick that I might it I'm toying with the idea of maybe trying to run a marathon only because it would be the hardest possible thing for me to do with my asthma but it'll be healed by then and then with my knees with my two ACL reconstructions like running a marathon would be the hardest thing and that's in part why I really want to do it because I think it'd probably be good for me and I get that out of my mouth and dick doesn't and I he said mark if you run a marathon I'm gonna run it with you I don't know if I want to be responsible for that and I'm thinking to myself you know internally what is Dixie when he looks in the mirror I I don't know if he knows he's 74 I don't know if he knows actually he knows he has just made a decision that 74 is not the age to submit come on are you picking up what I'm throwing down don't submit to age don't submit to addictions don't submit to labels don't submit to low expectations don't submit to bad habits don't submit to fear don't submit to excuses don't submit to temptation don't submit to lies from the enemy don't submit to whatever mountain you face submit to God and that mountain will submit to you I'm not saying it's gonna be easy and I know that sometimes God delivers from but often he delivers through and there might be a hard long painful process to walk through but guess what when you get over that mountain to the other side you are gonna be able to help some people be probably probably be harder than you thought probably take longer than you thought but in the words of Kelly Clarkson what doesn't kill you makes you stronger stand a little taller what doesn't kill you makes a fighter footsteps even lighter all right what if Paul and Silas do when they're thrown into jail they don't complain they don't submit to their circumstances either around midnight they begin to praise God and God breaks those chains of bondage and sets them free can I tell you what the sacrifice of praise does it inverts this situation you got a preach to your promises you got a worship in the midst of those circumstances now let me ask you a question is there a mountain in your life that you're submitting to you stop preaching the promises of God you stop believing you stop hoping you giving up on it I think I have a word for you stop tolerating anything less than the good pleasing and perfect will of God well where is that in Scripture it's in Revelation to God commends the church at Thyatira I know your deeds your love and faith your service and perseverance and that you are now doing more than you did it first that's high praise nevertheless I have this against you you tolerate you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophet by her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols there was some sort of sexual indiscretion that was being tolerated there was some sort of idolatry that was being tolerated is there an idol in your life which would be anything that you seek before you seek God is there an idol and life that you're tolerating that little idol will eventually become a mountain in your life same is true sexual sin and every other sin the enemy wants a foothold in your life and if you tolerate those little sins then the molehill becomes a mountain but here's the good news if you rebuke it if you repent of it the mountain becomes a molehill there's an old axiom celebrate what you want to see more of and that's true but I think it's true of toleration - what you tolerate you'll see more of and this is where you know I remind you that I love you and my job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable I want you to hear me don't tolerate a bad attitude in your heart in your spirit don't tolerate a seat of bitterness don't tolerate abuse don't tolerate excuses tolerate idolatry don't tolerate the enemy's lies where are you mighty mountain see something's got a shift James got to change a little bit I'm not saying that you listen the the enemy wants to make your sin your identity but God said I want my righteousness to become your identity and so what we're in is a little sparring match with the enemy right I mean there's very real stuff and so we've got to make sure that we're allowing God to define us by the way two chapters earlier in Zachariah it says that you're the apple of God's eye now let's tap into that right because that's who you are and so my fear this weekend is that there's some of us that are tolerating things in our lives that even things that might be permissible but they're not beneficial they're not my utmost for his highest they're not the best that God has for you and I believe God has more for you verse 10 do not despise the day of small beginnings so the Lord rejoices to see the work begin to see the plumb line in suraíh bubbles hand the plumb line was an ancient measuring tape so they hadn't even started rebuilding they were just measuring and please note God is already celebrating God is not great just because nothing is too big God is great because nothing is too small he rejoices over those small acts of kindness over those small acts of obedience he rejoices over those small steps to face fate those small sacrifices and he doesn't just rejoice over them he honors them once you here if you do little things like they're big things God will do big things like they're little things it's about baby steps what about Bob right one last story and then one final point we're done a few years ago went out to Yosemite and hiked half done with a group of guys and we got up pre-dawn it was still dark out and you're looking up at Half Dome and at least me I'm thinking to myself you've got to be kidding me are you telling me that I'm gonna be up there at some point today how is that going to happen and then to kind of multiply the issue I had a severe case of plantar fasciitis and so my feet were killing me before I even started but I was leading the hike so I needed to get up there and it's the strangest thing in that pre-dawn darkness as I looked up we're kind of in the shadow of Half Dome I don't know is the strangest thing I just internally it was just this moment where no I know how I'm gonna get there exactly how I'm gonna get there one step at a time eight-point two-mile hike which isn't terrible but a 4737 foot ascent which means the same descent and you know how you do it you know how you get to the top one step at a time and so I did it and I remember I got to the top of Half Dome and you have to have a fear of heights and so you have to kind of climb these ropes that are anchored into the rock I mean I was the scariest part right there and I get up to the top and someone had edged into the stone if you can do this you can do anything something got fired up inside of me and I don't know if I shared this part of the story but I made a decision up on top of Half Dome I was packing 220 pounds at the time mostly muscle but come on I I know with my asthma and I know one reason I probably had plantar fasciitis so I was carrying a backpack about 20 pounds I know about 198 I'm feeling much better I hadn't seen sub 210 years I thought to myself well if I can do this I can do anything I don't know who wrote that in the rock but they probably were pretty smart and it took some effort to put it there and so I made a decision I'm gonna see sub 200 you want to know how I lost 20 pounds one pound at a time how do you get out of debt one paycheck at a time how do you train for an Ironman one workout at a time how do you read through the Bible one chapter at a time how do you experience miracles one prayer at a time how do you work through your emotional issues it might be one counseling session at a time how do you get the promotion at work one project at a time how do you win the one practice at a time how do you rebuild trust one day at a time one step at a time that's how we don't despise the day of small beginnings you cannot finish what you do not start so the beginning of this series what's the first step that you need to take or what's the next step that you need to take I think you need to identify the mountain I think you need to call it what it is and then you begin to speak by faith to that mountain the promises of God the goodness of God the love of God might be setting up an appointment with a counselor it might be filling out an application it might be making a phone call or writing a letter might be a tough conversation whatever goal you're going after whatever problem you're trying to solve it always starts with the first step don't despise the day of small beginnings if you do little things like they're big things God is gonna do some big things during this series like their little things let's pray father thank you for your word thank you that it doesn't return void I pray that God you would quicken your promises your truth to our hearts this weekend lord I pray that you would give us the faith to believe again Lord forgive us for those things that we've tolerated in our lives we know that your plans and purposes for us are far greater than that now if you're here this weekend and you have never made a decision to put your faith in Jesus Christ I want you to know that that's where the spiritual journey begins it's that first step that's the game changer and I want to invite you you know 2,000 years ago Jesus extended invitations follow me well how do you follow him you take the first step you surrender your life to his lordship you give him control you put him in the driver's seat if you're here this weekend any of our campuses and you want to make that decision I want to just pray a simple prayer and you can pray it with me you don't have to pray it out loud but you can pray it in your heart or Jesus I'm a sinner in need of a savior I've got some mountains in my life and I need your help god I pray that you would do what you promised that you would forgive my sin that you would set me free and that God you would help me step into the relationship that you want to have with me and so I confess my sin but I profess my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and so right here right now I take this first step and I receive you as the Lord and Savior of my life in Jesus name Amen amen

Channel: National Community Church

Views: 10,360

Keywords: the day of small beginnings mark batterson, mark batterson, mark batterson sermon, sermon, sermon on faith, faith, mountains move, mountains move series, ncc, theater church, national community church

Id: d67Q21uTxn0

Length: 35min 54sec (2154 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 06 2016