The Gift of Guardrails

Ephesians chapter 5 is where I want to begin today the Bible said be very careful then how you live not as unwise but as wise making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil therefore do not be foolish but understand what the Lord's will is he's telling us here you've got to understand what the Lord's will is you if you're wise up you'll find the will of God for your life understand what his will is do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery instead be filled with the spirit can I tell you today that the greatest guardrail that you will have in your life is this the Holy Spirit because he will help maneuver you I don't care what road you are traveling on he will help maneuver you and he will help you get to the place that you need to go but we have to be sensitive to his voice that's what he is in our life now go quickly over to Genesis chapter 9 and we're gonna read at verse 20 the Bible said and Noah began to be a farmer and he planted a vineyard most of the people associate Noah with the ark but after that season in his life was over Noah began to be a farmer and he planted a vineyard verse 21 says and then he drank of the wine and he was drunk and he became uncovered in his tent that's a very interesting passage of Scripture if you've gone down and read a few more verses but just for the sake of time I'm gonna stop right there I want to talk to you today just about the gift of a guardrail a guardrail is a gift to you it will save you it will protect you it will I don't mean save you as an eternally save you only Jesus does that but it can protect your life and it can preserve you and today I want to just wrap this series up just talking about the gift of a guardrail Spirit of the Living God have your way in this place only you know what every person needs it's so much bigger than I can even begin to search out so we need your voice we need answers we need direction there are marriages here that need to touch from you there are men there are women that are searching for direction there are people that just need to hear your voice in this room today so father I ask that you would hide me behind the cross and that you would speak through me today God so that we will walk out of this place saying we know that we know that we know that we've heard from God thank you Lord for being a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path when we leave here today may relieve your challenge may we leave you changed may we leave here prepared God to do what you have called us to do we give you thanks in advance for it right now in the matchless name of Jesus Christ and the church at Amen on your way down touch somebody and tell them I hope you have some guardrails in your life we have based if if you have your notes or if you have received them the last couple weeks which I'm sorry I don't have any for you today but you can take notes if you have followed us along and written on the top of your notes you probably saw where we base this this series around proverbs chapter 4 23 where it talks about it it's us so above all somebody say above all above everything guard the affections of your heart for they affect all that you are pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being for from there flows the wellspring or from there flows the source of your life so pay attention to what is going on in your heart I was thinking if we we actually been thinking and I've talked and I've read a whole lot about guardrails and and in the natural and what they what they mean and their purpose and I'm not sure if you heard this week but there wasn't there was a bus accident a school bus accident the bus flipped over caught on fire and it's in this and the sad part about it I believe there was like a 12 year old little girl that lost her life as a result of that there had been I had heard somewhere that there had been 20 about 25 accidents in this particular area and someone said that they have been asking for them to put up guardrails guardrails can save your life in the sense of just protecting you I was I was driving down the road the other day and I saw a sign a little yellow sign that said guardrail damage ahead and I thought well one thing about it is it is we're talking about guardrails and and and yet even guardrails go through trouble and they go through shaking and they go through damage but guardrails are really designed to keep your vehicle from straying off of the path that it is supposed to be on and string into danger zones that's one of the reasons that that they even make guardrails and they are there to keep you they are they are there as a barrier they are there to keep you in a safe place they are designed to protect you to preserve you they are also designed to shield a motorist from that that possibly has left the path or the course and they go through rigorous testing before they were ever put them up they go through all kinds of rigorous testing just to make sure that they can handle the weight or that they can handle the impact of a vehicle that might be out of control once their crashworthiness has been proven then they are installed and when they are installed properly they can bring a wayward vehicle to a complete stop they can slow it down or they can deflect it back to the roadway that it has veered off of either way guardrails make our roads safer and they lessen the severity of the crashes that take place now what I just gave you was a crash course no pun intended on guardrails guardrails 101 and and I felt I felt like that is imperative that you hear that but at the same time if you have an ear to hear there was so much of what I just said that you could apply to your spiritual life and you would understand why we need guard bells in our life the thing that I want you to understand is that not only does do we need guardrails on the highway but that's not the only place we need them we need guardrails in every area of our life we need them in our relationships there are some relationships there are some friendships that you might have that you might have opened yourself up to and and maybe you're alone you're a little concerned about it or you feel like it might be a little bit risky and you're not sure that that's really who you should befriend but you're not sure that it's not either so in those kind of situations you need to make sure that you surround yourself with other people pull other people into those relate sometimes your relationships need some guardrails hello we need guardrails in our in our finances we need guardrails in our careers that's why they have career coaches we need guardrails in the decisions that we make the Bible said in the multitude of counsel that there is safety so be careful about just running out and making a decision because sometimes it would do you good to just slow down and kind of run that by somebody else we need guardrails in our morals we need guardrails as we set goals for our life and today's culture may not have a great appreciation for spiritual guardrails and they may not have a great appreciation for the people who build them into their life but but that's okay because they create a safe space for those of us that realize God has got his hand on our life he has assigned us to something and I don't have time to waste running off the road whether it's intentional or whether it's just somebody ran me off the road so and the truth of the matter is they might even criticize you this culture might even criticize you today or might even belittle you or might even mock you but just know that you are not the first one or you're not the first generation to ever be scrutinized by people who do not buy or buy a culture that does not comprehend your convictions the man that we are talking about today is a man by the name of Noah and no one knows exactly what that feels like the Bible said in Hebrews 11 chapter 7 that Noah by faith Noah was warned of God of things that had not yet been seen and when he received the warning from God he moved with fear he moved not as though he was moving afraid but he moved in reverence to what he had heard God he prepared an ark for the saving of his household now Noah is an incredible man he heard from God and and he built this Ark he was warned of something that had not even happened yet God set him ahead of the game by giving him a warning I came to tell somebody today that our mind needs our mindset needs to ship and we need to understand that as the people of God and as the members of the body of Christ as Kingdom citizens in the kingdom of God we must be ahead of the game the church is always reacting but it is time for us to understand that that if we're going to rule and we're going to reign we've got to stop reacting and start preparing and hearing what God is saying to the church our God is ahead of the game so why would we not be ahead of the game he said before you call I will answer he's ahead of the game before before he had before the the kingship was stripped from Saul God already had a young boy by the name of David that he was preparing that he was anointing and that he was getting ready to take Saul's place before he ever stripped him of his power why because God is ahead of the game I wonder what he might be getting you ready for right now that you don't know nothing about Damon was being prepared by God he didn't even realize what God had in store for him but I'm telling you God is ahead of the game before the widow of Zarephath ever reached into the mill barrel and heard the scraping of them of the empty mill barrel God had already assigned a prophet by the name of Elisha that would come and sustain her why because God is ahead of the game look at somebody and tell them let's get ahead of the game Noah was prepared because he was forewarned and when you are forewarned that means you can be four-armed and it was even though he was forewarn it still wasn't easy because anytime you step out to do something that God has called you to do there will always be people who are standing in the wings looking at you like you're crazy ready to criticize you and ready to tell you that you have lost your mind can you imagine it had never rained a drop and Noah gets this idea that's what they were thinking he gets an idea that says we should build a boat what is a boat anyway and where where are we gonna put it there's no water anywhere near us but look at God whenever he calls you to do something like he did Noah he'll bring the water to you do you see that there was no water anywhere but God didn't stop until he brought the water to where Noah was and even though he looks stupid and he looked like he had lost his mind and people he was building something that people would look at today and not understand until tomorrow he never allowed the outside voices or the criticism to stop him from fulfilling his assignment I don't know who I'm talking today but if there are people that are laughing and mocking at your commitment to Christ and your commitment to his church and your commitment to your kingdom and assignment if they're laughing at you right now I want to tell you don't allow that to distract you because when the clouds began to gather and when the sky decides to turn black and when the winds began to blow and when the rain begins to fall those very people are going to need a church that is ahead of the game Noah being warned of God he moves left somebody and tell him you better move you better move can I tell you today that the people that God is looking for are people who are not afraid to make a move sometimes we get lodged in our comfort zones and we think we're gonna always do this and we think that we think that I as a kid growing up I remember thinking God help me to never be stuck in the mud like some of these people that are in our church right now they were older they were more traditional and I would look at them and I would know they were stuck in the mud I was just a kid myself but I knew they were stuck and my cry was always God helped me to open my mind and help me to open my spirit so that I don't limit you so that I don't get to a certain point in my life and think that this is all there is to it my cry was always God if there's more I want more from you God is looking for people who will say I don't want to sit here in my tradition and die I'd rather move with you God I brother with the cloud even if it means I don't know where my foot goes next even if it means I don't always understand even if it means I tell you it takes more faith that I have you ever used in my life I'd rather move with you than being left behind without you so God is looking for people who are willing to make a move that's why he chose Noah because he knew that Noah would be a man that would move look at somebody tell him you got to move you cannot stand on the court and hold the ball you got a shoe you got a dribble you got to do something but you do have to make a move Noah was warned of God and he moved on the basis of that warning I should be able to look at your life and know what you believe simply on the basis of the way you are moving don't tell me that you're believing God to do this and you are not moving in that direction you might not know the whole picture but you ought to be able to move even if it's just a baby step you ought to wake up every day and move toward the direction that God has called you to move toward don't tell me that you're believing him to move you somewhere and you not move yourself no I heard God he believed God he moved out and he built what God told him to build can I tell you today that God blesses builders I said God blesses builders build your family build your marriages build your sons build your daughters build your dream build your vision but every day you ought to wake up and find a way to build something for the glory of God Noah being warned of God he built something that ultimately saved his entire household to every man to every woman to every leader to every mother to every father to every brother to every sister to everyone through preneur to every pastor to every apostle to every Deacon to every servant you have got to build something at the end of the day that will save your household and it's not good enough to just build it you have got to build it according to the pattern you have got to build it and you got to build it right why because if you don't build and right it will not be able to withstand the storms that you will find yourself in Noah preserved his entire family and can I ask you today what good isn't gonna do us if we gain the whole world but we lose our own household time out for us Jason to save everybody around the world while those that sleep under our own roof don't even know Jesus I get I get weary of that I get I I got I get weary of people who will say god's called me to the nation's but your own house is jacked up your own marriage is falling apart your own children don't respect you i say stay home and build it right there and then let that be the basis from which your ministry flows out of if i've had any success in ministry outside of this house it is because of the fact that i've tried we bishop and myself have tried to keep our house in order so when i go i go not trying to find something to make me feel fulfilled I go with a strength that I know home is pushing me home is praying for me home is believing for me home is saying God's sake somebody deliver somebody let your spirit rest in that place tonight I wouldn't want to do it any other way so you gotta build it and you gotta build it right Noah preserved his whole family because he built something that was so strong that when the worst storm that ever hit the world hit it could not destroy what Moses had built and it was not because he went down to Home Depot and walked through my force and he went down and God nails and hammers no it happened it was built because he built it according to the plan of God and can I tell you it really doesn't matter how pretty your Bodhi is on the outside a lot of people work to make their boat pretty on the outside it don't matter how pretty your marriage is on the outside it doesn't matter how wonderful you tell us that your ministry is it doesn't matter how grand that your life may appear to be I tell you you better get ready because you will never know what you have until you have come through a real storm it takes a good storm to see how solid your life really is I said it takes a good storm to know that your marriage is a strong marriage it takes a good storm to know that your family is strong sometimes we all at one point or another will go through storms and it is going in a fun but it is going through them hunkering down praying together believing God together believing for the best out of every person in your household that is how you begin when you come through and you survive it that's how you know hot devil you can't touch this you might as well back up because you don't want none of this and at the end of the day when this man had obeyed God in spite of the fact that he was ridiculed this in spite of the fact that he was an embarrassment to his kids can you imagine his kids coming home from school and their friends saying dad oh my god my friends are laughing at you what are you building are you sure God said that you had to build this I mean can you imagine the kids are embarrassed and I'm sure his wife is listen you are running up a bill down at Lowe's I'm telling you no I don't think this is gonna fit into our budget do you think I see in spite of all of that he built something and at the end of the day he built something that his whole family bought into he built something that his whole family leaned into he built something that when it was all said and done they all climbed up in the arc it wasn't comfortable it wasn't pretty it was a tight place because they put every animal every kind of animal in set everything that you can imagine was up in there how did that happen I don't know I stood about it all I know is God said it his words said it I believe that it was a tight place it had to be a stinky place think about it it had to be a stinky place it was a restricted place it was a messy place but when it's all said and done y'all it was the safest place that anybody could ever be let me tell you something about the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ I know people want to talk about the church and they want to ridicule the church and they want to say that the church is full of hypocrites I know that they sit up in barber shops and I know that they up in beauty shops and I know that they up around family reunions and gatherings and they talk about child I am so over it they laugh and they mark and they criticize the church they talk about people and they'll say things like I can't believe you're wasting your time going down to that church trying to put a parking lot in I can't believe you still believe that you've got to go do that there is mess in the church that's all kinds of mess in the church well let me tell you something there might be mess in the church and there might be hypocrites in the church but when it is all said and done I'm telling you there was mess in the Ark as well but everybody that bothered to climb up in the Ark live through the storm oh we may not be perfect and we may not always have it together and we may not have it going on and a lot of people have messed things up but I tell you what and it might even stink in the church but let me tell you something at the end of the day I would rather live in here with the stink then die out there with some girl yet somebody tell him you better get up in here you better get up in here right now get up in here is depending on it when they got in there they shut the door Bible said that no I shut the door and when he shut the door and what he had built and what his family had moved into when the rain started coming and raising higher and higher and higher it was the door that made all the difference there were people on the outside of the door that were crying let us let us in but it was the door well Jesus is the door I said Jesus is the door you better listen to him you better hear his voice it was the door that made the difference how many of you could say it was the door that made the difference in my life it was Jesus Christ I walked through what he opened up and he'd made a difference in my life Noah Noah came through the storm he passed the test he made it through the water and he landed safely on the other side you know the story that dove flew out the olive branch returned God sent a win and they wiped away the floodwaters Noah now has all the signs we're gonna be all right but the thing that Noah failed to understand and I want to help us to make sure that we do understand is that it's always at the end of the battle that you are the most vulnerable you might win but I'm gonna tell you it costs you something to win any mother's in here that ever pushed out a baby you don't even know what it costs you to push until that baby is delivered cuz see when you're in the middle of it you like every muscle in you says oh ah you come in here you coming in here today you coming into the world today but when it's all said and done it takes a minute for you to realize oh god what just happened it is at the end of the battle that you are most vulnerable it is often at the end of your greatest victory that you are confronted with your greatest defeat it is when you finally make it over it's when you finally come through when the crisis is no longer in front of you but it is behind you when you finally make it to the top that is when you are most susceptible to the strategies of the enemy to the scheme of the enemy you need to know we say this and it sounds cliche but it is true with every new level there are new Devils that's why the moment you make up in your mind to start searching after God to push your plate back to call on him to seek him with all that you have you are hit with an onslaught that comes against you why because you made up in your mind I want more of God always remember this everybody that asks for more remember that there is a cost for more I'm telling you that because I want you to go after more but I want you to go after it understanding that it will cost you something to get more from him that's why when you make up in your mind to go to another level you find yourself being attacked in a ways that you never thought you would be attacked by people that you never thought you would be attacked in places that you never thought you would be attacked over things that you never thought you would be attacked over weapons start being formed for reasons that you never thought would have ever happened that's the bad news but the good news here I don't care how many of them are formed they cannot prosper I said they cannot prosper and when the rains ceased and the waters subsided and the storm had blown over the ark landed on a mountaintop do y'all hear me the day after it had come through everything that had come through God made sure that it ended up on the mountaintop Noah heard God he obeyed God and because of his obedience his family and his entire family survived a storm that destroyed every other family on the face of the earth so in many ways Noah has succeeded but what do you sail to understand is that just because you win the battle it does not mean that you are going to win the war and I will just give you a heads up today any time God brings you through something that is fierce you need to catch your breath you need to wipe your sweat you need to find some way to refresh yourself and the fourth thing you need to do is get ready for round 2 because it is going to come your way the Bible says this was his post art days the Bible said that Noah now when he got off of the ark just like Abraham did when he got off of the ark he he built an altar and he thanked God for bringing him through everything that he had brought him through time goes by and or decides now he's going to be a husbandman and he moves from building boats into building our inter planting vineyards and making wine he is on the hills of his greatest success don't lose sight of that he is on the heels of his greatest success he's planted the vineyards he is now making wine and he has now decided that he's going to drink from the works of his own hands let me say it like this he is impressed with what he has done he is now believing his own press he is getting drunk on his own success I'm trying to find a way to say it so that everybody will understand what I'm trying to say and on top of all of that I'm talking I'm talking about not just any man I'm talking about a man that God chose to preserve the entire race a man that God chose that he would then he would he use him when everybody else was being destroyed he decided to preserve this man and now after everything God has brought him and his family through he has now taken a turn picked up another career and now he's feeling himself okay we're talking about the man that could hear God when nobody could hear God Young Yellin are you a tracking with me today we're talking about the man that faced criticism the man that was mocked the man that did something that he had never seen anybody else - it's one thing to do it if you've seen somebody do it but he had never seen anybody do it I'm talking about the man who sailed through what all other creation drowned in I'm talking about the man who had just had the greatest success in his life and now he is drunk drunkenness understand this drunkenness is a strategy of the enemy come on church am I on a church or what I would understand nobody say any man if we were in the club I said drunkenness is a strategy of the enemy if you've ever known anybody who was an alcoholic if you've ever known anybody who was controlled by alcohol then you would know exactly what I'm telling you it is a strategy of the enemy it is a warfare tactic it comes to kill to steal and to destroy the enemy once you're drunk and I'm not just talking about drunk in the natural I'm talking about he wants you're drunk simply because when you are drunk you lose your senses when you are drunk your speech gets a slur your speech changes sometimes when you're drunk you become incoherent and unintelligible you say things when you're drunk that make absolutely zero sense when you're drunk it's hard to walk a straight line you can tell them you're not drunk but eventually what you say out of your mouth will not line up with your feet so you can talk the talk but you can't walk the walk because you're drunk when you're drunk you're unstable in all your ways you say dumb things you do dumb things you think dumb things you are unstable in all of your ways you stagger you stagger when you're drunk and you might even run into somebody sorry I didn't mean it I mean I run into either see y'all act like you know I've never seen a drunk person in your life hello don't y'all leave me out here like this when you're drunk you lose your coordination things that you should be able to do you cannot do it because something has taken over your senses when you are drunk your hearing is impaired and because your hearing is impaired your response time is slower than it would normally be when you are drunk your good judgment is compromised when you are drunk you can look at somebody that you would have at one time called ugly but now you think that cute that's cause you're drunk when you're drunk you're loud you can be obnoxious you can be rude you can be aggressive because when you're drunk is just your world and everybody else is in it okay when you are drunk you become confused and you become confusing to others when your god y'all are just thinking about that drunk I hope that your brain can track with me today and you can know that I'm talking about more than somebody that has just drunk a bottle of liquor okay we he was drunk on the works of his own hands he was drunk with what he produced he was feeling good about himself when you are drunk you can be disorderly you can be offensive and sometimes you can be over-friendly because your flesh is out of control and the reason I call it a war tactic and a strategy of the enemy is because when you want to overcome somebody's will or somebody's plan or somebody's agenda or you want to overcome somebody's convictions you get them good and drunk because if you get them drunk no will eventually become yes things that you would have never agreed to you will agree to when you are drunk things that you said you would never do you will find yourself doing or somebody will tell you about you doing it you are drunk Noah the man that heard god here's what I'm trying to say to you today is that if this man was a man that could hear God when there was no TD jakes when there was no Billy Graham when there was no Joel Osteen when there was no heroes of the faith that had voices that were declaring the word to us if this man who was so keen and in connection with God that he could hear him when nobody else could hear him if he could hear him when and obey God and build a boat against all odds and protect and cover his family in a storm if this man can get drunk and now compromise the safety of his precious family all I'm saying to you is don't sit up here today and act like guardrails are not necessary in your life we all need them and may I interject here that you can get drunk off of so much more than liquor you can get drunk off of prestige you can get drunk off of your status God blesses you finally you were able to pay your rent three months in a row and not be late your status has changed but your attitude has changed too and you become arrogant and you forgot what it was like to be in that place and you just barely get out and you talk about people who are going through it it's it's cuz you're drunk I said it's because you're drunk position can cause you to be drunk people get drunk off their position you give them a position and all of a sudden they turn into just somebody completely different oh that I've hired people thinking I was hiring up one person and turn around and found out who are you I don't even know who you are you know what happened your title has gone to your head and now though your attitude is just gonna disqualify you from what God had tried to open up for you lord help me Jesus people get power and power goes to their head Oh y'all but ultimately you better remember that all power belongs to God and if he ever chooses to share any of it with you you better be careful how you handle it cuz you don't want it to blow up in your own face no I was drunk when he should have been celebrating the greatest moments of his life we made it y'all we came through it Lord thank you for helping us thank you for warning me in advance thank you for my team my family thank you God that we chose to pull together we came through it when he should have been celebrating his greatest moments in life he missed them because he was suffering from a loss of consciousness his son Ham walked into his father's tent and when he did he saw Noah the Bible says drunk and uncovered in his tent I don't know what happened in that tent but I will tell you there was more to the story than just a glance for the Bible said and Noah awoke from his wand and he knew somebody shalt know he knew what his youngest son had done unto him he knew so there had to be some kind of a tangible evidence that he knew that something had happened to him I don't know what happened in that tent and you don't know what happened he and there's been a lot of scholars and theologians that have tried to speculate through the years as to what went on in that tent but ultimately they don't know what went on in there either but what I do know is that it would have never happened had no one not been true what I want you to see today is that it is expensive to be trunk it will cost you way more than anything you should be willing to pay and whatever it costs Noah whether it was his wife whether it was his masculinity whether it was the respect of his sons it was a price that was way too high for any person to be willing to pay what I want you to know today is that the devil ultimately wants us all paying that kind of price he wants us all to be drunk and unconscious so that he can work us over and if he can get us drunk if he can get us distracted then he can destroy our culture our family our future our heritage our inheritance our legacy our birthright our position he can destroy our influence our community and ultimately our world who would have thought that our world would be in the shape that it is in today I am shocked every day that I turn on the news and I find out more stuff stuff I'm thinking about my grandkids and I'm like they are growing up in a world that I I didn't even come close to growing up in the stuff that gets on the news who would ever thought that kids would be imprisoned for killing parents who would have ever thought that grandsons would rob their grandmothers at gunpoint who would have ever thought that parents would sell children into human trafficking listen let me tell you while we've been having good Church and singing and dancing and shouting and prophesied and do all all kinds of stuff in this building while we've been parading our talents and while we've been showing our abilities and our giftings and while we've been celebrating our little successes like you know who I know you know who I'm gonna selfie with you know you know all that kind of stuff while we've been doing all that crazy stuff the devil is wrecking homes and he's wrecking marriages he's wrecking families he's wrecking the country he is wrecking our nation he is wrecking our kids he is violating and sabotaging their future and their destiny and their purpose and I am tired of watching it on TV I'm tired of watching them die like dogs in the street because one bullet wasn't enough to stop them we got to shoot them even though they're on the ground 16 look at somebody at UM sober up we're losing a generation while we've been shouting and having Church and encouraging one another we've not been taking what we've got on here inside to the outside and we're losing an entire generation you know why they're in gangs cuz they feel accepted they don't feel accepted among us they feel accepted so that's where they're gonna go where they feel accepted from alcohol to homicide to suicide to sexually transmitted diseases to opioid abuse we're losing a generation opioid yeah opioid abuse crisis is huge 2017 alone 72,000 people died because of an opioid overdose that ain't counting all the people that died from sickness car accidents all that kind of stuff that is from people who are trying to get a high trying to escape when the church is right there in their neighborhood but just to breakdown somehow they don't know that they can get help in the church could it be because we asked the church people I'm so busy doing our thing and get now Juanita I need to get my praise on today I need them to sing my song oh I need pastor Brady to preach until I feel it in my guts I need it and somebody just searching for the God that you and I say that we have well they tell you something we got to take the gospel to the world I'm not saying we all got to get passed up what do you call it what do you get it when you go passports I'm not saying we all got to get passports and go out of the country I'm everybody's like oh I'm gonna be a missionary in so-and-so why don't you be a missionary in Frisco until that happens can you just be a missionary on your street can you just find somebody who looks wayward and lost can you find somebody who's counting pennies to pay for what they gotta have to check out and you just say go on baby I got it I got it this is just the goodness of God he's showing you that he knows right where he's at right where you're headed he's got you covered do you understand that as of March 2018 this year we began losing 150 people every 24 hours because of opioids I know y'all want to preach about shadrach but we need to talk about him today a hundred and fifteen people by this time tomorrow a hundred and fifteen people will be either on their way to heaven or hell whatever we are drinking whatever you not come it's costing us Whittemore did we ought to be willing to pay look at somebody to sober up sober to see the devil don't mind how many times we've come to church he don't mind how much we serve you don't mind how many small groups you're a part of he don't mind us shouting and singing but his biggest fear is that the church is going to wake up and sober up and realize that we are the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm serving notice to him today to tell him that's exactly what is happening and we are not going to be the church we are the church because God is bringing us out of complacency he's bringing us out of our intoxicated condition and we're giving our hunger back for God we're getting our integrity back we're setting our priorities straight we're becoming accountable we're putting guardrails up in our life saying I refuse to go overboard if I don't have to we're coming back into prayer we're coming back into holiness we're coming back into alignment we're coming back into the Great Commandment and the Great Commission which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as Russ turn around I tell two people it's just time okay it's just time it's time to grow it's time to mature it's time to put some things away what's and for all it's time to come out of the gray areas called black black call white white it's time to crown to God for direction and discernment it's time to come back to our senses to wake up and to sober up and to care about somebody beside ourself it's time for us to be our brother's keeper and if you really are your brother's keeper your brother your sisters keeper or if you really are a friend then please don't let me get this close to my destiny and my partner's and get drunk on sex [Applause] but if by chance I'd to make sure that you wake me up shake me rattle me roll me but don't let me stay there because if you really are my friend friends don't let friends drive have somebody tell them sober up sober sober up wake up there's too much at stake the devil wants to truck and distract him get what's ours parents in unstable he wants you making wrong decisions he wants you jeopardizing Christ Jesus look at somebody of time time to wake you up wake up before you miss your finest hour wake up before you miss what's yours for wake up get somebody's son misses a wake-up calls turn it on the warning signs don't ignore the warning signs cause if you ignore the you cross over the lines and you'll find yourself in a dangerous so as I close this out sit down cuz I want you to hear me very clear that's that close this series out I would encourage you to put up put up some personal guard rails look at somebody tell him put him up put him up put him up God did not tell us to have this series just so that we could preach about it for four weeks and you all clap and say oh that was good no we got to apply the word to ourselves as your pastor somebody that loves you that cares somebody that don't want to see you miss it somebody that will fight for you and if I gotta fight you for you I'll fight you for you I don't care I scared and I want to challenge you to put up some guardrails in your life you may have already maybe you've had some in times past little bit little you've allowed them to be brought down personal guardrails what they are really there for is to wake you up or to sober you up so that you don't stray over into a danger someone that could hurt hurt you or possibly hurt somebody you love or hurt somebody you don't even know I want to challenge you to take an honest look at yourself consider where you need to reestablish guardrails guard your heart the scripture says guard your heart against sin how do I do that by favor asleep working for Jesus Christ because when you really work for God you ain't got time to sin hello you're too busy working for him to have time to sin guard your heart against greed God has blessed you don't allow yourself to become greedy how do I do that by giving by giving giving us the easiest way to guard your heart because what it means is you will always have money but money will never have you guard your heart against selfishness think of somebody else guard your heart against pride guard your heart against jealousy guard your heart against envy guard your heart against comparison above all else guard your heart against letting down your guard because an unguarded heart can hold for power our most powerfully guarded behavior you might have this behavior that you feel like you got you got got this one I got a grip on this one but if your heart is left unguarded your heart can overpower your beautifully strongly guarded behavior and remember this and once something is done you may get forgiveness but you can never undo it so before you do it in your house to people that you do really love and salt the guardrails in your life when something is said you can never unsee it I don't care you can say a thousand times I didn't mean it I didn't mean it I didn't mean it it don't matter you said it and now it's large the enemy uses it to lodge nine out of time ten times you might not am in it but that's how the enemy works he'll take your words and it twists your words just somebody who really really loved and now there's a breach that didn't have to be there because we were not guarded in what we were saying so today I want to ask you how is your heart just think about it for a minute I want you to forget everything else for the next 30 seconds because I might ask you few questions back-to-back and I just want you to not worry about the person next to you I want you to look at your inside yourself how is my heart am i angry over something am i bitter over something that I should be over am i resentful am i obsessed with what somebody has done to me that it just eats away at my mind are you secretly celebrating the misfortune of another person are you driving drunk crossing over lines putting other people's lives as well as your own at risk if you said yes to even one of those questions your heart is not okay your heart is not okay and you need to be intentional about getting your heart back into a healthy place by flushing some things out of you but they didn't ask me to forgive them it don't matter it no matter if they ever ask you this is about you and God it ain't even about them they've done moved on with their life they're living they're having a wonderful time and we're still your frettin while they've moved on stress stress is killing us letting go engine says mine saith god he says I can do it you can do it but I ain't gonna play tug O'War with you give it to me I'm giving it to you but I promise if you give it to me you'll be much happier with the results how's your established guardrails in areas that you know you are weaken don't just have like you ain't weak in them you're waking them and you can be strong in one area you can be big in one area and be little in another one pull somebody into your life and say hey can i bounce something off of you you think I'm you think I'm wrong for thinking like this do you think I need to that I'm just need to repent over this and move on and if you have ran into a real guardrail they'll be like you you bet your bottom dollar because it's surely worth it you need guardrails but you need to be guardrails for people that are in your life you know why here's why cuz a guardrail says this far and no further I'm not going any further in this I'm gonna bounce back onto the pathway that has the purpose of God for my life and I'm gonna set my face like a flint and I don't care what they did and I don't care who date they do they did or what they did I don't care who got chosen and I didn't get chosen it does not matter I'm giving it all to God no more distractions no more drunkenness just giving it damn that's the greatest place I have ever found myself in when I could say the battle is yours it hurts them it hurts for a little bit but if you if you everyday you'll say to that thing you're not drawing me back into that I'm gonna focus I'm gonna drive I'm gonna get where I'm going I'm gonna do what God's called me to do I'm gonna protect every passenger that climbs up in my car hello and we'll set my face like a flint toward the will of God I'm tell you at some point I don't know when I don't know I can't even point point back to the day but somewhere along the journey God just blows in and gives you a breath of fresh air and when you see them the very people who were controlling your life from afar because they were controlling your heart whatever you do see them you've been like oh yeah and you just keep moving and it doesn't affect you because you know that what they meant for evil God made it for your good guardrails are a gift card reels are a gift accept them be them help somebody don't always be the needy one hello are you always the needy one in the family why don't you flip the script and just freak somebody out hey what can I do for you today how can i bless you I can't tell your rim but you know what I can give you $5.00 where the gasps I want to be be a blessing be a guardrail and make sure that you have them around your heart will you just stand with me all over the building every head bowed in every eye closed and please no moving for just a moment maybe you're in this room or you're watching online you're saying pastor Brady I need Jesus in my heart that's the first step I need to ask him to be in my heart to forgive me of my sin and help me to establish guardrails in my life I want to live for God I want to live I want to fulfill my purpose I know that everything that God ever made that he attached a purpose with it so I have a purpose if that's you and you say I want you to pray for me will you slip up your hand because I want to see you all over the building I see them I see don't be ashamed to them up high high as if you're reaching for God because that's exactly what you're doing I can't even count I don't know somebody else I have to count because I can't even count there's many hands that have went up those of you that had your hands lifted I want to pray a prayer father's house North is gonna help you I'm gonna pray you gonna you need to repeat it after me because we're gonna switch some things in your life today you came in one way but you're going out another you're going out with purpose you're going out with destiny you're going out with an understanding that you are no longer who you were but you are a new creature in Christ Jesus we're gonna pray this prayer if you're watching online right where you are you pray this prayer with us say father I'm coming to you today because I'm inviting you to come into my life move into my life forgive me of my sin forgive me of all the days that I've wasted doing my own thing as of today and make a decision and I decree with my mouth that I ain't serving nobody but you and who you tell me to serve I love you Jesus I thank you for the blood I thank you for the blood it covers me it washes away my sin and from this day forward I will serve Him all the days of my life somebody that saved clap your hands and holla make some noise hallelujah turn around and high-five somebody tell em up say everybody everybody everybody this is what I want you to do real quick don't move I want you to I got I got a still close this message out I want you to look in the seat pocket in front of you if you see a tithing envelope or an offering envelope I want you to get it out I want you to prepare your seat we're going to receive our tithe and offering and this is a holy moment we're going to worship with this some of y'all need it breakthrough in your life financially I want you to get something and put it in that envelope if you don't have an envelope they'll have them in the aisles I can't I probably caught everybody off guard but they'll have them if you'll raise your hand they'll be happy to put one in your hand I want everybody to get something in your hand this is our tithe and offering we bring God his tithe are offering his tithe an are offering if this word has found you today I want you to get something in your hand we're gonna give corporately there's something that's holy when it comes to bringing God our money because we're taking what He has given us and we're putting it back in his hand and it's preparing us to be in a position for increase I want you to get it I want you to get it in your hand get it quickly they got some envelopes right here if you need it maybe you give on your phone it doesn't matter even if you give during the week I want you to grab something to give right now in this moment ask me why I don't know I just know I feel impressed in my heart as soon as I get to my phone I'm gonna give something because it's it's just the moment God said prepare I want to set you up for increase in your life and I want to bless you and I want to make sure that you ain't drunk on the blessings that I'm Gary to send you your life hallelujah God's get ready to bless some of the so big that if we don't nail some things we won't have that blessing for long because we'll pull around and mess it up I'm tired I am messing it up I said I messing it up by the grace of God I don't want to mess it up I want to be one that's found giving God what belongs to him anybody need an envelope this is there somebody there's somebody up here that needs an envelope when you get it and you get your seat prepared I want you to hold it up high hold your phone up even if you give on your phone whatever I never how you give lifted up high come on I want to I want to you I want to see you lift it cuz I want us to surrender it to God that's what that means when we lift up our hands it's a sign of surrender as we give our tithes and our offerings are saying God I surrender my finances to you that means they're yours that means you're gonna teach me how to budget that means when I need increase you're gonna send increase that means when I need a seed to sow you're gonna give me the seeds or so you are in charge God hallelujah somebody gotta turn it over to Jesus you've been walking the floor trying to figure out how you were gonna make it happen I dare you to turn it over to him father in the name of Jesus as we lift up our seed whether in the building or whether we're watching online I pray father that you would allow this seed God to position us and for some of us reposition us into a place of increase I'm asking God that as we're obedient and we bring to you what belongs to you and we attach our seed to that that you would just do everything that you said you would do which is bless us open the windows of heaven and pour out upon us press down shaken together and running over somebody needs a miracle today and in this moment that we have marked as holy we bring the tithe and the offering into your house and we thank you now that you're going to bless our lives soon soon quick a quick carcass a quick return Oh turn it around overnight Jesus somebody needs it that fast they need it overnight Lord I believe that's your able to do it show us who you are sir all y'all wait around in our life we'll give you thanks for it in the name of Jesus somebody that will thank him holla hey man take this seat s it all the way to your left all the way to your left when your seed leaves your hand I want you to look in the seat pocket that's in front of you and when you do you should see a card that says guardrails on it it's a small low card if you don't have one I want you to say something yeah it's a little one if you if you don't see one that meant somebody that's set in your seat in the first service really needed a card cuz they took yours in theirs you see that card talk back to me so I know y'all got it okay here's what I want to ask you to do I want to ask you on that card it says guardrails I'm sticking to these are the guardrails that I'm sticking to okay we put a few things up here but that's just in case it helps trigger something in your mind you don't have to do that right there but what they're saying is this is what I'm going to do this is what I'm going to this is what I'm going to stop doing this is what I'm gonna continue doing and this is what I'm gonna start doing if you've made some commitments or you're planning to make some commitments as a result of this series what I want to ask you to do today it's just one look quick line for each of those this is what I'm gonna stop doing write that down this is what I'm gonna continue doing write that down and this is what I'm gonna start doing write that down and what I'm gonna ask you to do once you get them and this isn't just this just we're getting ready to approach the altar so that's no joke when we come to the altar it's not time to chit chat or fellowship what I want you to do is you'll see that that is a sticky note I want you to write down remember what you've written down and I want you to walk up here and put it on the guardrail and what you're saying is this is what I'm committing to God fresh and new in my life y'all following me somebody might say I want to stop talking negatively I want to stop gossip I want to stop doing things that that are not good for me somebody might save them but what I'm gonna continue to do is read my Bible I'm gonna continue to pray I'm gonna continue to believe God that whatever he has promised me he's able to bring it to pass I'm gonna start speaking life to myself I'm gonna start seeking positive relationships you might want to use some of those you might have your completely already your own that you want to write down there I want to ask you today just as a sign and a point of contact the fact that you are making a commitment I want you to get out of your seat and walk up here stick it on this altar and then go back to your seat we're gonna do a final dismissal together but right now as you approach the altar y'all can play could play a little bit louder so I can hear you I want you to come and I want you to approach this altar and stick it on there god I'm gonna come into some things I'm through running I'm through playing Lord this is what I'm gonna continue to do I'm making these commitments and I'm gonna stick to this guardrail I'm opening up myself for the correction of the Lord so that if I'm wrong he has a way of getting to me and telling me so that I waste time going down a wrong road I'm opening my heart up to you God cuz I want to live for you alone [Music] have your way in it's a music gonna give you give you give you my song give you my soul I wanna live for you long before that's it this is my commitment Lord every Holy Spirit have your way come on that's a simple song sing it as your for you give you my heart if you're watching online do what y'all have it doesn't matter find a sticky note somewhere between today tomorrow and write down those things this is what I'm gonna start doing it's what I'm gonna stop doing this is what I'm gonna continue doing it's the commitment between you and God I dare you to do it it'll bless you

Channel: Sheryl Brady

Views: 20,395

Rating: 4.793313 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Sheryl Brady, Sheryl Brady, The Potter's House of North Dallas

Id: z4uvORzAosU

Length: 74min 55sec (4495 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 11 2018