August 29, 2021
(walking in purpose, exercising trust, standing in faith)
MOVING TIME– I hate moving. I hate everything about it. I’ll load the truck and unload the truck but packing the boxes is not my thing. Moving is uncomfortable and time consuming but if it’s God’s will, there’s a purpose behind it. But when God tells you to go, You go!
Genesis 12:1-4 “The Lord said to Abram, leave your father’s country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All families on earth will be blessed through you. So, Abram departed as the Lord instructed…” (NLT)
But you know what’s harder than moving from one house to another? You know what’s harder than packing up boxes and loading up a truck and carrying stuff down stairs? You know what’s harder? MOVING FROM COMFORT TO PURPOSE
Abraham had a comfortable life. Abraham had everything you could want and then some. But he didn’t have purpose.
You know I think most people want to feel like they have a reason for being on this earth. They want to discover their purpose. They want to know why God made them and what His plans are for their lives. But unless we take that step to move from comfort to purpose, we may never know what God has in store for us.
- LIVING A FAITH FULL LIFE IS ABOUT A WILLINGNESS TO STEP OUT OF COMFORT SO THAT YOU CAN STEP IN TO PURPOSE
We live in a pretty comfortable place. We are free to move around as we wish. We are able to talk to whoever we want to talk to. We can fellowship with whomever we choose but yet we are blinded by the voices we choose to listen to that are contradictive to what God has told us. Because sometimes what God says to us isn’t comfortable. Where God tells us to go will lead us out of our comfort zone. When you cant see what’s around you have to rely on the voices that surround you. When God tells you to go, we have a tendency to stay in our comfort zone because we cant see what he has for us on the other side. But on the other side is so much more than what we could have ever seen on our own. So maybe just maybe the reason why so many people feel like they are living without purpose is because they are too dependent on comfort.
I don’t believe God has called us to live a comfortable life. I think He has called us to live a purposeful life. But you can’t live a purposeful life apart from a faith full life.
So how do we begin to develop this faith full life? How do we fuel up on faith so that we are able to step out of comfort and into purpose?
Psalm 37:23-24 “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand.”
Every step of faith is met by God. If we have heard from God and we take a step He isn’t going to let us fall….(Peter on the water) Matthew 14:25-32 NIV
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
God will not take you somewhere that He hasn’t already prepared for you to go
What do you do when you step out in faith, when you risk something for God, when you step out of comfort and into purpose… but still the thing you want most in life doesn’t seem to be coming your way? (transition story)
- LIVING A FAITH FULL LIFE IS ABOUT A WILLINGNESS TO TRUST THAT GOD’S TIMING IS ALWAYS THE BEST TIMING
God knows what we want… he knows the desires of our heart, but even more than that He knows what we need and when we need it.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
WE DON’T LIKE TO BE PATIENT…
Patients isn’t an easy thing for most of us. And typically, when things are taking too long we try to force them to speed up. (grocery lines, traffic, kids growing up faster)
Living a faith full life has more to do with trust than anything. So often we mistake God’s silence for God’s absence. God is never absent. God is always aware of every situation. We just have to trust that He has our best interest in mind.
God’s delayed blessings are always better than our forced fulfillment.
Genesis 21:5 “Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.”
Faith isn’t just a feeling or emotion. We have to work at building our faith so that we can live a faith full life. How do we do that?..by practicing patience, being content in all things, and always trusting that God’s timing is perfect.
Philippians 4:12-13 “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (NLT)
- LIVING A FAITH FULL LIFE IS SIMPLY ABOUT A WILLINGNESS TO BELIEVE
BELIEVE WHAT THOUGH?
What do we have to believe… what is the foundation of faith?
–BELIEVING WE ARE A SINNERS
Romans 3:23 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (NLT)
–BELIEVING THAT JESUS IS OUR SAVIOR
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
Mark 16:16 “Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.” (NLT)
Faith in Jesus is what brings you back into right relationship with God.
And faith is all about believing.
Hebrews 11:1 “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
CLOSING
I don’t know where you are at today… Some of you in this room may need to be reminded today of what you believe in. The belief in a God that sent his son to be sacrificed and a Son that was willing to be sacrificed. Maybe you need to be reminded that it is this sacrifice that saved you from your sin and made you right with God.
Others of you may be trying to decide to believe for the first time. And that takes you having just a little bit of faith to believe. Today is your day to make that decision and put your faith in the God who loves you and wants the best for you.