The Price of a Yes

Pastors Appreciation - Recognizing their Yes

And now, friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!

1 Th 5:12–13 (The Message)

No Better than My Fathers

*Elijah’s Great Victory*

1 Kings 18:38–39 “Then the Lord’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell facedown and said, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!””

*immediately following Elijah’s great victory…*

1 Kings 19:1–4 “Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!”

Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there, but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my [fathers].””

*I want you to see how quickly Elijah could go from saying YES to God (facing down the prophets of baal), to running for his life and praying to die.

A Yes to God is not a ticket out of your Troubles. It’s actually an invitation into greater formation.

Principle: We are often convinced when we say YES to God (a great victory, great inspiration, promise from God) we are just on the verge of our Promise Land! We are on a “prayer line high”...

Country Songs played backwards (…I know ya’ll only listen to worship music all day…)

But actually, our YES to God is just the start…it’s more like an INVITATION to God’s shaping in our lives than it is an INSTANTANEOUS DELIVERANCE from our troubles.

Anyone said yes to God and got home and feel like you’re under attack??!

The Work of the Holy Spirit is to shape and form the Church....

There are some things in me that can’t begin to be formed until I am ready to say YES.

Spiritual formation is the careful attentiveness to the work of God, our master sculptor, as we submit to the gradual chipping away of all that is not of God, until the inner lion is revealed.

-Henri Nouwen

A Yes to God often leads to....

a test of my faith.

James 1:2–4 “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

a pruning in my life.

something or someone leaves my life; something I valued leaves my life

Some things you can’t carry with you into the next season.

a wrestling with my own failures, disappointments, and fears.

*Doesn’t mean you have done something wrong or disobeyed God...

We can’t judge the course of our life by finding the paths of least resistance!

Elijah’s swing of Emotions

Elijah went from facing down the prophets of baal, to running for his life, to praying for his life to end all in about one day!!!

anybody else experienced the range of emotions of a middle school girl???

…from on top of the world, to end of the world, to best friends, to sworn enemies…and that’s just a regular Monday!!!

(you can tell what stage of parenting I am in!!)

Principle: It’s often at the height of our self-confidence (greatest victories) that we are most susceptible to our greatest doubts and fears.

Why?

Saying YES to God takes you out of your comfort zone and into a place of reliance on the Holy Spirit.

It’s about an invitation into the shaping of our inner life.

Saying YES puts you into the deep waters of faith.

And sometimes it feels like being dumped on!

A little bird was south during a cold winter snow storm. It was so cold that the bird couldn’t fly anymore and fell down and landed near a farmer’s barn. While lying down helpless on the ground and freezing, a cow came by and dropped a big poop on him.

The poop was so warm that the little freezing bird started warming up and feeling better. The bird was so happy to feel warm that he started to sing. A cat heard the bird singing, so he followed the voice until he found the bird, so he dug him out of the poop and ate him.

3 Morals of the story:

Not everybody who poops on you is your enemy.

Not everybody who digs you out of the poop is your friend.

When you’re in deep poop, sometimes the best thing you can do is just keep quiet.

One of the greatest hinderances to your faith is NOT what attacks are coming at you... It’s the turmoil that’s going on in you

This is really a message born out of my own life…it was often the times when I thought I had achieved great success in ministry that I was most vulnerable...

…and the times I believed I was a great failure, God was actually taking me somewhere that would only be possible through the deep processing of my life.

Good News: God will not leave you in your place of disappointment!

After Elijah prayed to die…God sent an angel to give him food and bread, and gave him this message: “Get up, eat and drink because God has a plan for your life.”

1 Kings 19:7–8 “Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him. He said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.”

I feel like that is a word for somebody today: God is not going to leave you at that place of disappointment.

Jesus wants to free you from that weight today!

The great story of the gospel is this....

Jesus came. Jesus died. Jesus rose again!

That’s the same story he’s inviting you to follow today.

The goal of faith is not to win great victories for Jesus…it’s to quiet our souls so that the world can see Jesus in our simple obedience.

Just say YES!

Three questions...

What is the “Yes” God is asking from your life today?

What is the price of your “yes” you've been unwilling to pay?

What lie of the enemy has scared you away from saying “yes” to Jesus?