Doing the Work Part 2

Seek Him FIRST

Lets PRAY

Father, open our hearts, awake our mind, and empower our FOCUS on the SPIRIT this morning

YOU ARE ALL

YOU HAVE ALL

YOU GAVE ALL

YOU CONTROL ALL

and YOU WORK ALL THINGS

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

We are picking up where we left off last week.

DOING THE WORK

it is TOUGH, It Can be MESSY

and saws cut, nail pierce, and demo is dirty

We must guard our minds if

during our first years as a Christian we thought LIFE WOULD BE EASIER

LIVING IN HIM DAILY

is a CONSTANT STATE OF REMODEL

so LETS

Matthew 6:33 ESV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Deuteronomy 4:29 ESV

29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 33:3 ESV

3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

DO NOT MEDDLE

How would you start the Work?

a simple analogy is you

have a scheduled start date

and you are waiting on the crew to arrive

Let me give you a hint, the field foreman is already in YOU

YOU need simply to surrender and allow them to do the work

all too often in WE WANT TO BE INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

and as a contractor i can admit that can cause issues

Monitoring YES

Meddling NO

We all too often MEDDLE in God’s Plan

thinking the GREATEST CONTRACTOR needs our input

There is a lack of TRUST that drives us to MEDDLE

the I NEED TO KNOW syndrome

WE want to KNOW WHY ——

TRUTH ONE — IF YOU FULLY TRUST YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW ___ YOU TRUST

DO THE WORK

TRUE —- the home owner is needed at times

Where is this connected?

do you know the history?

THE BEST REMODELS are when the owner and contractor are ALIGNED

Let us remember

You hired the BEST —- So let them do the WORK

You have no chance of DEBT in this — PRICE IS PAID

no chance of a Failed REMODEL

We simply need to surrender....… TRUST IN HIM

We need to ALIGN the DESIGN

all are starts with SURRENDER

you NOW know the NEED

and you HIRED RIGHT

NOW TRUST HIM

DOING THE WORK- PART 2

3. Demo Day - Align the Design

Bible Verse

Matthew 6:33 (NIV)

33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Application

So you are standing at the entrance to the Property

you are a little overwhelmed

you are quiet and mulling over things in your mind

Then you remember PAUSE

You start to PRAY — Dear Lord…

You take a breathe — PONDERING — Seek first HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS

you PROCEED knowing that the Designer of the Universe —

The creater of all things BIG and SMALL is YOUR REMODELER

Illustration

a Japanese master during the Meiji era, received a university professor who came to inquire about WISDOM

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself.

“It is overfull. No more will go in!”

Like this cup, Nan-in said, you are full of your own opinions and speculations.

How can I show you WISDOM unless you first empty your cup?

I like the tea story a lot,

it is a great reminder that in order to learn we have to be humble, to empty our mind and make room for the new.

Application

Time to DIG in.

Lets DO DEMO DAY…

Application

Lets take a moment to pray

dear Lord

Let us say together this simple PRAYER:

Empty me

of the OLD

so that I may be NEW in YOU

Illustration

If you have ever watched CHIP and JOANNA

you know the excitement that CHIP has for DEMO DAY(!!!!)

that DUMPSTER IS ON SITE

the SLEDGEHAMMER is in HAND

Time to bust it up!!!!

Application

What we are talking about here is:

Emptying the TRASH

REMOVING THE OLD HABITS

REMOVING OLD THINGS

and Preparing for the NEW

Seek First the KINGDOM of GOD and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS

9 elements of the Fruit of the SPIRIT

They are in the PLANS

We look in the GARAGE and we see the NEW THINGS

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS RIGHT THERE READY TO BE INSTALLED IN YOU

Maybe ACTIVATED is a better phrase

Bible Verse

Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

ALIGN THE PLAN WITH THE MAN The LORD JESUS

RIGHTLY HANDLE THE TOOLS

We are going to SEEK FIRST

Illustration

In construction there is a MAJOR RULE

MEASURE TWICE AND CUT ONCE

Good Advice

Sometimes we need to measure a third or four time

we need to check the alignment to ensure that it is SQUARE

I am always amazed at the BIG CONTRACTOR

the ones building multistory buildings or the ones building SKYSCRAPPERS

They have the plans and THEY USE THEM

They check level, square, and plumb

We need to check that also

BUT we need to set boundaries and LIMITS

4. Balance the WORK with REST

Application

you know the story of CREATION in Genesis 1

Have you paid attention to the balance

GOD could have spoken it all in to existence with a word a breath – all six days at once

God chose to teach us

BALANCE

“and there was evening, and then morning”

GOD taught us that even HE used a PLAN

GOD chose to not be ALL consuming in the PLAN

WE should trust HIS model

Listen to THIS WISDOM

You need to work daily on your REMODEL

BUT GOD gave us a DESIGN

We need to also know that we need DAILY REST

DAILY REVIEW OF THE PLANS

SCHEDULED TIME to Start and Finish for the Day.

Bible Verse

Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Bible Verse

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)

1There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

4a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Application

Some of us are Drivers

Some of us are NOT

We all need to be workers with balance

and UNDERSTANDING

A REMODEL TAKES TIME

We know that work is good – God designed and assigned that to us.

and God said to work with a purpose

So let me CLARIFY something ——- LET ME HELP YOUR MIND FIND REST

YES WE NEED TO CHANGE TO REMODEL

BUT it is IN HIS TIME NOT OURS

WE DON’T call the GREATEST CONTRACTOR and YELL about the COMPLETION TIME

IT IS A BLESSING

TRUST IN HIM

Bible Verse

Colossians 3:17 (NIV)

17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Illustration

I read this quote the other day

Do not get mad at lazy people

They didn’t do it

Doing the Work

We all try to HELP

the issue can be our SELFISHNESS

TRUST IN HIM —- DO THE WORK ASK OF YOU?

Your JOY will DEEPEN

Your PERSPECTIVE will CHANGE

Bible Verse

2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV)

15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Look HERE IS SIMPLE WISDOM

TRY

DO YOUR BEST DAILY

I think there is PEACE in asking yourself often

DID I DO MY BEST

DID I DO IT WITH THE RIGHT HEART

if SO THEN LET GO AND LET GOD

We are the UNDER SHEPARD

DOING THE WORK

We must learn and study

GOD’s word

learn to use a BIBLE Dictionary

Concordances

Commentaries

Friends DOWNLOAD blueletterbible.org

study what it is like to be BEREAN about your study.

Check the manual

VERIFY THE PLANS Finally we need to be open to having others involved

6. Recruiting Others

Application

I want you to HEAR this one thing

HUMILITY

Humility is not leaning on your own power, own on ways, your own plans

Friends

seek the advice and counsel on your plan

Your Pastor

Your GROUP

Your BIBLE

Your RESOURCES – commentary etc…

Your mentor

Your LORD

Seek first the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness

Bible Verse

Proverbs 27:17 (NIV)

17As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Bible Verse

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV)

9Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:

10If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

7. Conclusion

Application

The mission today was to align the design

to make a

GOD honoring GOD involved GOD MANAGED PLAN

We

Learned to ALIGN with GOD

To balance work and Rest

To seek HIM often — check the level, square and Plumb

To rightly hand the tools

and to Recruit and allow others

Lets pray