Walking With God in the Details of Life
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Explain the background of
Walking with God in the details of life...
ILLUSTRATION: Josh Bell missionary. Called 5 years before his wife. And then another 5 years before they were able to get there.
We wake up in the morning, brush teeth take a shower...
We put some coffee on
We eat breakfast...
Maybe we read a little...
We go to work...
We drive the same roads...
We see the same people day after day after day...
We go home...
We watch TV
We get frustrated at the Phillies...
We help our kids do their homework...
We yell at our kids because they won’t do their homework...
We look at our spouse and wave like ships passing in the night...
Maybe we find some time to eat...
What the purpose in all this???
36 For David, after serving God’s purpose in his own generation, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and decayed,
37 but the one God raised up did not decay.
Acts 13:36-37
If you are feeling unmotivated, unsure of yourself, aimless, you’re not alone — many people are in the same boat.
served God’s purpose...
David made a difference. You were made to make a difference. He was called a man after God’s own heart.
The first & primary purpose of your life is be loved by God. Some of you think your problem is that you don’t love God enough. That’s not your problem. Your problem is that you don’t understand how much God loves you!
It’s important to serve God and trust God and love God and obey God but it’s more important to be loved by God. David allowed himself to be loved by God!
It’s not that you step into your purpose overnight; you step into it over time.
ILLUSTRATION: Josh Bell missionary. Called 5 years before his wife. And then another 5 years before they were able to get there.
How Do I Serve God’s Purpose in My Generation?
Don’t despise the small things.
Don’t despise the small things.
This is how God loves you. He begins with small things.
We tend to despise small things in our culture.
We think small things are less exciting than big things.
Less impacting.
Less effective.
Less worthwhile.
Paul & Barnabas were gaining experience.
Little is much when God is in it.
1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2 As they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Show up.
Get involved.
Serve where you are.
Gain experience.
Enjoy life’s opportunities.
Stop looking for a way out.
Practice Gratitude.
Develop Spiritual Habits (worship, pray, fast, give)
It is usually God’s way to begin his great works with small things.
first light of dawn is but feeble but it grows into the full noontide heat & glory.
The early days of Spring come with buds of promise but it take some time before we get to the beauties of summer or the refreshing days of autumn.
Have you noticed the great Oak Tree that comes from a tiny acorn?
Or how a beautiful flower comes from a tiny seed?
Even before Jesus was the great man upon the cross, or gloriously rose from the grave He was but a baby lying in a manger.
Walk with people in community.
Walk with people in community.
THis is how we let God love us. We let his people love us and we love them back! You serve God’s purpose in your generation when learn to love through relationship. By being in community.
Paul & Barnabas were friends. And they were christ-like friends. They grew their faith together.
2 As they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
You will not make all the changes you need to make, want to make, would love to make, plan to make, or dream to make by yourself. If you could, you would. But you can’t, so you won’t!
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
2 and Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord is sending me on to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
20 Listen to counsel and receive instruction so that you may be wise later in life.
Serve on a team.
Show up early.
Join a small group.
Lead a small group.
Invest in your local church family.
Invest in your local church family.
God loved the church by giving his son’s life for the church. We experience God’s love and serve God’s purpose in our own generation when we invest in our church family.
Paul & Barnabas had the whole church behind them.
Make physical investments.
Make Spiritual investments.
3 Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.
10 Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Outdo one another in showing honor.
11 Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord.
12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.
13 Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.
Romans 12:
Keep pursuing a love relationship with God.
Keep pursuing a love relationship with God.
We mess up all the time! So did David. So did Paul & Barnabas but they were filled with the Spirit. THey kept pursuing a love relationship with God.
When you get off track.
When you become disillusioned.
When you’re frustrated.
When you’re angry.
It’s not that God doesn’t have a use for you, it’s that you’ve lost sight of just valuable you are. You’ve lost sight of his love for you! Pursue GOd above else.
His purpose is being worked in you...
17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love,
19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
We fall in love with all kinds of things and those things fill us up but they don’t satisfy us.
Paul & Barnabas were filled with the Spirit of God.
4 So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
The Holy Spirit dwelt within them.
The Holy Spirit walked beside them
The Holy Spirit stood behind them.
The Holy Spirit surrounded them.
When you’re looking for purpose focus on God’s presence. Pursue that relationship!
5 Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.
God hasn’t abandoned you.
13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.
14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.
You haven’t messed up too bad.
You don’t need know all the details of future just keep pursuing him in your present reality!
Colossians 3:
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:25
Paul & Barnabas were filled with the Spirit of God.
4 So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
Saturate yourself with the Word of God.
Saturate yourself with the Word of God.
Paul & Barnabas were filled with God’s Word and they proclaimed it. As they handled the small things and kept showing up and gaining experience. As they deepened their friendships…As they pursued God above else…they proclaimed God’s word.
Whatever your filled with is going to come out. They were filled with the word of God so that’s what came out of their lives...
Wherever you find yourself allow the wisdom of God’s word to guide you...
Alow the truth of God’s word to ground you.
Allow the beauty of GOd’s word to encourage you and lift your soul...
5 Arriving in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant.
And as life goes on, opportunities present themselves...
Face the opportunities in front of you with faith.
Face the opportunities in front of you with faith.
Paul & Barnabas ventured into a world that had never heard the gospel.
And they did it with faith.
The details are life are most often unglamorous.
Life is routine. God is in the routine and he’s working his purpose out in you i nthe routine.
It’s the little things.
It’s the people we surround ourselves with.
It’s investing in the church. Jesus died for the church!
It’s pursuing a love relationship with God above all else!
It’s letting God speak to us through His word!
It’s facing life’s opportunities with faith.
It’s all those details.
ILLUSTRATION: Dark Knight Clip. -prepared for years and prepared with the bad guy!
You don’t have to go through life blindly making decisions or relying on your own abilities. God is working out his purpose in you as you walk with him in the details of your life.
Pursue meaning instead of happiness. All the details of your life may not bring you all the happiness in the world, but when you go through life with God and invite him into all the details of your life you find meaning. And when you find meaning, your heart explodes with joy
