Crossing Thresholds

This is where some of us are. God is calling us in deeper. We stand at the threshold of going deeper with Him. He’s standing at the door our heart, knocking, let me in, I want to fill and transform more of you. I want you to know me better, to see more of my love, my character, my power.

What does this look like?

Can be a gentle knocking on our heart

Often comes up in community (!!) e.g. marriage

Through power encounters (importance of stewarding, like surgery)

Journey outwards (deliverance, sending out, or appointing to ministry)

Israel delivered out of Egypt

Israel on the threshold of the promised land

Jesus calling his disciples to follow him

Jesus sending his disciples out

And some of us have a sense that God is calling us on to something new. A new job, a new ministry, a shift in the direction of our life.

What does this look like?

As many varieties as their are people

Abram, Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul

Trust is the Key to Crossing Thresholds

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

Easy to trust when we understand everything

What about when we don’t? When God asks us to change direction, do something different, or when we have an experience that we don’t understand. (E.g. Kirk’s visit, my experience with Ken Fish)

Even if we don’t understand, we can still act with the little we have (e.g. Noah, Abram - going, having a son, killing Isaac; Ananias who was sent to Paul)

Trust has to be on God’s character (I think this is why Abraham could sacrifice Isaac)

Heart = seat of emotions, identity, who you really are

allow your emotions to be touched by God

And do not lean on your own understanding

Quotation from Ruthless Trust

We think we have to understand everything, that our understanding is the first stage in any journey with God because we’ve turned ‘understanding’ into an intellectual excercise

Actually, I’m not sure God is so concerned with our ability to comprehend as in our response. The paradigm that God uses is a ‘taste and see that the LORD is good’ paradigm. ‘Understanding’ becomes real and clear as we step into where God is taking us

Like Israel entering the promised land - they had to step into the river before the miracle happened they could cross. They experienced God’s faithfulness by trusting in His instruction, then they understood!

If we try and figure out what God is doing in our mind before obeying, we will never act, and we will miss what He has for us. (Comment on sovereignty??)

In all your ways acknowledge Him

Sometimes there isn’t a clear instruction. Like after a power encounter you don’t understand

However, acknowledging God’s action in your life, even if you don’t understand it, is an important component of stewarding these experiences, and getting the benefit of it:

There will be a benefit - sometimes it has to be walked out

Some practical ideas for this:

We’re made to live in community - acknowledge what God has done with your brothers and sisters. If you don’t understand, perhaps God will use others to shed some light for you. Doesn’t mean you have to share everything with everyone - but don’t just forget it.

Ask God!

Read the Bible - sometimes things will become clear as we read the Word

Posture your heart to receive

And don’t despise small things. Sometimes it’s just a gentle nudge (my experience of Kirk’s visit) - easy to miss the whispers of the Holy Spirit amongst the noise of our own minds or the world

And he will make your paths straight

Do you see how control has to go out the window

Review Trust in God / Lean not / Acknowledge him

Now it’s God who makes things work out, not me

Even when it looks bad, Trust God (e.g. Jesus: When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 1 Pet 2:23)

My preferred method:

God gives a word

I come up with a strategic plan, set goals, have a clear path from A to B

But God says

God wants something more - He wants our heart

He wants us to know Him and his love for us

We get to know him by experiencing Him in our life

We experience Him by trusting him (if we have it all sorted, there’s no need for trust and never experience the goodness of God!)

What’s the Threshold that you’re on the edge of today?

I’ll tell you something amazing - did you know that God trusts you?

English Standard Version Chapter 2

but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

How much more trustworthy is our God?

He trusts you - will you trust Him?

Related Media

Related Sermons