Intentionally Going

February 27th 2022

Series: Intentional Author

Sermon Title: Intentionally Going

Topic: A message on how we need to write the story of our lives with intention. In this message, we talk about the need to intentionally go sometimes.

Key Passages: Hebrews 12:2, Genesis 12:1-4, Hebrews 11:8-9

Sermon Blurb: We cannot let life just happen. We have to think about the story of our life that we want to tell one day. In this message, we talk about how sometimes we need to intentionally GO to new places sometimes in life.

Sermon:

Family Moment

Today we wrap up our sermon series about becoming intentional authors of our lives.

How we need to start thinking about the story want our lives to tell and start living with that end in mind.

PAUSE

Let me explain for those who might be new today….because we LOVE guests at Family Church!

The reality is all of us are going to one day look back over our lives.

The reality is one day all of us will look BACK over our life and ponder the story we wrote with our life.

Life goes by much faster than we think it will.

And if we are not INTENTIONAL with the life we live…..one day you might look back and regret a lot of the life you lived.

You will look back and regret the time you missed with your kids.,

You will look back and regret the choices you made in your marriage.

You will look back and regret the choices you made in work.

You will look back and regret the relationship choices you made.

PAUSE

So, this whole month we have talked about what it looks like to be an Intentional Author of our own lives.

We are talking about how our lives might look IF we lived with the END in mind.

What if we DIDN’T just let life happen to us…. But instead, we CHOOSE to be intentional about the life we lived….

PAUSE

We started this series talking about times in our lives where God calls us to START something.

Sometimes if we START new things, it can change the direction of our entire life!!! And we talked about that.

Two weeks ago we will talk about the opposite…..When God calls us to STOP something.

Sometimes we have things in our life that are leading us in the WRONG direction and we need to STOP it before it ruins our life.

Last week we will talk about when God calls us to STAY somewhere.

To plugin where we are.

To NOT give up and go to the next job or relationship.

And so forth.

This week we wrap it up talking about when God calls us to GO somewhere.

When God says….now it is time to get a new job.

Or it is time to get out of this relationship.

Or it is time to start my own business

And so forth….

PAUSE

No matter what is going on in your life today please here me…..Your story isn't finished yet. There's still time for edits!

For some of us we need to get out of our past and start looking to the future!

The good news is NO MATTER your past, your future story is yet to be written!!!

In this series, we're talking about how the decisions we make determine the stories we write with our lives.

Every week we have said, let’s write it down one more time:

The decisions that I make today determine the stories that I will tell tomorrow.

Let's just say that aloud together.

The decisions that I make today determine the stories that I will tell tomorrow.

I hope by now, the end of this series, we can say things like:

I stepped out in faith.

I made some new friends at church.

I STARTED a new discipline that helped change the direction of my life.

I STOPPED holding in past pain and hurt.

I STAYED when I was about to leave.

And as we look back several chapters from now to this chapter of our life…. it is my prayer that we will realize how much we changed during this series and grew to be more like Jesus….

That we have started to direct our life in a new direction and not just pass-through life without a course set by Jesus.

We are all living in our stories right now!!!

Some of you are going to sense that there's something NEW that needs to take place in this chapter of your life today.

For others of you, it will be later on in life in a future chapter, but you're going to suddenly realize, "Man, I'm supposed to Step OUT in faith.”

I'm supposed to GO into uncharted waters!

There's something new, there's something different, there's something that I didn't expect.

When you get to that place -- if you're taking notes –

Sometimes, the best decision you can make is to go when it would be easier to stay.

Sometimes, the best decision you can make is to follow the path less traveled, to take the step of faith, to leave your comfort zone, to leave the easy life….

For those here last week you might be thinking BUT Pastor Adam you said the opposite last week!

I sure did!

Because as we go through life sometimes we are going to be called to STAY and other times we are called to GO.

We are teaching on both so that we will be ready when that time comes and we need to STAY or GO without fear!

Let me give you an example from my own story when I decided to GO.

My first job out of school was in construction.

I was so excited about everything except my title….assistant to the assistant construction superintendent; I hated that title.

AKA I was the guy that got to sweep out houses and do the stuff no one else wanted to do..

But I worked HARD and I asked lots of questions so I could learn.

I would jump in and help people to learn.

I would get made fun of because I didn’t cus as much as others….

I would get made fun of because I listened to sermons in my truck….

I would get made fun of because I didn’t do the things many did….

But I didn’t care…I didn’t let it affect me….and then people started to change how they interacted with me…

Trades workers would do things for me that they would not for anyone else….

I got noticed because my jobs were done right, on time and under budget….

Then I got promoted several times and into the corporate office…..

Then one day a guy at work came up to me named Pierre and said, “Adam there is this company down in Tennessee that could use someone like you, you should check them out.”

So I had a choice….do I STAY where I am known…..where I have a reputation….where I have a house….where I have friends….where I have everything…..or do I RISK it all and GO??

To keep the story short, we ended up GOING to Tennessee and taking the new job. Talk about being scary! Leaving my first real job….moving ½ way across the country….and starting over!

But see it was only scary because we didn’t know the blessing on the other side of GOING.

See Jenny was working as a teacher before we moved. And on the move to Tennessee we found out….we were Pregnant with our first child!

Had we known that she was pregnant there is NO WAY we would have taken the job! The is NO way we would have moved so far away from family!

But see God had other plans…because with this new job Jenny would not have to work anymore, which was not our plan in moving….…. she could stay at home and raise our kids!

See we would have missed out on that blessing if we had not GONE when it was easier to STAY.

I can't imagine how different my story would have been if I hadn’t had the faith to GO.

Sometimes, the best decision you can make is to GO when it would be easier to STAY.

In this series, we're asking

"How do we live a story worth telling?"

How do we live the story that God wants us to tell?

Our key verse in this series is Hebrews 12:2.

NEW PERSON BIBLE

You all probably have this verse memorized by now right….I mean 4 weeks straight of hearing it! What does it say Church?

Hebrews 12:2 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus who is the author and the perfector of our faith.”

Sometimes we have to leave our comfort zone….our safety net….and step out in faith.

That's why we need Jesus, who perfects our faith…..

PAUSE

Today, we are going to dive into our Bibles and learn how to GO when it would be so much easier to play it safe.

Let’s open our Bibles to Genesis 12

As you flip there in your Bible let me give some background to make sure we are all at the same place.

We are going to read about the story about Abram and Sarai, who later became Abraham and Sarah.

God comes to him and gives him a very simple and very direct command in Genesis 12:1. And this is what the Lord said.

Genesis 12:1 “The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”

What did the lord say?

"Abram, “Go” AKA leave your country, your people, and your father's household.”

Leave everything you know… TRUST me and GO!

This seems obvious, but I want to go ahead and say it.

Going means leaving where you are!

To go somewhere else, you have to leave what's known.

What's comfortable.

What's predictable.

What comes naturally.

Think about it this way…

To step toward your destiny, you might have to step away from your security.

LONG PAUSE

Is it just me or could you all hear that pin drop?

I'm going to say it again just because I want to hear it again.

Sometimes, to step toward what God is calling you to do, you have to step away from your security.

Think about Abram, go to this place you've never been.

Let’s put this into perspective.

Imagine God called you to move to Guatemala.

What might you think…..

But there are all kinds of drug cartels between here and there….

God – Ya….Go ahead and GO…..

But that might take me years… God - GO ahead and Go….. But I would lose my job…. God - GO ahead and GO……

Would you GO?

Do you trust God that much?

Let me tell you story about a missionary friend of mine.

When he was a young man with a young family he felt God called him to be a missionary to Guatemala.

Now he lived in Missouri….that is 1,700 miles away as the crow flies from Guatemala….and he and his wife were hair dressers…..

They couldn’t afford to fly there! They weren’t trained missionaries they couldn’t do this!

But see he was like Abram and when God said GO he said OK!

So he would drive his family back and forth from Missouri through Mexico to Guatemala…through drug cartel areas! And he did this for years!!! Driving back and forth!!!

And he only died one time….obviously kidding! And God always took care of him!

They kept cutting hair….raising kids….and going to Guatemala and pouring into churches…..pastors….leaders….

When I met him he was now in his late 70’s.

Like you will see in Abram’s story God provided for him beyond measure in his life.

One day God gave him my friend the idea to create a pet shampoo and he did….and now many decades later was a Multi-Millionaire…..

But he was unlike a lot of rich people…..he was a Multi-Millionaire giving it all to missions…..When we traveled like missionaries…..lived like missionaries and he invested GOD’S MONEY in Guatemala.

See I didn’t say HIS MONEY….because this is not some prosperity gospel….

GOD gave him the calling….

GOD gave him the idea…..

GOD made the idea a success….

And he was just a conduit for that money to get it where GOD wanted it in Guatemala!

He helped build a multitude of churches, schools and other things over the decades in Guatemala!

And get this…no one there knows it is his money!

It wasn’t about him! It was all about Jesus!

He wasn’t doing this to get rich!

He was doing this because God called him to and God was just providing BIG TIME for the ministry he was called to!

The last time I talked to him….he and his wife were heading back to live full time in Guatemala until the Lord brought them home…

They could be retired anywhere in the world living in luxury….but they choose to live in the 3rd world….in a place many of us could not imagine….

He wasn’t a Pastor…..He wasn’t an Elder….He wasn’t a deacon….He wasn’t a trained missionary…..

He was like Abram….

A Regular Guy…..called by GOD to do something NEW….and he stepped out in faith and DID IT…..

PAUSE

What’s your excuse for not stepping out in faith?

Well, I grew up here, I've got all my friends here… Well, I like it here. My house is almost paid for here. My kids are in school here. My best friend is here; we've been friends since we were 2 -- you know…. Well, my business is here…. Well, I have lived here my whole life…..

Abram could have said those exact same things…..my missionary friend could say those exact same things…...

Yet God is calling…. ABRAM GO…..Go to a place you knew nothing of.

And God simply makes this promise to Abram in Genesis 12: 2-3

God says,

Genesis 12: 2-3“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

And Abram would have gone, "huh, there are going to be nations come from me?”

You see in Genesis 11, when we find out how Abram traces his family back to Adam, we find out Sarai is barren, and they have no children.

None.

Here he would be thinking I'm like 75…. and we've been trying for years, and ya it has been fun, and we haven't had any kids.

PAUSE

Here's something really really important.

I don't know if you have ever made a promise to God.

I have.

Like God, if you just help me pass this test, I promise I’ll study next time. God, if you'll just help me get out of ___________, I'll never do this again. Anyone besides me done that? How many of you have made a promise like that? Keep your hands up one second…look around the room those without their hands up are LIARS…. Let’s pray for them real quick….

JUST KIDDING

Here's the point.

We're not changed by the promises we make to God. We're changed by believing in the promises God makes to us.

Oh, that’s some good teaching….let me say that again.

We are not changed by the promises we make to God. We're changed by believing in the promises God makes to us.

And I am sure some of you are like God doesn’t talk to me…..

God doesn’t make me promises…….

That is why we read our Bibles!

That is why we come to church and learn the promises God has for us!

The Bible is FULL Of God giving us promises!!

See God makes this promise to Abram. And so, how does he respond?

Very very simply, verse 4. So, Abram did what, everybody?

Genesis 12:4 “Abram left as the Lord told him.”

I want you to just stop for a moment and think about this. What would have happened if Abram didn't go?

What if he had rationalized it out and said, "Well, it's easier to stay and I don't really know where I'm going, and that doesn't seem safe, and scary.”

Abram could rationalize like you or me and say, “we tried to have kids, and it didn’t work, and at our age now there is NO way we will have kids…. that is just crazy talk in my head….”

But he didn’t respond like us….which is why people later said I believe int the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

If Abram didn't go, there wouldn't be an Isaac.

There wouldn't be a Jacob.

And God would not be referred to as the God of Abraham because Abraham would have stayed…. Instead of going…..

I'm telling you, there are untold consequences that would be different if Abram didn't have the faith to obey God.

Someone needs to hear this:

There's going to come a time in your life when you sense there's something new, something different, and to GO where you believe you're supposed to GO, you're going to have to LEAVE where you are and if you don't have the faith to do it…

If you let fear rule you instead…..

You have no idea the blessings you'll out on for not GOING.

You have no idea what you might miss out on if you don't obey.

Sometimes, the best decision you can make is to go when it would be easier to stay.

Do you remember the big question that I've been asking every single week of this series.

How do we live a story worth telling?

I know if you ask God that question, he will show you

Or let me phrase it another way…….

Where could God be asking you to Go today?

Let me give an example from my life that all of you can see….

A time in my life when I decided to follow what I believe was God's direction and GO when it would have been easier to stay.

And then, I'm going to throw it completely to you and let you wrestle with what you might need to do.

The story of how I became a lead pastor. Many of you don’t know the story so let me share some of it….

Many years ago I was a missions pastor like Pastor Bob.

We lived in Virginia Beach at a church larger than any church in this area.

It is a great church….with great people…..doing great things all over the world….

We had great friends…our kids had great friends….we had security…….

Then one day I noticed something changing in me…..As I studied scripture or books I was writing down things like Sermon Series….Sermon idea….Etc…. and I was like wait what is God doing in me…that was not normal for me….

At that time I NEVER preached…..

At the same time Jenny was journaling how God was giving her a feeling that change was coming…...

See God was preparing us coming change.

We weren’t looking to the church in Virginia….

We weren’t looking to move to Michigan….

My wife wasn’t eager to leave our newly remodeled house and friends….

But God had other plans….

In that season of life I met a CRC pastor from Grand Rapids on his sabbatical…..he wanted to come to learn how I had grown the outreach and missions program at our church….so I spent the day with him and that was it….

Then several months….and I get a message from that SAME Pastor about this little church north of him called…..REHOBOTH…..that could use a guy like me……

That church at time was maybe 150 people….very few kids or youth…

It was NOT thriving and growing….

And I remember asking God…are you really calling us to go there?

God are you calling me to leave my security….and step out in Faith and GO!!!

And long story short….we did it!

PAUSE

Had we not followed God’s call to GO back then….I highly doubt we would be here with you today….

Think for a second….

What if I said it was easier to Stay than to Go?

PAUSE

Sometimes, some of you, you'll have to take the step to go when it would be easier to stay.

Because I'm here to tell you if you don’t step out in faith you will miss out on some of the greatest blessings in your life.

Church let me be honest with you….

You guys are one of the biggest blessings in my life……

Our church is such a blessing to my whole family!

We would have missed that blessing….had I not stepped out in faith…..

God is going to call some of you to GO when it would be easier to stay.

PAUSE

So, what about it?

What about you?

What step of faith do you need to take?

Where do you need to go?

Maybe you just need to go on some missions trips! We have 7 to choose from next year!

Maybe you need finally go out on a limb and start your own company or launch that new product line!

Maybe you're going to take the faith step and start a small group.

Maybe you need to GO to church regularly and get involved! Stop just coming when it is convient for you, stop warming a chair for an hour a week….but serve in Kids….serve on welcome team…..serve somewhere…

Church look around you….look how full this place is….we need more people to help with this growth!

For some of you, there's not just a story but a book inside of you and you need to set that book free. Quit your excuses, open up your laptop and start typing.

Some of you, there's a job you've always wondered could I get it, but you're afraid you might not. And you're going to take the faith step and APPLY!

Some of you, God might call you to go ahead and have more children or adoptbecome a foster parent.

For the single people in church today…. maybe and four seats down, there's a good looking person and you saw him or her worshiping God.

And so what are you going to do? You're going to GO brush your teeth and put some goop in your hair and ask her out. And she may marry you and when she does, and you have a son, name him Adam. Why?

Because this sermon got you to GET OUT of your comfort zone!

And now one that will touch everyone’s heart in that special place…..God is calling you to GET UP out of that seat you sit in every week and move to the front so we have room for the new people in the back!!!!

Did I just hear an Amen? Did anyone else here that Amen? No?

PAUSE

How did Abram leave where he was and go where God called him to go? How did he do it?

Hebrews 11:8-9 tells us how.

Hebrews 11:8-9“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Somebody help me. How did he do it? He did it by what? Say it aloud.

He did it by faith.

How did he do it? Tell me again.

He did it by faith.

By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

Abram, when called to GO even though he did not know where he was going. He went!

He did it by faith.

How will you do it?

You will do it by faith.

When God calls you to go but you don't know where you're going, you will go IN FAITH!

Some of you may say you don’t have faith in Jesus or God. Or I don’t have enough faith to finish the journey….

That's fine…. You don't have to have faith to finish, you just have to have the faith to Start what God calls you to do!

You just have to have the faith to take the first step.

I promise you, 10 years ago, I didn't have the faith to be standing in front of hundreds of people preaching every week!

It took faith incredible faith for me to preach the first time….and guess what I did horrible! It was literally a train wreck!

You just take the first step of faith and you let God do the rest.

You don't have to have faith to finish; you just have to have faith to take the first step.

By faith, I pray that you'll have the courage to decide to start a discipline that will change the direction of your story.

By faith, I pray that you will have the faith to stop something that would hinder your story from being what God wants it to be.

By faith, I pray that you have the courage to stay the course when it's easier to throw in the towel and walk.

By Faith, I pray you will have the faith to GO and take the step of faith when it would be easier to stay.

Because the decisions you make today, determine the stories you tell tomorrow.

Direction, not intention, determines destination.

Life Application Ask God is there an area of your life where you need to GO, commit, press through, take the harder path.