Vision365: He's Always There
Vision365 • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 7 viewsNotes
Transcript
Intro:
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Today, I will begin a series entitled, [Vision 365]. The subject of my message is, [He’s Always There].
I am a planner. I suppose I always have been. I like to have a sense of what is coming and what I am doing. For those who are not planners, I know that can be stressful.
I mean it can stress me out trying to plan, but I felt peace once when Bekah and I were at a furniture store. I saw a poster where the employees stand:
Proper planning prevents poor performance
I have never forgot those five words all beginning with the letter P.
As a planner, I was delighted toward the end of 2020, when God spoke to me about our Year of Prayer. It began with a dream in September, then more direction from God in October.
Then we put it in motion—dedicating an entire year of prayer to God. But as 2021 begin dwindle, I grew somewhat concerned as I had ZERO direction from God for 2022.
I had toiled with this for some time, and had not heard God respond. I wanted a dream for God to speak to me and I never had one. I wanted to read a book that would inspire me, none of them did. I wanted a word of prophecy from someone, I never got one.
Then in November, I drove to St. Louis to pray with someone before surgery. On the way, I took time to pray and worship. I confessed to God I did not know what to do.
It was around Desloge, as I prayed in the Spirit I felt God speak. He spoke to my heart— Vision365: pray, read, fast, and live.
I thought about the word vision. Two passages came to mind.
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
2 Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.
There are moments when God gives clear direction and casts a vision for what He wants to do. Since that moment, I have thought, prayed, and practiced what God is calling our church to do.
I am going to preach the rest of this month and through April about this Vision365. Then, beginning May 1, 2022 we are going to PERSONALLY dedicate 365 to God.
I believe God wants us to commit to:
Pray Every Day
Read our Bible Every Day
Stay willing to Fast Every Day
Live with/for Jesus Every Day
I know Christians are to automatically do each of these that I described. But I also know that we are Christians get busy and if we are not careful by the end of the day, we might not have prayed, read the Word, taken time to fast, or made an effort to live for the Lord.
What will this accomplish?
I believe God wants to DRAW each of us closer to Him. The Bible is filled with God’s Self-revelation. He reveals WHO He is to us so that we can know Him.
To think the God of the universe longs for us to KNOW Him.
How can we KNOW Him?
Prayer, reading, fasting, and living for Him.
But I want us to see this morning, before we commit 365 days to God, we need to see that HE commits 365 days a year to us.
He never slumbers or sleeps. He never grows tired. He is ALWAYS thinking about us. He is ALWAYS ready to talk to us. He ALWAYS wants to spend time with us.
Notice Jesus’s promise to His disciples prior to His ascension:
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Matthew 28:20 (TPT)
20 And teach them to faithfully follow all that I have commanded you. And never forget that I am with you every day, even to the completion of this age.”
Imagine what this promise did for the disciples. They had followed Him for over three years. He was about to leave, no doubt sadness filled their heart.
But He promised, I AM ALWAYS THERE.
The assurance of Jesus’s nearness was not the first time God promised to be with His people. I want to look at the life of Moses and see how God longs to be with us every day.
He’s always there. No matter what we face. I have three points, He’s Always There, [When We Lack Credibility], [When We Lack Confidence], and [When We Lack Control].
Let’s begin
1. When We Lack Credibility
1. When We Lack Credibility
12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
Moses’s first encounter with God happened when he was eighty years old. He lived most of his life in an identity crisis.
The first forty years he lived like an Egyptian, but was actually a Hebrew.
The next forty years, he as an immigrant in Midian, tending his father-in-law’s sheep.
He did not fit anywhere. His family was long gone. He lived a land where the cultures and norms were different than his. Every where he turned, he lacked any real sense of identity.
But God never took His eyes off of Moses. At the ripe age of eighty, God spoke to Moses from a burning bush. The encounter was so extraordinary, it forever changed his life.
God had a specific plan for him, go to Egypt and tell Pharoah to let My people go.
How could Moses do this? How could he return to the place where he did not belong?
Moses had the same question. He was good with the idea of God setting the Israelites free, but he knew he lacked the credibility to go before Pharoah.
He asked God, how can I stand before Pharoah? And what about the people, who will I even tell them sent me?
I love God’s answer, I WILL CERTAINLY BE WITH YOU. God explained to Moses that He will always be there. He will never leave or forsake Moses.
Then He gave Moses a promise, I AM WHO I AM. In other words, God WILL BE whatever Moses needed Him to be.
What a promise, I will be with you because I AM WHO I AM.
We have a similar mandate as Moses.
16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
We have an assignment from heaven to GO. Go and do what? GO and live for God and show others how they can live for Him.
When we size ourselves up compared to what God desires of us, we may feel like we lack credibility.
I know when I think of my shortcomings, insecurities, and failures, I wonder, why would anyone want to listen to what I have to say.
But then deep within my heart is this reminder, HE IS ALWAYS THERE and HE WILL ALWAYS BE WITH ME.
Before we think about committing 365 days to God to pray, read, fast, and life, we should remember, He is always there, even when we lack credibility. What about...
2. When We Lack Confidence
2. When We Lack Confidence
10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
11 So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?
12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”
Moses continued his litany of questions to God. He was great with the idea of Israel leaving slavery, but he was not convinced he was the best choice.
God let him know that He would give him credibility. He would go with Him and delegate His authority to him. Everywhere Moses went, people would know that He represented God.
Still unsure, Moses brought up another problem, he stuttered. What was he really saying? He did not feel confident. Sure, his specific insecurity was in his ability to speak.
I love God’s response, I made the mouth, I enable people to speak, see, and hear. Now go, for I WILL BE WITH YOU and you speak.
Moses still was not confident and finally God told him to that his brother Aaron would help. Look at how far God was willing to go to show that He is always there.
15 Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.
I will be with your mouth and as we speak to him. He will speak the words that I will give you.
God went to great lengths to show Moses, I have a plan for you and I will be with you.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we all have areas in our life where we lack confidence. One specific place may be in our walk with God.
If we are not careful we can agree that God wants to do great things. We can concur that He has so much to offer people. But we might lack the confidence that God will use us, do great thing THROUGH us, speak to us.
We might even come up with reasons why WE are not the best candidate for God to use or bless.
It is in those moments God wants to remind us, I WILL BE WITH YOU. He is always there.
Before we think about committing 365 days to God to pray, read, fast, and life, we should remember, He is always there, even when we lack credibility and confidence. What about...
3. When We Lack Control
3. When We Lack Control
3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
Moses eventually submitted to God’s plan for his life. He led the Israelites out of Egypt. He parted the Red Sea. He won decisive battles.
He began to grow in his credibility and his confidence, but then a situation happened where we felt that he lost all control. He went to the mountain top to hear from God.
He spent so much time there that the people at the bottom of the mountain assumed he would never return. In their impatience, they persuaded Aaron to let them build a golden calf to worship as their god.
As Moses came down the mountain he discovered what happened. Israel lost all control of their senses and Moses felt he lost all control over the people.
To make matter worse, God told Moses, go to the Promised Land, I will send My Angel before you, but I will not go with you.
This was too much for Moses. He had lived with the hope that God is Always There. Now, for the first time, he has to come to terms that he might have to go alone.
At that point, he did the only thing he knew to do— pray.
11 So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’
13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Listen to the distress in his voice. Everything seemed hopeless. He spoke to God face to face, like a friend and told Him:
you told me to take these people to the Promised Land
You have not told me who will go with me
You have told me I know you by name
Now you tell me we have to go alone
How can I go on and lead these people if you will not go with me? God heard Moses’s genuine pryer and answered, My presence will go with you.
14 The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”
From this personal conversation, Moses had an experience that propelled him forward. God promised, I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE.
Who ever feels as though we lack control?
I know I do. There are circumstances that are well beyond my control. What makes these occurences worse is when I distance myself from God.
In a world that seems out of control, we need to pray and call on God like Moses, we cannot make it without you. His response will be similar, I WILL GO WITH YOU.
Close:
He’s always there.
The disciples had similar feels as Moses.
16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.
17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
They stood before the resurrected Savior and worshipped Him, but they still had some doubt. Matthew was not specific of the doubt.
I would find it hard to believe they doubted the resurrection. Perhaps the doubt had to do with what awaited them. The knew Jesus was about to leave and they were to then represent Him to the whole world.
Maybe they doubted they would have the credibility. Sure, people wanted to follow Jesus, but why would anyone want to listen to the disciples?
They were fisherman from Galilee. They had an undesired occupation, and they came from an area that lacked influence.
Maybe they doubted they would have the confidence. It was easy to follow Jesus, but now they had to extend His Kingdom. They would be the ones teaching, praying, healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead.
They might have wondered if they could really do all God called them to do.
Maybe they doubted the future. Jesus rose from the dead, but just forty-three days prior He was killed at the hands of the Jewish leaders. There was so much out of their control.
Jesus knew their doubt and made them a promise. It was the same promise God made to Moses, I WILL BE WITH YOU! I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS!
Moses and the disciples were among the many that received that promise from God. God told:
Jacob—Genesis 31:3
Joseph— Genesis 48:21
Joshua— Joshua 1:5;9; 3:7
Gideon— Judges 6:16
Solomon— 1 Kings 11:38
Isaiah— Isaiah 41:10; 43:2
Haggai— Haggai 2:4
Paul— Acts 18:10
And He makes the same promise to us:
5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
365 days a year, God is ALWAYS there.
What is He always there to do?
He is ALWAYS there to listen to us, to speak to us, to help us, to heal us, to encourage us, to correct us, and to lead us.
Here is the assurance, He is Always there.
He stands ready to reveal Himself to us.
How do we become aware of His consistent presence?
He gives us the tools— praying, reading, fasting, and living.
I feel a strong urgency in my heart that God is looking for those who will acknowledge, He is always there ready to reveal Himself to me, so I will make space EVERY DAY to be close to Him.
Why is this so important?
I have shared the numbers before, so I will not again, but there are MANY people who identify as Christians.
Sadly, their lives do not align with their believes. They claim Christ but their words lack credibility.
Are we really a follower of Christ is we never talk to Him? If we do not read about Him? If we do not sacrifice for Him? If we do not live for Him?
Then there are Christians we are credible, they live for God, but they lack confidence. There is a place in Him where we can grow in faith and trust in who God made us.
Then there are those who are followers of Christ, but has situations that seem out of control. God wants to give a more solid footing to those with the assurance, I AM ALWAYS THERE.
So my question is this, if He’s Always There, why shouldn’t we accept His invitation to:
pray every day
read our Bible every day
stay ready to fast every day
live for Him every day?
We will look at these four things over the next four messages, but today, I want us to ask God to help us live with the understanding HE IS ALWAYS THERE.
Then, when we have that truth in our hearts, we will want to be with Him every day.