Here is Holy - Here We Go
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Intro and Tension
Intro and Tension
Have you ever been so obsessed with a goal or an outcome? Ever been told by parents, world, culture - Work hard, build up a nest egg…look after your super annuation (not a bad thing), Have you ever just wanted to get out of where you are right now?
When my business earns X Amount, then i’ll be happy,
I’ll give when my finances are in order, I got bills to pay
When the kids get past the baby stage, when they can just sleep through the night, I’ll enjoy parenting,
Once I’ve achieved this ,got there, got to that spot, I will be happy.
What if, Where you are, HERE is important to GOD, what if, God is trying to speak to you exactly where you are, what if, we are missing, what God is trying to say or do through us, exactly where we are today?
Message Series | The Body| We are spiritual Contributors, not Spiritual Consumers | Last message in 5 week series | Week one; Your Invited, week two, we said that you are valuable to God’s work, in here | Week 3: We are all ministers, last week, we looked at the ministers God wants to grow.
This week, I want to speak about the spot you are in. What God is trying to do with you exactly where you are and how to move to where God wants you to go.
Title: Here is Holy
My Hope: Is that you will understand that where you are is sacred, where you are is important, and how to move from here, to there.
**prayer**
[Here] - in or at this place, NOW, in a location - opposed to There
[Holy] Set apart
What I want you to understand is your current situation is sacred and being intentioinally used by God to prepare you for your purpose.
Was never happy where I was - Steep learning curve - Had this wack view, that higher I got, the less work I would have to do. Door knocking - Got into Management - gosh what a wake up call - Corporate, Management, lost my family, own business, got really busy, God called me here. I was in constant chase of there.
I had no idea, through all of that I was being Prepared.
What I want to tell you is “There” is not the goal “Here” is the Goal of God.
If you are not content with the here you are, you will not be happy there, which will be the “Here”.
But godliness with contentment is great gain,
Did you know your joy does not get any larger, for those that make over $100,000 - You can 10 X your business and still be broken, frustrated and annoyed.
Imagine if God did get into a back and forth about our frustration about where we were;
“Lord, I thought you called me into this role” - “I did call you into this role”
“I thought you where gonna make my church known” “Your church is known, I know it”
“Lord I asked you for resliance” “That’s why I am throwing all this stuff at you”
And what we need to understand - is that Obedience Here, always takes you there.
I want to go through a story, a short one, about a Man who was not happy with not only where he was, but God used him even in his disobedeince, so that hopefully it will encourage you, that whereever you are, you can say “Here is HOLY” - and realise, that God wants to use you.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
So what did Jonah do? He obey…wait no he fled. From the presencee of the Lord.
You can’t flee God’s presence.
You can’t flee the precence of the Lord. In the pain, in the struggle, in the trenches in the mountains, in the valleys, GOD IS ALWAYS WHERE YOU ARE. You can try and flee your purpose, but you can’t flee God.
So then Jonah jumps on a Boat | The Lord hurled a great Storm | Everyone scared and they started praying to their Gods | not GOD big G, little G god’s | Throwing stuff overboard | While all this is happening, Jonah is Sleeping | Get’s woken up |
They start to question him, pressure rises; What has happened, and Jonah replies, in this moment;
And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
It’s easy to trust God and call on His name when you have no other option. Some of us aint “waiting on the Lord” we just have no other option. God wants you to trust him HERE, even when you have options to go THERE.
So Jonah gets thrown overboard, and the word of God tells us;
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
Even in Jonah’s disobedience, the LORD used him. Even if you disobeyed in the past, the Lord can still use you. These men where SAVED. Took a wrong turn? God can still use you? Stuffed up? God can still use you, cmon.
God can still use you here, even if a wrong turn got you here.
I love this part, so then God appointed a fish to swallow Jonah | Jonah, in the belly, what did he do? He repented in a beautiful prayer of repentence.
Last couple of lines;
When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
It doesn’t matter where you are, to start praising God HERE.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.”
Jonah went and preached and nineveh repented - God’s work was eventually done (don’t ask me about Jonah’s attitude about it) - but God’s work was done, but the long way for Jonah.
God said, are you done doing it your way? See, Jonah could of cut that whole part out - Isrealites, could of cut that whole part out, All it takes, to get from here, to there is a small step of obedience.
Moses took 2 chapters and another person to follow God.
If your heart posture is not right when you are HERE, then it will prologue you getting there.
A jonah mentality fights the instructions of God, due to fear and insecurity.
Don’t fight with God, We are ending this series on the Body, with a call to arms - What if Jonah had the right attitude the first time God called him, or throughout hte whole story.
Personal Declaration
I will have the attitude of agreeing with what GOD is doing through me.
Obedience equips you for your assignment. When you obey, he will equip you along the way.
“Here we go” - Let it align your attitude.
AT THIS POINT - I might as well agree - I might as well work.
“Here we go” - Has to be from the heart. “You have to forgive” ok…here we go…
When God asks you to serve in an area you don’t like “here we go”
Go somewhere….here we go.
I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.
3 points, and we going home;
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
GO and MAKE Disciples
What happened right before this? because HERE and GO is always connected. Can’t GO unless you let what happens to you HERE HAPPEN.
And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Jesus tells them to GO, but before that, he tells them to STAY HERE. If I don’t wait to be empowered here, it would be pointless to go there.
If I don’t forgive HERE, my heart will not be ready THERE
HERE and GO is the tension we have to hold as a Christian.
HERE qualifies me, to see if I can GO Over there,
Value here - If you’re in the right position, it will take you here.
Stop devaluaing the place that God has assigned to you. Imagine the Disciples questioning Jesus when he told them to stay.
The favour is on people, not on places.
1. Here is where you HEAR.
2. WE = Need the right people
WE = People. We, God chooses to do things in COMMUNITY. A strong community, a strong church, a strong people around you.
When you fall, you need the right people to catch you - If you don’t have the right people to catch you, you will fall flat on your face.
Some people are so worried about what someone might see if they are vulnerable - no, when you are in a HOT Community, when you are in a HUMBLE, OPEN and TRANSPARENT CHURCH, you don’t care what they see.
You just care that they are holding YOU UP.
Someone say WE.
It may not feel like you need it right now, but you have no idea when you will need them.
Make sure you have the right “WE” - So you can do what God is calling you to do.
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
so if HERE = HEAR
and WE = PEOPLE
GO = POWER
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Value the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT.
DON’T GO WITHOUT THE POWER. Why would you plan a business wihtout the holy spirit, love your wife without…Go to work without it…Run a ministry without it...
It’s better for you to be here, waiting for revelation, then it is to GO out THERE wihtout the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT.
If we wait for the power, we would go into places where there was a battle before, and there would be no conflict. When the right POWER turns up, CONFLICT COMES DOWN. BECAUSE THE Holy Spirit HAS ALREADY WON.
THE Holy Spirit IS NOT OPTIONAL HERE.
Inspo and Close
Inspo and Close
From now on, I want to hear you say; HERE IS HOLY. WHERE YOU ARE IS HOLY.
As a Church body, as a family, I want to say HERE WE GO.
Here = HEAR
WE = Need the right people
GO = We need the power of the Holy Spirit
Value, where you are, lean into, what God is doing, Step, in obedience, and then maybe, no definitely, God will fulfil His purpose THROUGH you.
**Prayer**
**Altar Call**