This morning we continue our series entitled, “Power of Fellowship.” I have spent several weeks teaching on our relationship with God. I will soon transition to dealing with our relationships with other people. As I seek to close out this first portion of the series, I have been asking God to give me clear ways to communicate what He wants to say. Yesterday the Lord gave me an analogy that I pray helped you understand how we are supposed to live once we are Born-Again. This is fundamentally a different way to live. At least it has been for me and all the people I know. This is what I will discuss today.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. When you accept Jesus as Lord and you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you are supposed to live different. But at first you don’t know how to do it. You have God’s Spirit, but you don’t know how to hear His voice. You are told God has a plan for your life, but you don’t know what it is. You are told to stand on the Word of God, so you start reading it, but in many cases the scriptures don’t make sense to you yet. If I am describing you this morning, my message to you is simple: don’t get frustrated and don’t give up. Connect with a church. Submit to Godly leadership. Surround yourself with people of like-precious-faith (meaning, your church family). Attend Bible studies and small groups so you can get a better understanding of the Word of God. Read the Word daily. Pray in the morning and all throughout the day. And most importantly, as this series has been teaching you, make time to spend time with God. The more you get to know the God you are hearing and reading about, the more you will discover and develop into the man/woman you are called to be.
2. Once you are Born-Again, you are connected to a church, and you start learning how to live the life you are learning about, everything changes. I will use myself as an example:
a) Before I developed a relationship with God, I thought I was a good person, so I allowed myself to be led by what I considered to be good intentions. I made decisions that I thought were good, I told myself those decisions honored God, and I went along my way, never truly asking God for guidance or involving Him in the process at all.
b) Before being Born-Again at the age of 23, I had attended church all my life. I had a religion, but I did not have a relationship with God. I thought I was a good person and I hoped that if I died I would be “good enough” to make it into heaven. My desire to be good was the driving force of my life. I thought I knew God, but I did not.
c) When I was first Born-Again and filled with the Holy Spirit, my life was a mixture of the religion and religious activity from my past and a new relationship I was attempting to foster with God. At this point I knew I wanted God involved in just about everything in my life, but I brought God in after the fact. What I mean is that I would make a decision, thinking it was the best decision for me, and I would then ask God to bless my decision. I prayed and asked for God’s involvement and blessing after the fact; after I had already made the decision on my own. I did this because I did not know God had already planned out my life. I did not realize that I was supposed to allow HIM to lead me and not just bring my decisions to Him for a blessing. Unfortunately, many believers still live this way today. They are asking God to bless what they came up with, instead of submitting to what God came up with before the world began. They are asking God to put a “YES” on their plans, instead of putting a “YES” on the plans God made for them before they were born. The truth is, I simply did not know. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was living the right way. I was sincere, but I was sincerely wrong. If I just described you this morning, if you are currently living the way I was, I pray this series opens your eyes to a different way of living. You are not supposed to bring YOUR plans to God and then just ask him to bless them. You are supposed to carry out God’s plans. When you are carrying out God’s plans you don’t have to ask God to bless them, because they are already blessed!
d) I have been walking with God for 24 years now. I eventually got to the point where I am today. My prayer is that you get to the same point. At this point I know I cannot decide my purpose, because God decided before the world began. I know faith is not about ME trying to get God to put a “YES” on MY plans. Faith is about God trying to get me to put a “YES” on HIS plans! I don’t make major decisions without God. Even for minor decisions, I do my best to be led by the Holy Spirit. I know my life is NOT my own. I don’t get to do whatever I want. I am not on this planet to perform my own will. I am here to perform the will of the one who sent me. It is the Father, living in me, who gives me the words and who performs the work in, with, and through my life, on a daily basis. I have a relationship with God and I hate religion because it causes people to focus on the wrong things. I love God and I am convinced that He loves me more than I love Him. I am committed to God, but my true strength comes from knowing that He is more committed to me than I am to both Him and myself. I know I am not perfect, but I am forgiven. I know I make mistakes, but God will never leave me. I am simply doing all that I can to submit to God and perform His will every day, in every way. The life I live today looks NOTHING like the life I used to live. This is fundamentally a DIFFERENT way to live and my prayer for you is that you get to this point. I pray you have a real and intimate relationship with the Father. I pray you walk with Him as He walks with you. I pray you get delivered from religion and religious activity. I pray you discover your purpose and that you spend the rest of your life becoming the man/woman God called you to be. And lastly, once you are Born-Again you know you are going to heaven, but I pray you ENJOY THE RIDE! May you never lose the JOY of your salvation! Never let your desire for your “tomorrow” to cause you to lose the joy of your “today”.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I love You! I love You with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. I love You because You first loved me. You love me more than I love You. You are more committed to me than I am to You. You made plans for me before the world began and my life is now all about those plans. I am determined to do what You called me to do and to get it done before I die. I will do so by Your grace. I will do so for Your glory. I will do so because it won’t be me doing it. It will be You Father, living in me. You give me the words and You perform the work. I don’t have religion. I have a real relationship with You and I enjoy this relationship every day. I enter into this day ready to change the world because my God is WITH me everywhere I go! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
