Sunday Recap @ da Chapel
Pastor Joshua Goodin
Romans 13:11-14 (NRSV)
“The Time is Now” pt. 2
*You have to wake up, when you are awake you have an understanding of what time it is. Your future is greater than your past. You need to make personal declarations to serve as reminders to keep you going in the direction that God is trying to take you. You can speak into your future to speak where you are going to. What is behind you does not define you. The direction you are going in is defining who you are. Just because God tells you to go for something, does not mean the door will open, but it’s your willingness to say God if you say it then you’ll do it. In this season of your life you need to make sure that whatever God tells you to do, you do it. Even if it doesn’t work out the way you want it to, you have to still do it. Sometimes God will allow people in your circle that will betray you. Sometimes you get upset because you prayed to God about it, so why should you have to go through betrayal if you prayed for this and this is what he told you to do? Prayer is not a safeguard from experiencing hurt, pain, and disappointment, but prayer will help you be able to handle when betrayers, disappointment, and failures come your way. You prayed, God answered, and you did what he said, and it worked out the way God wanted it to do. Some doors you want to walk through are not adequate for you, because there are better doors waiting ahead. You can’t keep walking in disobedience and expect God to bless it.
*You have to be alert because time is moving quickly. Time can be your greatest ally or your strongest opposition, depending upon how you use it. Why are you ok with becoming a believer in Jesus Christ, yet you find yourself comfortable with being complacent in your walk with God. God is looking at you and saying you’re too old to keep doing the same thing over and over again, making the same mistakes, responding to problems the same way you respond to them. You have to walk at a level where you understand that the times you’re living in are getting worse. Don’t let people persuade you that because Jesus hasn’t come back yet is because he’s not coming back. You can’t put off tomorrow what needs to be taken care of today.
*You have to have a change of attitude. You have to leave some things behind that don't agree with your Christian character. Be honest with yourself that there are some things in your lifestyle that you should have left in the last year that you allowed to crossover into this new year. One of the hardest things to do is to walk away from what feels so good, yet you know that you’re not supposed to do it. The constant struggle is always present, always in your face, whatever your struggle is. Everybody’s struggle is not the same, what entices you may not entice someone else, whatever your struggle is, it’s constantly facing you every day you wake up. The struggle is designed from your design. God allows you to experience your struggle every day as a constant battle. Not so he can see you fail, because God already knows what’s on the inside of you, so he’s equipped you to be able to handle it. The problem is that you want to give in to your struggle. You know when you’re growing in God when sin shows up and you have a desire not to do it. You know you’re maturing in your faith when sin calls you and you don’t answer. Be careful when sin shows up in your vulnerable moments. In your vulnerable moments, it puts you in a place where you are so open. You have a tendency to allow your moments of vulnerability to put you in a place where you’re ok to sin. You have to understand that the enemy’s design is to trip your mind up and make you look like sin is not that bad. Your moments and decisions of vulnerability don’t just affect you, they affect everything that is connected to you. Don’t wait until tomorrow to change your attitude. One of the reasons you’re so defeated is because you won’t allow the spirit of God to transform your mind. If the enemy has your mind, the enemy has won the battle, because the battle is not in your flesh it’s in your mind. God has to do work on your mindset so he can get you to walk in the direction that you’ve been called in. Until your mind is changed your actions will stay the same. One reason you stay stuck is that you only see things from one side of the coin, but when you begin to see it from the other side that’s when you begin to realize maybe you were wrong. When your perspective, your mindset, and your attitude is changed, how you approach things will be better. You spend so much time stuck and bombarded by the wrong stuff because you’re too stubborn to change your attitude. One reason you’re stuck where you are is that you won’t go to the right person to talk about your stuff. If people really love you they will be honest with you and tell you when you’re wrong. If you have a friend that has never told you that you’re wrong, you ought to question your friendship. Prayer works and the Holy Spirit got power, but God has also given you wisdom. Your problem won’t change until you change how you try to solve it. Now is the time to make changes, as long as you stay stuck, everything connected to you will stay stuck.
*You have to accept some things. You are guilty of trying to squeeze into the old you when God has told you to take off the old you and walk and put on the new you. You have to put on the Lord Jesus, because you have been wearing religion, but haven’t been wearing salvation. You have mastered how to look, act, be, and talk churchy, but that’s just religion. When you put on the Lord Jesus it’s not something you can easily take off. That every time you show up, your salvation is on display. When you put on the Lord Jesus, understand that there is a certain expectation of you. Stop trying to put dirty garments on the new you. What sense is it to wash up and put the same dirty clothes on that you had on yesterday? What sense is it for you to wake up and get brand new mercies, and you still keep putting on the things of the past? What sense is it for you to ask God to forgive and cleanse you, and God does it, but you keep holding on to the mistakes you made in the past? You allow the people in the past to remind you of what you used to do, where you used to be, and who you used to mess with. It doesn’t matter what you used to be, any man be in Christ he is a new creature. You're walking in your newness because you put the Lord Jesus on, and when people see you you’re wearing your faith. Stop hiding your faith.
Comments