Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.
We magnify You, Lord. We give You glory, we give You honor, we give You praise in this place this morning, Jesus. Worthy is Your name and worthy to be praised. You, the author and the finisher of our faith. Hallelujah, Lord. We give You praise. We give You glory. We give You honor in this place this morning, Jesus. Lord, everything is about You. Everything is for You. We lift You high. We magnify the name of Jesus Christ. We give You all the honor. In Jesus' name, and everybody said, Amen. Amen. Amen.
How many know He's been good to us? How many know He's going to continue to be good to us? Amen. If you believe that, shout amen real quick. All right. Good deal. You can be seated this morning. Amen, amen.
Lots of great things going on. I'm excited about 2025. How about you? We're going to have some great things. The church is going to grow, and we're going to keep pushing forward with God's mission on our life, on our church. Amen. I'm excited that you're a part of it and can't wait to see you. I'm excited to see who else begins to join in 2025 and become a part of what God's doing here. Amen.
Let's go ahead and get ready to give this morning. I'll pray for your offering, pray for your businesses, pray for your jobs, pray for the economy that surrounds you. How many of you know that we may live in the global economy? We may live in the American economy. We may live in the Texas and Louisiana economy, but how many of you know the Bible says that we're in this world, but we're not of it? Ultimately, we're in God's economy. Amen. Amen.
And so, a lot of... I hope nothing bad happens to our economy, but how many of you know that a lot of times gets dictated by the natural mind a lot and the natural people who control those things? But how many of you know the natural man can do all that he wants to do to control the economy of the world, but that doesn't affect the economy of heaven? I thought I'd get a little bit better response than that because that affects you, right?
And if I was a politician and I stood up here and I said, "We're going to make the American economy great," y'all would have said, "Stand up and cheer," or call me a liar, one of the two. But we're a part of God's economy, and we have got to get that, and God works with this economy, no doubt, and we believe God for that. But we can stand in faith, and we can say that the Word of God says when we bring the tithe into the storehouse that He opens up the windows of heaven and pours blessing upon us in our life, room not enough to receive, it says.
It also says it would rebuke the devourer for your sake. The devourer is a part of when the economy goes bad, that the devourer could be rebuked upon your life. He says don't come and give grudgingly or of necessity, because God loves a cheerful giver, and He's able to make all grace abound towards you. He says He's able to supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Amen?
And so let's pray. Let's stand and pray. You don't have to stand up. I mean, just stand in faith. But let's pray.
Father, we thank You, and we praise You, and we magnify You, Lord. Lord, we're a part of Your economy. We recognize that today. We pray for the American economy. We pray for the world economy. Lord, we pray that You put the people in there that You need in there to stabilize things. But Father, we don't put our hope and our trust in those things, Lord. We put our hope and our trust in the God of heaven, the one who never sleeps, the one who never slumbers, the one who never has need because of the abundance that You have.
And we thank You, Father, as we come in faith today, and we give into Your kingdom, we give into Your storehouse. We thank You, Father, that You do as Your Word says. You open up the windows of heaven over our lives. We thank You, Father, that You do as Your life, over our church, over our jobs, over our businesses, Father. Lord, You pour out blessing upon us. We have room not enough to receive. Lord, that You rebuke the devourer. If You rebuke the devourer, then we stand in faith today, and we rebuke the devourer from our life, from our financial life.
And we just thank You, Father, and we praise You that as we come and we give, we don't do this grudgingly out of necessity, Lord. We don't come because we feel like we have to or, "Oh man, it's that time again." But Lord, we come cheerfully knowing and understanding that as we do in accordance to what Your Word says, Lord, that You honor Your Word. And Lord, that we thank You, Father, that we have an abundance for every good work.
And Lord, we thank You, Father, You are the God who supplies seed to the sower, and You're also the God who multiplies that seed. So I thank You, Father, as we sow this morning. Lord, You gave us that seed to begin with. And Lord, as we sow that, Lord, You're also the God who's going to multiply our seed for sowing. And You said You'd multiply our bread for food. That's the things that we need to be sustained. Lord, that's the homes that we need, the cars that we need, the clothing that we need, all the different things that we need.
Father, Lord, You said You would supply all of our needs according to Your riches in glory. And I thank You, Father, we put our hope and our trust not in our needs, but in the God who supplies those needs. In Jesus' name. And everybody said? Amen.
You can give this morning if you so choose. And after you've given, they're going to play a little music back there. I want you to get up, go find somebody, give them a handshake or a hug this morning. Tell them you're glad to see them. I hope that your new year is already going well, going good. And you know, what better way to start off the new year than with a fresh commitment to put God first in our life. Amen.
I want to start off with maybe a series. We'll see. But it's just a message entitled "Let God Lead." Amen? Amen. Let God lead. And you say, "Well, I just want God to do whatever He wants to do." That's kind of the passive-aggressive approach to things. And it's not just let God do whatever He wants to do when He wants to do it, and I'm going to do my thing. And if He wants me to do it, then He'll make me do it. That's not correct. That's not a way to put yourself under leadership.
And when you put yourself under leadership with somebody, you have to let them lead. Amen. You can't do what you want to do and then decide when you've kind of messed things up, "Okay, now you can kind of take over from here." But the first year is a great time to put God first and say, "God, I want You to lead and to guide my life." Amen.
It sounds simple a lot of times, and especially in a time of year like this where we're really programmed to start thinking about ways that we're going to be a better person in the new year, right? We're all kind of programmed to that. We kind of look forward to that, especially after having several months of, you know, just kind of here, there, and yonder, and going to family functions, and parties, and holiday events, and all those different things. And we look forward to routine. Amen.
I believe that routine is godly. I believe that a time where you kind of have some free time is good too. But how many of you know, you kind of long for free time sometimes, and then when you have a little bit too much of it, you're ready for what? Routine, right? Ready to like, "I need some normality in my life."
And so this time of year where we are kind of programmed to make New Year's resolutions and things like that, it sounds really simple like, "Okay, you know, I'm going to put God first. I'm going to work out. I'm going to diet. I'm going to whatever. I'm going to be more organized," and, you know, things like that.
I was cleaning out a bunch of, you know, I have the ability to sometimes, not all the time, but I have the ability to kind of make the common areas of my life look nice and organized. But rest assured, I got some rat holes, places that you don't want to open up a door because it might kill you if it all falls out.
Anybody with me on that? We got some rat holes. And so I was in my office and Miss Nancy came in there and I had all, I had my rat holes pulled out in the middle of my office. She said, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm getting my life right with Jesus. This is what I'm doing." And that's what I call it. When I'm feeling disorganized and I'm feeling like things are kind of mounting up, I'll just look at my office. I got to get my life right with the Lord because I can't take much more of this.
But it sounds simple, you know, especially this time of year, like I said, but it's a great thought, you know, noble thought that we have, but I'm betting that all of us have found out that as the year goes on, it gets harder and harder and the cares of this world begin to take precedent. Amen.
That's why we kind of find ourselves at the end of the year, kind of just trying to make it, if we can just make it. But you know, what's really the difference between December 31st and January 1st, right? The difference is the programming that we have is if I can just make it to the end of the year. But let me know that God, He says that a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day.
And not that He doesn't know the time, not that He doesn't know the calendar, but any day is a good day to begin to put priorities in their right place. Amen. But this time of year, we really begin to think about those things. And you know, but as the year goes on, you know, it begins to get a little bit harder and a little bit harder.
Romans, the 12th chapter, verses one through two, Paul said this to the Romans. He says, "I beseech you." That could be another word that we can exchange for "I'm begging you." I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. So this is a, almost a begging request by the mercy of God. I'm asking you, I'm begging you to do this.
And the thing that he asked you to do is to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. How many of you know that even though it's a living sacrifice, meaning that there's nothing natural about you that has to pass away, Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice when He gave His body to be crucified for us so that we could have a way to the Father. But that was the ultimate sacrifice. That was a dying sacrifice.
But he's saying, "I'm begging you to make a living sacrifice." But just because it's a living sacrifice doesn't mean that it's not difficult. How many of you know sacrifices are difficult? A lot of times we want the easy way. That's why a lot of instant things are popular. You know, there are people that try to make their way into this simplistic type life.
You see these people, and it sounds amazing. It sounds wonderful to say, "I just want to get a little cabin in the woods. Don't have to have running water. Don't have to have electricity, no internet, none of that. I just want to get that. I just want to move out of that." Sounds like such a great thought.
But if you go and you go back to some of these people who started out with, "All I need is something over my head and food, and that's really all I need, and I just need to move out here somewhere." If you watch some of those reality shows long enough, what do they begin to do? They begin to make things that make their life, what, more convenient, right?
So we want the convenience. We want the instant. But we don't like all the complication that comes with that. And so, a lot of times when it comes to putting the things that we need to put first in our life, we think of it as, "This is just going to make life simpler." And it would, and it should.
But the problem is that we begin to take, and we want to make things simpler, and we want to put our priorities right, but we don't know how to keep at bay the things that want to overcomplicate the simplicity of life. Amen?
And so, we begin to let that stuff muddy it over the year, because we'll get to the first year, and we go, "Okay, what's important? What's important? What's important? And what's not important? And let's put all the things that are not important over here, and all the things that are important over there."
Well, the problem with that is, all the things that want to take your time that may be not as important, they've been on vacation too throughout the holidays. And as you go week to week, and you move into the year, then all these things that want to grab a hold of your time, they start creeping back in, and little by little, you begin to sacrifice the things that are the most priority for the things that are the least priority. Amen?
So, Paul is saying here, he says, "Listen, I beseech you, therefore, before the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice." He goes on to say, "holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Another translation says it like this, he says, "In light of all that God has done for you, this is the least that we could do." Amen?
He says, "In light of all that God has sacrificed for you, the least we could do is offer up ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, and do not be conformed to this world."
Do not be conformed to this world. You know, and I think as Christians, we've always tried to dance the dance of how much of the world can we be a part of, and not yet be of. Amen?
And if we're not careful, and we're not good at dancing, and I don't know that we should even try, but some people are better than others, we can kind of dance in a way where we're back and forth, back and forth. But really, if we're not careful, we get conformed. We get pushed into the mold that everybody else is in because it's, what, normal, right?
And it's hard to fight things that are not priority, or not things that God would have us to do when it's normal for everybody else. And what looks abnormal is you actually offering up your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable and pleasing to Him.
But he says, "And do not be conformed to this world." Here's the key to not being conformed to the world. It says, "but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Well, what does that mean? It means that my mind needs to be reprogrammed from the things that the world calls normal, and that we should take and put in priority, and it needs to be reprogrammed into the Word of God that God says this is priority.
And if we never do that, then we're always going to be dancing that dance of what is right and what is wrong. Can I do this and still be a Christian? Can I be a part of this and still be saved? Well, you're dancing a dance that you're never going to win.
What you have to begin to say is, "I'm not going to be conformed, but I will let the Word of God transform my mind." And that way you can be in the world, but not find yourself of the world.
I'm preaching better than y'all are, amen. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind, watch this, so that you can prove in your own life, not so you can prove to other people, but to prove in your own life, what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Perfect will of God for who? For yourself. What is the will of God for my life? Well, a good start is to present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable and pleasing to God, not being conformed to the world, but being transformed by the renewing of your mind.
And when you begin to start on that process and put that priority number one, then you'll find yourself in a place where you're proving out in your life, what is the good, what is the acceptable, what is the perfect will of God. Amen.
You know, a lot of things in this world can beg of you, can scream out at you. You know, we get huffy and puffy when we don't get our way. Other people get that same way when they don't get their way and even demand that we put them first.
If we don't put God first, amen. If we don't put God first, we won't be any good to the things or the people or even to ourselves and our life. If we don't give God our first. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
I'm reminded of that when I first got saved. Well, let me back up. I'd answered the altar call. I believe that I was saved at that point. But when I felt like God was really calling me closer to Him to put Him first in my life, I was working.
Well, I'd been working two jobs. At this point, I was working. Now I was still working two jobs. I was working in the morning at a golf course, well, 6:30 to 4:30. And then I was working at the barbecue place.
Now, I'll tell this story because it has a good ending for the relationship, but I was working for this guy, and obviously, so his business was number one priority for him. He had built it from the ground up. He had done an amazing job with that, and I was just out of high school, and I was working for him, and I was a good worker, but I wasn't going to church, and I wasn't really making God a priority in my life.
But God had really begun to change my life, and I just felt convicted that I needed to be more a part of the house of God. And so I went to the wife, and really, I'd gotten my instruction. I wasn't scared to talk to him. He just wasn't there that particular day, but she acted more of the administrative boss than he did.
You know, he kind of told us how to do things and different things like that, but when it came to scheduling and stuff like that, she was more the person that communicated to us on that level. And so I went to her on a Tuesday evening, and I said, "Hey, can I get Wednesdays off?" And she said, "Yeah, sure. What's going on?" I said, "Well, I'd just like to go to church." And she said, "Absolutely, yeah. If you want to go to church on Wednesday nights, that'd be great."
So that was Tuesday night, so I just, I didn't come in. I mean, I got the okay. I didn't come in on Wednesday night. Well, I got there Thursday, and the husband was like, "Where were you yesterday?" And I said, "Oh, I figured Susan would have told you. I said, but I was, I took off." And he goes, "Why?" And I said, "Well, I want to go to church on Wednesday nights."
He said, "Well, you can't have it." I said, "Well, I'm going to go to church on Wednesday nights." He said, "Well, you can't have off on Wednesday nights. I mean, on every Wednesday night." I said, "Well, okay." I said, "Well, we can." And he goes, "You know what? As a matter of fact," he just got real mad at me. He said, "As a matter of fact, you can't have any Wednesday off." And I said, "Okay."
And I just turned around, and I, you know, the barbecue pit was back in the back, and you kind of had to go through the kitchen door, and then you went out into a courtyard, then you had to go in the barbecue door, and then you went out of the smokehouse. And so I turned around. I didn't act mad or anything like that, and I walked out the back of the kitchen door, and I walked through the courtyard, and I opened up the next door to get into the smokehouse, which is normally where I was at, and I looked at that next door. I said, "Well, I've hit two doors, might as well hit the third one," and I went out that third door.
And I remember going straight up to the church, and a lot of the guys in the youth group were working on some things, and I got up there and said, "Well, I thought you had to work." I said, "Well, not anymore." I said, "We'll have to figure that out."
And you say, "Why do you tell that story?" Well, it was because I do believe in having a job, and I'm not up here telling you to quit your job if you can't go to church. But I knew that God was convicting me to do that. And I know that was a major step in my life towards going after the plans and the purposes of God. I didn't really know that at the time, but I know that now.
Now here's the good story about that. I never went back. I never even picked up my paycheck. I never talked to those people again or anything like that, and I just in my mind thought they're just probably mad at me, and you know, and I'll just let it be.
Well, years later when I came back to pastor in my hometown, a girl in my church started dating the son of the pastor of the pastor of the pastor of the pastor of the pastor of the pastor of the pastor of the people who own that barbecue restaurant.
Now, the wife had passed away during the time I was gone, and so I never really knew the kids. When I knew the kids, they were twins. There was a boy and a girl, and they were like seven years old. And the girl, not so much, but the boy, he just wrecked shop every time he came in there. I mean, he just was, you know, just all over the place.
And he comes in, I didn't know who he was, but he's dating a girl that's in my church, and we got to talking and figured out who he was, and he got to talking about how much his mom talked about me and liked me and all this stuff.
Well, when I was playing football, they had an adoptive player type thing, and she had one day, I mean, she would give just some of the best gifts, and she gave me a Brett Favre, Green Bay Brett Favre jersey, like a really real deal jersey. It was super nice. And I was telling him about some of those things, and he goes, "You know what? She bought me that same jersey, but I don't know where it's at."
And so I was able to give that jersey to him later on. But anyway, he became a part of my church, and then sometime later, I was able to go and talk with his dad, and there was a kind of a tragic thing that happened in the son's life with a boss that he had, and his dad actually called me on the phone. He goes, "Hey, can you go talk to him?" He said, "He's not listening to anybody. It's kind of rough."
And there was a reconnection made on spiritual levels that would have never been made if I'd have just went, "Okay, I guess I'll just work here at the barbecue restaurant." And you know what I'm saying? If I hadn't followed the convictions and the leading of the Holy Spirit, amen.
And so God made all those things kind of come back full circle. You really don't know that that's happening at the time, and that's kind of why it's called a sacrifice, offering your bodies up as a sacrifice, a living sacrifice. And that was, you know, say, "Well, you're in high school. How much money did you really need?" Well, I don't know. I needed some, and that was a source of income, but I was willing to walk out on that so that I could go and do what I felt like that I was supposed to do.
Again, this is not me saying that you have an excuse to quit your job because you need to stop doing that. You need to stop doing that. You need to stop doing that. More time with God, I would say that really does have to be a leading and a prompting of the Holy Spirit, not out of anger, not because you just don't like where you're at.
But it could be an awesome time for you to reevaluate the things that, the priorities and the responsibilities that you have in your life. It may be a good time to reevaluate that and then believe God that He can reposition you into a place where you can put Him first and take care of your responsibilities. Amen?
Is that good? Is that balanced? So, don't be the person that greases the squeaky wheels of life. Make sure that God is always getting your first and always getting your best.
Jesus demonstrated this over in Luke 2:49. So in Luke 2:49, if you remember correctly, Jesus was a young boy, that some people say around 12 years old, and He got separated from His family. A big Jewish feast, and there His family was leaving, and there, where's Jesus at? He's wandered off or something.
So they end up finding Him, and He's in the synagogue, and He's teaching, and they're kind of reprimanding, like, "Where have you been? We've lost you," and blah, blah, blah. And this is the response that Jesus said. Jesus said, "Didn't you know that I must be about my Father's business?"
Didn't you know where I'd be? I got to be about my Father's business. Well, He reiterated this, and He said, "I must be about my Father's business." And John 9:4, I'm sorry, John 9:4, later on in His ministry when He said, "I must work the works of Him who sent me."
I must work the works of the one who sent me, talking about God. He knew God had sent Him. How many know you say, "Well, that's Jesus. Obviously, He had a work to do." Well, Jesus lives on the inside of you, and now He does His work through the body of Christ.
And if you're in Christ, then you're a part of the body, so there's work that you must do. There's business that you must be about. That's kingdom business. Amen?
I don't believe that we should use God as an excuse to not take care of business, our responsibilities. But if our business and responsibilities are so great that we don't have time to put God first, we may need to reevaluate the earthly commitments that we've made and believe God to get us in a position to serve Him instead of the world, instead of our own desires, and instead of the desires of other people.
How many know there's a lot of people that have desires of you? Amen? Whether those are correct desires, like children and spouses and things like that, where yes, you've got a commitment to be a father, a mother. You've got a commitment to be a husband, a wife. You've got certain commitments that are there because of the relationship that you have.
But there, you can find yourself in a place where people desire a lot of you, and really, it's kind of a compliment when people desire a lot of you. Why? Because they see you as a person who can take care of you, and they see you as a person who can take care of you, right?
But sometimes people see you as being able to take care of business so well they want to put their business on you. And sometimes we can take that as so much of a compliment that we say, "Oh yeah, I can do that. They see something in me. They see some kind of potential in me."
I remember I was counseling a lady, and she was quite a bit older than me when she worked for this place, and there was a boss. It was a government housing type deal, and there was an idea that I was going to do, and I was going to do it, and I was going to do it, and I was going to do it, and I was going to do it.
Absolute boss over that, and he had responsibilities. Like, he had several responsibilities. Well, in that type of situation, yes, he was the boss, but ultimately, the government was the boss, and the government said what things were different people's job description, and they didn't really have a lot of, you know, "Do it because I said to do it."
And so she was in a department that if he didn't do his job, then she couldn't really do her job very well. And so she was frustrated and trying to get him to do his job, and she came to me, and she said, "You know, he's not doing his job, so I end up doing his job for him."
And she's just, you know, maxed out in stress, and because she'd been talking to me a little along the way, but we finally got a chance to talk about it, and I said, I told her, I said, "Well, whose job is it to do that?" She goes, "Well, his." And I said, "Well, then let him take responsibility for not doing his job."
I said, "Because as long as you keep doing it for him, he's never going to do it." She goes, "Well, he's not doing it anyway," and blah, blah, blah. I said, "Listen, you do your job, but don't worry about his job."
She could not get that through because she was such a person, even in her own family. She just took care of everybody's business, and most people that got around her didn't. It's not that they didn't know how to do anything, but they were so used to her taking control.
It's called a control freak, in case you didn't know. And control freaks are some of the most stressed-out people I've ever met. Why? Because instead of taking care of their own business, they're so busy taking care of other people's business, and then they realize their business isn't taken care of, and so then they're stressed out, and then they want to lay blame to everybody, but you're the one that took up everybody's business.
So here's a word for 2025. Mind your own business. Take care of your own business. Amen?
So I'm not saying that God is an excuse, like, "Well, I'm just going to let go, let all this stuff go." And I'm just going to pray, and I'm just going to... No, prayer is where you start, and you put God first, but God is there to help you and instruct you in how to take care of the things that are priority for you and for the plan and the purpose that He has for you. Amen?
I'm not saying you can't help other people. Don't get me wrong, but you know the people that you can and the people that they just are going, "Well, if I don't, they'll do it," right?
I'm trying to set you free this morning. I'm trying to set you free this morning. I'm trying to set you free this morning.
Let's go over to Exodus, the 32nd chapter. This is going to take a little bit of a turn back into letting God lead. Exodus, the 32nd chapter. I'm going to read 1 through 7. 1 through 7. Y'all remember this?
He delivered the children of Israel with Moses' help, and they don't want to go into the promised land, and so they're going to have to have some instruction for an extended stay in the desert. And so God and Moses are meeting so that Moses can get the plan for the people that had cried out to God to be rescued, and God rescued them, and they only wanted to be rescued halfway. They didn't want to go the whole way.
So God's so good and God's so merciful, He said, "Well, if you're going to stay out there, we're going to have to have some rules and regulations." And so Moses is trying to hear from God for instruction, but the people don't want to wait for those rules and instructions.
So it says, verse 1, "Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, 'Come, make us gods that shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'"
So they've been miraculously rescued by God, undeniably rescued by God, saw some of the greatest miracles that any human has ever seen. And they get out there in the desert, and Moses says, "I got to go talk with God to see what the next move is."
If y'all don't want to go across the river into the promised land, I got to go see what the next move is. They begin to get so impatient that they ask Aaron to make other gods, gods that had done nothing for them. Gods that had not rescued them, they began to ask him to make other gods, because he says, and it's almost like they didn't know Moses.
Like, I'm sure just days and weeks and months before, they were praising Moses' name and praising God's name, and now they're at a place because things aren't working on their timeline like they thought they would work, and things aren't working anymore, because the reason why things aren't working anymore is because they stopped putting God's plan first for their life.
God said, "Go over to the promised land." They said, "No, uh-uh." But they want God's plan in a place that God never meant to lead them to. He meant to lead them through. Amen?
And a lot of times we get into a place where God wanted to lead us through this place, but we got stuck in that place, and we said, "Nah-uh." And so we want God's blessing, and we want everything that God has for us in a place that we were meant to be led through and not led to.
And God's so good, He says, "I can make it work, but it's not going to be perfect, but you're going to have to give me some time here. You're going to have to hear from me if this is going to work at all."
And so they're up there, and they grow impatient with that. They said, "Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, 'Come make us gods that shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'"
And Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in your ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters and bring them to me." So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in the ears and brought them to Aaron.
And he received the gold from their hand and he fashioned it with an engraving tool and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your God, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt."
So they took the God of heaven that actually brought them out and they just exchanged Him for something they made. How many times do we praise God for getting us to a place and then all of a sudden we begin to worship as if we've made that happen?
That golden calf did nothing for them. It was of them. It was of their own thoughts. It was of their own desires. It was of their own riches. It was of their own design. So it was something that they made. It was something they were able to do. It took no supernatural intervention from God to take the earrings out of their family's ears.
It took no intervention of God to mold it down and shape it. It was all man-made, but yet they took that man-made thing and they exalted it and said, "This is your God, the one who, not just this is your God now, this is the one who brought you out of Egypt."
We can begin to think that the lives that we've made is what has done it. When it's God that brought it for us. When it's God that brings you through things. Amen?
Let's go on. So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord," not the Lord their God, this golden calf.
Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. And the people said to Moses, I'm sorry, then the Lord said to Moses, "Go get down for your people."
Now, this is interesting. They were God's people, but God looked at and said, "Moses, the people that you brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves."
The people you brought out have corrupted themselves. I wish we could schedule in the intervention of God, but He doesn't work on His schedule, on your schedule, and He doesn't adhere to the pace of humanity.
He doesn't adhere to the pace of humanity. I said earlier when we were praying after worship, a day is as a thousand years, a thousand years is as a day. God lives in time and outside of time altogether.
It's hard for us to even understand living outside of time. I think it's almost impossible to think about not living in time because everything for us is time. Why? Because it is appointed for us all to die once.
We always say we have nothing but time, but we never know how much time, right? But God doesn't work on your schedule, and He doesn't adhere to the pace of humanity.
Now, I want to take you from Old Testament to New Testament in this statement. Moses was the person God had chosen to give instruction and leadership to the people. Moses was the man that God had chosen to bring leadership and instruction to His people.
He was the one who had to hear from God and then relay the message to the people. A lot of times we want to carry this over into the New Testament, but that's not how the New Testament works anymore.
I'm not saying that there's not leadership in the body of Christ. Obviously, there is. But I'm talking about... A lot of times we would think it'd be easier, and I've had people ask me this many times, and I have asked of other people many times.
And what is the question that is asked? Just tell me what to do. What do I need to do right here? And I'm not saying that you don't get counsel. I'm not saying that you don't get leadership in that way.
But a lot of times what we're wanting is we're wanting something like what the Old Testament had when it came to spiritual things, is there was one person normally that was hearing from God, and that one person had one message, and that was the message, and that's how God communicated to all the people.
And you either adhered to it or you didn't adhere to it. But that's not the case in the New Testament. But Moses was the person God had chosen to give instruction and leadership through.
He was the one who had to hear from God and then had to relay the message to the people. The people's impatience caused them to look for other things. It caused them to look for other gods, caused them to look for idols.
And they wanted something to fill their schedules with. They wanted something to worship. They wanted something to look forward to. But because of their impatience, and they weren't hearing from Moses, which was the person who was supposed to be hearing from God, and it didn't happen in their time frame, and it didn't happen in their schedule, they began to say, "Well, we've got to have something to worship. We've got to have something to fill our schedule with. We need a God to worship. We need something we can physically see. We need something that we can have parties around. We need something that we can have festivals around. And as far as this Moses guy, we don't even know what's happened to him. He might have went up there, and God might have killed him up there. He may not have ever made it.
And we're just down here in the desert, and we don't know what to do, and we don't know what to think, and we don't have any instruction. So Aaron, you're the next guy up. You need to make us something to have festivals around, to have parties around, to have ideas around, to have knowledge around.
Does it sound familiar? Today we don't have a man that hears from God for us. You say, "That's why we hired you, Pastor." You better not have hired me to hear from God for you. You better not have hired me anyway.
We better know that God called me here, and you believe it, and I believe it. But I'm not here to hear from God for you. I can help instruct you, and help where I can, and help you walk through things. But I'm not here to hear from God for you.
Have leadership that God's given me for the direction of this whole body, maybe. But that's not even on my own. Amen?
Today we have the Holy Spirit on the inside. He hears from God. And we're to be taught of Him. We're to be led of Him. John 16:13 says this, "This sounds vaguely familiar about what Moses was doing. When Moses got the word from God, he wasn't going to come down and speak on Moses' authority."
He wasn't going to come down and speak on Moses' authority. He wasn't going to come down and speak on Moses' authority. When He, the Spirit of truth, has come. This is Jesus talking before the death, burial, and resurrection.
So we know that after that, the Holy Spirit was sent. So this is talking about before He was, but now He is. The Bible says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told them before the death, prayer, and resurrection.
When they asked Him who this Spirit of truth was, He says, "Well, you know Him because He's with you right now, but He shall be in you." And He was talking about His Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that was on the inside of Him, that was leading Him, that was causing Him to do the things that He was doing for the Lord and for the kingdom of God and for the furtherance of God's plan and God's purpose.
He says, "You know Him because He's with you, with Me. But there's coming a day where He's not going to be with you only. He's actually going to be in you." And He was talking about when He, after He went to the cross and after He went to the grave and after He was resurrected and after that He ascended on high, that the Holy Spirit, He said, "I'm going to pray the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit, who's going to come. He's never going to leave you. He's never going to forsake you. And He's going to be a helper. He's going to be just like Me, but He's going to be able not to just be with y'all. He's going to be able to be in you."
And the Bible says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So when we get saved and we become a person in Christ, the Christ actually moves. We always say Jesus lives on the inside of us. But the correct thing to say is the Holy Spirit of Jesus lives on the inside of us.
Why? Because the Bible says that God is in heaven and Jesus is seated at His right hand. But He sent the Holy Spirit down here in His stay, in His stead to be that comforter, to be that helper, to be that lead, to be that guide. And He's on the inside of every believer.
John 16:13 says, "When He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will not speak on His own authority. Watch this. But whatever He hears, He will speak and He will tell you things to come."
1 John 2:27 says this, "The anointing which you have received from Him." That's talking about the anointing. That's talking about the Holy Spirit. You say, "Well now wait a minute, you're stretching that. It doesn't say Holy Spirit." No, but in Acts it says how Jesus was anointed of God with the Holy Spirit who went about doing good and seeking and healing all that were sick and oppressed of the devil for God was with Him.
The anointing. And so right here it says in 1 John 2:27, "The anointing which you've received from Him abides in you." The anointing which you've received from Him abides in you.
The anointing. That's the Holy Spirit. The same anointing that Jesus had on His life. It was the Holy Spirit. And so right here they're saying the Holy Spirit, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you. Watch this.
"And you do not need that anyone teach you." And you do not need that anyone teach you. Well, this sounds odd, especially since I'm standing up here and I believe that God has given me a gift in the body of Christ to be a teacher and a pastor.
And so you sound like you're kind of putting yourself out of a job. Well, there's two different types of teachers. I do think that there's a lot of five-fold ministers that have taken the role of the Holy Spirit in people's lives and overstepped boundaries and not taught them that you have a teacher and you don't have any need to be taught.
You don't have to be taught of anyone because the teacher, the Holy One, the anointing of God lives on the inside of you. Let's read it. The anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you.
But as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. So you have the Holy Spirit of God living on the inside of you there to teach you all things.
There to show you things to come is what Jesus said. But we just want a man that we respect to tell us what to do. We get impatient, a lot of times maybe even out of our own laziness because we don't take time to go spend with God, and so we go, "Well, we'll go to somebody who we think spends time with God to tell us what to do."
Y'all weren't ready for the truth this morning, were you? Moses may have had a special relationship with God more so than the other people, but that's not the case in the New Testament.
If anyone's relationship with God is more special than another person, it's got nothing to do with how special God wants His relationship with you. It's got to do with how much He loves you, how much priority you put on the specialness of the relationship. Amen?
When we serve God first, He gives us the resources that the people around us truly need. But when we serve ourselves, the people and the world around us first, we end up giving what we feel is needed from us, which is not always what is desired of God in that situation.
That's a good word for parents that are susceptible to enabling manipulative kids and grandkids. I know they're your kids. I know they're your grandkids. But if they're a manipulator and a dependent, when they should be being not independent of God, but independent of you, that's a good word for you.
Because when you put their desires of you and your own desires of you and the world's desires of you first, you don't put God first, you can be doing what you feel is right in that situation. You can be doing what they want you to do, and it may make you feel good to have solved the problem for them.
But it may not be what God desired to happen in that situation. And you just effectively severed the intervention of God. But I've also spent hours upon hours in rooms and on phone calls with parents and even grandparents that have enabled, enabled, enabled, and then they want you to fix it in one counseling session.
But it can also happen in a church situation when a pastor is only looked at as the problem solver. Not that I feel that way, so don't feel like I feel this way. But I would rather not be someone who just puts out fires or solves problems.
I'd rather be a person who on the regular, not that I'm not there to help you, but on the regular, I'm teaching you how to hear from God because He knows how to deal with that situation way better than me.
Not independent of the house of God and not independent of the five-fold ministry because it has its places, but independent of hearing everything you need to hear spiritually from a regular, ordinary man and getting you used to going to God.
Well, how do I know if I'm really hearing from God? Go with a true heart and renew your mind with the Word. If you don't know if you're really hearing from God or not, it may be because you haven't spent enough time on the Word, because the more you renew your mind with the Word of God, when you hear something, it lines up, and the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of you and says, "Yes, remember this scripture here? That's the Word of God. You need to follow that right there."
But if the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of you, and you don't know that you've ever actually read that Word before, and you get spoken a word, or you feel like you're supposed to do this, or you feel like you're supposed to go there, I guarantee you the Holy Spirit, if you allow Him, will rise up in you and say, "That's not the right way. That's not the voice of the Lord."
Get some confidence in who you are in God's eyes. Don't be so insecure that you can't hear from God, that a man has to hear for you. Put God first. Begin to develop a relationship with Him so you know His character, you know His voice.
Put His Word first in your life so that your mind can begin to be transformed. I'm telling you right now, I can hear people say things out of their mouth, and they'll say, "God told me this," or "I know that this is good, I know that this is right," and as soon as it comes out of their mouth, it's like it hits the brick wall of a word, and I may not correct them right there because they're not asking me to correct them, and I'm okay with minding my own business, and if they ask me, I'll tell them, but it'll come out and it'll just hit the brick wall of the Word, and I'll be like, "That's not right, that's not true. That's humanism. That's this, that's that. That's not the Word of God."
I didn't get that way overnight. I got that way because I got in the Word and let it renew me, and I'm not renewed, but I'm renewing my mind. I take time to get in the presence of God so that I know His character, so that when I come up against a thought, or when I come up against a feeling, or when I come up against an emotion, it doesn't match to the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit is going, "Nah, don't bite, don't bite, don't bite."
Well, it takes time of putting God first and walking in faith with your relationship with God. Amen? Amen?
Like Aaron, we can bow, we can bow to what people, what organizations, what community, what our career and our personal desires are begging of us. It may feel good in the moment. You solved a problem, you satisfied a desire, you fulfilled someone's request of you.
My question is, at what cost? At what cost? I'm going to make a bold statement, not that I hadn't already. You in and of yourself have nothing good to offer any person unless you've been with God first, unless you're being led of Him.
You might fulfill a need, you might fulfill a desire, you might solve a problem, but ultimately, you've got to begin to see that unless I spend time with Him, unless I put Him first, in and of myself, I have nothing good to offer.
In and of myself, I cannot be the husband I need to be to my wife. She's had some allergies and headaches and stuff and everything like that, so she hadn't been feeling very well, and I saw her this morning, and I didn't know if she might take another day or so, and so I hugged her and said, "Are you feeling okay?"
And someone said, "Well, look at you being sweet." I said, "I'm always sweet." I said, "I'm always sweet." And that's not a lie. I usually am, unless I'm not.
But there was a time, especially when we were dating and early on, that I didn't love her out of my relationship with God. And you'll get empty real quick. I can't be the father that I need to be to my children in and of myself.
I can't be the pastor of this church in and of myself. A very short-lived effort in and of yourself. You can't be the coach you need to be in and of yourself. You have some great ideas, you can be successful, but ultimately, you need God leading you and directing you because you're intervening in people's lives in a very intricate time in their life.
You can't be a teacher. You can't be a boss, an employer. You can't be the people that you need to be where you are unless God is priority in your life. You can't take care of business correctly and be the most effective unless God is first, unless you let Him lead.
The only sure way to know that what you do and the role that you play in others' lives is a blessing is to put God first and follow His plans, His purposes, and promptings over the demands, desires, and obligations of the people around you.
Many times, we find ourselves on the defensive side of the ball. In life, we find ourselves on the defensive side of the ball. Now, when I was in high school, they always wanted me to be a pulling guard, and I didn't want to be a pulling guard. I wanted to be a defensive tackle.
Why, you may ask? Because pulling guards did not get their name called over the intercom. I wanted my name called, my number called, and I didn't want to be a defensive tackle. I ended up being decent, but I always wondered how would I have been if I had allowed the coach to actually lead me into the position that he felt like I was more geared towards.
But when you're 15, 16, 17 years old, you know more than everybody else anyway. And not that I told him that I wasn't going to play offense. I just decided to play dumb on offense and try really hard on defense.
Most of us in our life, saved or not, are so busy spending time on the defensive side of the ball. You know, on the defensive side of the ball, you don't know what the play is. You're guessing. You have a game plan for if they line up in certain formations.
You might get good at anticipating. You might get good at recognizing. But really, the only choice you have is to react. God's not called you to be on the defensive side of the ball. He's called you to be on the offensive side of the ball.
He knows the plan. He knows the play. He knows the formation. He knows the timing. On the defensive side of the ball, you don't even know the timing. You jump off sides and cause penalties. You cannot get a jump on the ball at the right time and get knocked back on your heels.
But on the offensive side of the ball, you know the timing. On the offensive side of the ball, you know the play. You know the assignment. You know what the big picture is. This is the big picture of the play.
But then you know the assignments of everybody else that makes that work. And most importantly, you know your assignment. And you know where you're supposed to be, when you're supposed to be, doing what you're supposed to be doing.
And most of the time as Christians, we spend our life on the defensive side of the ball reacting to life. But we're not called to be on the defensive side. Why? Because we are part of the winning team.
We don't have to be on the defensive side. We're called to know the play. We're called to know what we're doing and when we're doing it and with who we're doing it with. Amen?
Make it your aim to make the enemy react to your advances instead of you always on your heels taking things that come your way.
I want you to ask yourself a couple of things. Number one, how many of the decisions that you have made in your life or are that you're currently making have been spiritual? Spirit-led and led by the Word of God?
Ask yourself this, who really controls me? Is it me, is it all those around me? Is it addictions? Or is it the Holy Spirit? The way to make sure that God is in control of your life, no matter what situation you find yourself in, is to put Him first, to allow His Word and His Spirit to lead and guide you in the truth.
You know, and that's called loving God with everything. You know, that's what Jesus said, the two commandments. The one is the greatest, but the second is just like it. The first one was to love the Lord your God with everything.
When you put Him first, that's what you're doing. You're loving Him with everything. Romans 8:28 says, "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God."
So there's some great promises to those who put God first, who love God with everything. So ask yourself these questions. What do I love? Who do I love? What's first? What's my mind consumed with? What is my schedule controlled by? What are my finances? What are my finances tied up in?
You can work that problem backwards and figure that out. You may have great intentions. You may have great affection for the Lord. How many of you know you can say you love somebody only so many times without action before it begins to not have an effect?
So here's your word for the Lord in 2025. Let Him lead. Let Him lead you in 2025. The most important thing is that you make time for God. You spend extra time in His presence and in His Word. Get direction for your life.
Let God call the plays. And once He calls the play, just run the ball. Just run the ball. Run the play. "Well, God, I kind of thought, I kind of want, I kind of thought it would be like, this doesn't match up with my 10-year plan."
It's okay. He's got a much longer plan than 10 years. It's all right if it doesn't match up with what you thought. Why? Because His ways and His thoughts are so much higher than mine.
I want to read something to you before we get out of here. Because I was cleaning up my office this week and I found something. But when I read it, it just arrested me again.
And so there's a little something I'll add to the bottom of what the Lord was speaking to me through this. And I don't claim to, you know, obviously be a prophet or anything like that. But there have been times where in different prayer services and things, the Lord has given me a word.
And I know whether it was just something I was thinking about or something the Lord really gave me. And this was something that the Lord really gave me. And, you know, I don't have any other than go back and dig up the tapes or whatever. I don't really have a good way of proving this. You just have to take my word on it.
But because of the timing of it, because this is not to bring glory to me or anything like that, I'm just telling you what the significance of it. So maybe that you would put a little bit of stock in it, but also just check it with the Lord for yourself.
But this was something, this was a word that I gave out in a prayer service, and the best I could figure, it was like October 2019. So this was about four months before COVID hit. We had no idea that was coming, but there were some things, you know, not bad things or anything like that, but just some things in our church and some things I knew needed to change.
And so honestly, when I gave this word out, I really thought that it was strictly for our church and maybe just the state of our church and moving forward. And so I gave it out, but it wasn't until after we kind of got into COVID for a little while that I really realized what the Lord was saying.
But this is the word here, and then I'll stop at the end of the word, and I'll give you kind of what the Lord was saying.
It says, "Like the changing of the tide, so will this time be. There will be mixing and churning." And I remember when we were praying, I could just see, like if you've ever just sat at the beach, and my wife likes to sit at the beach, and so I like the beach because she's at the beach, and I like sitting next to her because she's there.
But other than that, you know, I want to be doing something, and so I have to put my mind on other things. And so I'll sit in my beach chair, and I'll just sit there and watch, and as the tide kind of rolls in, if it gets a little choppy, you know, it might be clear coming in, but as soon as it hits the beach, you know, all the sand and stuff mixes in.
If you don't know, if you've never paid attention to that, then just go sit in that, and I guarantee you'll be getting sand out of places for a long time if you sit because you're like, "How this water was so clear? How is there sand everywhere?" Because of the churning.
And so I remember as I was praying, I could see just this waves crashing, and as the clear water came in, it would crash and it would just muddy up the bank. But He said, "Like the churning of the tide, so will this time be. There will be mixing and churning, confusion and blurriness, but it will usher in fresh water, newness and clarity."
And so here was the instruction from the Lord of saying that He said, "So be on the side of the tide and the waves crashing, and as the clear water came in, He said, 'So be on the side of the new tide and don't be washed out with the old, for I am cleansing My church and causing clarity of things that have operated in confusion and impurity, for My church will be as I said it would be, spotless and wrinkleless, pure and white. So be on the side of the new tide and don't be washed out with the old.'"
And that was the word. We had no idea 2020 was going to be the way it was, and I began to think about all the things that God was saying, and it took on a little bit more a different significance being, you know, almost five years on the other side of that time, or I guess it would be five years on the other side because that was 2019.
But think about all the changes that have been made to local bodies. Think about all the changes that have been made to large churches, small churches, to not hold denomination relations, governments, and yes, if you could look back on the years, you could find change like that over the time.
But in such a short period of time, there is definitely a new tide and the old tide. And I just want to encourage you this morning to say, not because you're sitting in this church, but because you're serving God. You've hung in there. You've stayed with it.
We've had some tumultuous times as Americans, as Christians, as men, as women. We've had some crazy times. But you've hung in there and you're serving God.
And so this is what I felt like I should add on to that this morning. The tide doesn't come in just one wave. It's wave after wave. You've made it this far. Hang in there and remain steadfast. Remain on God's side. Remain in pursuit of His plan for your life.
Don't get caught up in the rip currents of this world. There could be and probably will be many more waves of cleansing coming. Don't get caught up in it. Stay anchored in Christ and let God lead in 2025. Amen. Just let God lead.
There's so many voices out there trying to tell you what's right, what's wrong, what's right socially, what's wrong socially, what's right. I mean, everybody is in everybody's business. Everybody's got something to say.
If you had one voice to pick, which I believe that you do, pick the Word of God. Pick the Holy Spirit. Let Him lead you and guide you. Amen.
Don't get caught up in all this other stuff. Stand up on your feet. Sorry I kept you.
I was convicted by this message, but I do mind if anybody took this and has guilt or condemnation because of it because I know that's not You. You don't bring guilt and condemnation, but Holy Spirit, You will convict us.
So I hope we're all convicted, not just convicted for the time that we're sitting in this room, but it stays in our heart and builds in our heart so that we'll do something about it. We'll make some changes, some real changes in our life, and we'll make some changes to hear from You, to be a part of what You're doing in this day and in this age, to be the church that You've called us to be.
And I rebuke any... If there are things that aren't right in our relationship with You, we can make those changes, and You make it easy. You said to come boldly before Your throne room of grace to obtain mercy and help in a time of need.
There's no guilt, there's no shame, there's no condemnation, but there's a welcoming in to come boldly, receive that grace, receive that mercy. So Lord, I thank You, Father, that we do, and You help us to reorganize, to reevaluate, to restructure our priorities.
But we make the decision to put You at the top, and we make the decision to pursue You, to pursue Your presence, to pursue Your relationship, get our promptings from You, get our leadings from You, get our guiding from You.
I thank You, Father, for every person here, every household represented. I thank You, Father, we may have some more times this year that are uncertain. Thank God we do have some more times this year.
We don't put our hope and our trust in what this world's going to do, but we lift our eyes to You, the author and the finisher of our faith, and we believe that all things work together for the good of those who love You.
I thank You for it. Praise You for it. In Jesus' name, everybody said, Amen.
I hope you got something out of that. Again, I'm sorry for holding you a little bit longer, but I will see you Wednesday night at seven o'clock. Y'all have a great rest of your weekend. God bless you all. God bless you all.
on Jan 12, 2025
