8-30-09 You Don’t Have What It Takes; Week 4 – You can’t leave!

This morning we are going to wrap up our series “You Don’t Have What It Takes.” This morning we are going to look at the future. 

 

When everything in my life was going great, I had a great job, I was making good money, I was well known in my profession and widely respected, and it was about that time when I began to hear God’s call for me to enter full time ministry. And so, I began to pray about that.  And I’ll never forget that day, because I was in my room praying when my whole room filled up with something like smoke, kinda like a cloud and God spoke out of the cloud and said, “Adam, you’re supposed to go.”  Just kidding.  There was no cloud.  There was no smoke.  I mean, some of you like all that mystical stuff.  “WOoo-ooo, he’s a man of God.  I mean, he gets a cloud in the room.”  NO, that didn’t happen.  No cloud.  No audible voice, but I did clearly hear God speak to my heart, and He said, Adam, I want you to leave where you are to go to where I want you to be,” and I did that very thing.  I left where I was and moved to where God wanted me to be. 

 

Becoming who God created us to be will always require us to leave where we are.  Whenever God wants to use your life in a great way, He always says, “Leave”.  We don’t have what it takes where we are. God always calls us to go somewhere else, so that he can bless us. Our key scripture is found in Genesis 12 and we’ll start reading in verse 1

 

The LORD said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  So Abram left. Genesis 12

 

Here is what we have to understand.  The life of faith is a life of leaving.  God is always trying to get us to leave where we are to take us to where He wants us to be.  And leaving is not necessarily geographical.  You see, some of you, God is speaking to your heart about leaving.  And for you, it’s spiritually.  Some of you are stuck spiritually, and God is calling you to move from where you are now to where he is calling you to be.  For some of you, God is calling you to move toward:

v     Joining a life group

v     Leading a life group

v     Joining the leadership team

v     Doing Outreach

v     Being a Kid’s Hope mentor down at the local elementary school

v     Giving up your addiction whether its drugs, alcohol, food, shopping, porn – whatever it is – and become addicted to God

v     Worshiping God alone, because right now money is your god and God is asking you to trust him and begin tithing

v     Being selfless or a servant of people and moving away from being Selfish

v     Being filled with peace and away from being moved and controlled by fear, anxiety, stress, or anger.

 

God is saying, “Listen.  You’ve got to leave where you are if you want to grow spiritually.  If you want your life to be impacted and you want to impact the lives of others for good, you must leave where you are and go where I am calling you.

 

For some of you, God is calling you to leave the pain of the past.  You’ve been hurt.  You’ve been damaged emotionally, and God is speaking to your heart to leave where you are, and leave your past, and begin to embrace the wonderful future that God has in store for you.  For some of you, you are living a life of disobedience, and the God is speaking to your heart and He’s saying, “Listen.  Leave that addiction.  Leave where you are, so that you can embrace the abundant life that I have for you through My Son, Jesus.”

 

For some of you, it’s leaving your comfort zone.  You’ve been a follower of Christ, maybe for years, and you’re comfortable and you’re not maximizing your potential.  You’re not doing all that God wants you to do, and you’re comfortable, in your walk with God.  You’re lethargic.  You’re mundane.  You’re apathetic. Your walk with God is on cruise control, and God is speaking to you.  “My son, or my daughter there’s more to your life that I want to do in you and through you, but you’ve got to leave where you are, so that I can take you to where I want you to be.” 

 

 “Abraham left.”  Do you know what our spiritual enemy wants you to do?  He wants to do it to you.  He wants to do it to me.  God wants you to leave, and your spiritual enemy whispers in your ear and says, “You can’t do it.  You don’t have what it takes.  You’re going to mess your life up if you leave where you are,” and your friends, they’re going to think you’re crazy, and your life is going to change and change isn’t good – what you have right now is good – don’t do it! I want you to know that our enemy is right.  Our life will change; it will be challenging; it won’t always be comfortable; people often times don’t understand when we follow God, but it will be worth it.

 

I can tell you that since Shannon and I did what our parents and friends thought was crazy; heck, we even thought it was crazy, ever since then, our lives have been in a constant state of change – change for the better. Has it been easy, oh no! Often times, it’s been very hard. Has it been worth it, oh yeah!

 

When God says leave, we’re called to listen.  God has a great plan for our life.  We listen to His voice, and we leave in faith. 

 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV)

So the intriguing question is why don’t we go where God calls us to if God’s plan is for us to prosper?

 

I want to share three reasons why?  Number one is this, people live by sight and not by faith.  They live by sight, and not by faith, and Abraham is called the Father of Faith because he was willing to leave.  He was willing to live by faith and not by sight.  Notice, what our scripture says, it says,

 

The LORD said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people, and your father’s house.’ “  Now, check this out.  Notice this very carefully.  “And go to the land I will show you.” 

 

In other words, Abraham had to leave, and he had no clue where he was going.  That’s living by faith, and not by sight.  I love how the writer of Hebrews puts it.  It says,

 

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going,” Hebrews 11:8

 

Abraham had no clue where he was going, yet he went.  It was enough for him to know that God was leading him. Abraham was living by faith and not by sight.  Most people say, “God, show me and I’ll go,” and God says, “No, no, no, no.  You go and I’ll show you.”  We like to know all the answers before we go, but whose in control then? Who’s god then? Faith requires stepping out on nothing but a word from God and trusting God for the results.  A life of faith is not lived by people who have all the answers.  The life of faith is lived by people who listen to the voice of  God, and they leave.  They go to where God wants them to be. However, your spiritual enemy, he’ll whisper in your ear, “You don’t have what it takes.  Don’t go! It won’t work. You’re an idiot if you go.

 

My mom and dad thought I was off my rocker when I told them I was going to seminary. Why? Because it was irrational if you were listening to common sense, but I wasn’t listening to common sense, I was listening to God.

 

We are called to leave what we know and to go to where God is calling us. This will not always make sense to the world. It will not always make sense to other Christians. It will not always make sense to your mom or dad, or your friends or co-workers; it may not even make sense to you. We are called to walk by faith and not by sight. We think I’ve gotta see it, I’ve gotta touch it, I’ve gotta feel it, but we don’t, when it comes to God. 

 

Satan tells us, “You don’t have what it takes.” And of course he’s right! We don’t have what it takes.  Our future is not in our hands.  Our future is in God’s hands, and we are called to be people of faith, and we are called to follow God wherever he leads.

 

When ever Jesus called another person to be his disciple, he said, “Come follow me”. We are not called to know where we are going. We are called to follow the one who knows where he is going.

 

There is a second reason why people don’t leave and follow God.  Number two is this.  People have a fear of failure, a fear of failure.  Abraham had every reason to stay where he was.  Think about this.  In the natural world this thing looked like a failure in the making.  God says to Abraham, “I want you to leave your country, your people, your family, and I am going to bless you and make you into a great nation.” 

 

Abraham is seventy-five years old.  He’s an old man.  His wife is an old lady and her womb is barren.  They haven’t had any children.  I mean, “Lord, where is a nation going to come from?”  I mean, can you imagine what is going through Abraham’s mind?  I mean, the logical response is this.  “Lord, if I go, we could look like a failure.  We could mess up our future and our life.  You want me to leave my family, my career, my comfort zone, my surroundings?  Lord, I could mess up my entire life.  I could look really stupid.  I could look like an idiot.” 

 

Abraham did not allow the fear of failure to stop him from leaving where he was to go to where God wanted him to be.  Sometimes we allow the fear of failure to paralyze us.  God is calling us to leave.  Jesus is calling us to follow him. He’s calling us to becoming who we were created to be, and yet, we are fearful, and fearful thoughts go through our minds.  “What if I look stupid?  And the enemy uses these things to manipulate us away from God’s will and God’s goodness.

 

There’s a third reason that people don’t leave, and it’s this.  People don’t trust God with their future. I mean, think about this.  Somebody who leaves where they are to follow God, and they have no clue where they’re going, is like a tightrope walker who performs without a net. There’s no family, no friends, no one to catch you if this thing goes bust. Abraham had a real trust in his Heavenly Father.  He knew that his future was in God’s hands and not his hands. 

 

God is speaking to some of you right now, and he’s saying, “I want you to step out in faith. I want you to follow me. I want you to go where I lead you.  Right now, you need to leave where you are.  “I want to use your life to bring heaven to earth in small ways.  There’s more I want to do through your life.”  And yet, right now, you have a fear of the future and of trusting God with your future. 

 

You’re thinking, “Look around.  Look.  I mean, don’t you see what’s happening in the economy?” 

 

Guatemala trip – He called us to go – we set our mind on going. We have been able to raise all the money.

 

But Jesus reminds us with these words,

 

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

 

Jesus said, “Listen.  Your Heavenly Father’s going to take care of you.  He takes care of the birds, and He’ll take care of you.  You can trust Him with your future.” 

 

 Verse 27, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”  Jesus says, “Listen.  Worrying doesn’t solve any problems.  You can’t add an hour to your life.  You can’t solve any problems by worrying.

 

He’ll take care of you.  Notice what Jesus goes on to say.  “O you of little faith? So do not worry.”  Trust God with your future.  Trust God with your life.  “What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear?  For the pagans run after all these things.”  The pagans are those who don’t have a trust in God.  But surely, as God’s people, as Christ followers, our trust is in a loving Heavenly Father

 

If we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and we leave where we are and go to where God wants us to be, God will take care of us, when we put loving him above everything else.

 

When God says leave, He always gives, gives us a promise. 

 

In Genesis chapter 12,verse 1-4, God gave Abraham one command and seven promises.  You know what God was doing?  God was encouraging Abraham to leave. He was sweetening the pot.

 

In verse 1 God commands Abram to leave his country, his people and his father’s household and go to the land he was going to show him. 

 

Then there’s seven promises following that one command.  The first one is:

 

1.      “I will make you into a great nation.” 

2.      “I will bless you.”

3.      “I will make your name great,”

4.      “You will be a blessing,”

5.      “I will bless those who bless you,”

6.      “And whoever curses you I will curse,”

7.      “ And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you,”

 

That’s seven promises, and I love the very next verse,

 

“So Abram left, as the LORD had told him.”  Abraham had no idea where he was going, but he knew God was faithful and he left where he was to go to where God wanted him to be. 

Understand this.  God always gives us incentives to leave where we are to go to where He wants us to be. 

 

v     Is God speaking to your heart to join a Life Group? 

v     Is God speaking to your heart about going to Guatemala for a short-term mission trip to help at risk kids?

v     Is God speaking to your heart about beginning to tithe, beginning to trust God with your money and your power and beginning to invest your money into something that gives eternal dividends and changes people’s lives forever.

v     Is God speaking to your heart about being a mentor in the Kid’s Hope mentoring down at the local elementary school to make a difference in a kid’s life. 

v     Is God speaking to you about stepping out and giving aggressively above your tithe to help a family who is struggling financially, so that they can stay afloat in this struggling economy?

v     Is God speaking to you to move away from some addiction and move towards being addicted to God?

v     Is God speaking to you to move away from your comfortable, apathetic, selfish Christian life and moving toward being a servant full of love for other people?

v     Is God calling you away from being a workaholic and moving you towards giving yourself in love to others?

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If God is speaking to you, and you’re looking around and you’re thinking, “God, You’re wanting to use my life in a great way, but God, I’m comfortable.  I don’t want to leave.  I want to stay where I am,” and God says, “Listen.  There’s greatness in you.  I want to use your life to make a difference, but you’ve got to leave where you are to go to where I am calling you

 

Every time God has done something great through my life, it’s always required me to leave. 

 

Great breakthroughs in my spiritual journey have always come when I told God that I would go wherever he led me. I remember hearing a sermon like this one and my pastor at the time asked people to stand up if they were willing to go wherever God was calling them – to be a difference maker for the kingdom of God, and I can remember, I stunned my wife because we had never talked about this, but I stood up. Jesus said, come follow me, and I said on that day, I will go wherever you lead me.

 

The first time God called me to leave I was at a church and I was in a very influential position, and God spoke very clearly and said I want you to go help these other people start this church downtown. I fought God over this, because my wife and I had all kinds of friends at the church that we were attending, and I had this influential position, and we loved the church. We had been married in this church. Our kids had been baptized at this church. And God said I want you to go. And after a bit of struggling with God, we left and helped this group start this new church in downtown Kalamazoo, and we were amazingly blessed. None of it was rational looking ahead, but looking back you can see how God orchestrated all of it.

 

 

Every time God wanted to do something great through my life, He’s always said, “You’ve got to leave,” and we left where we were to start a church to reach people who are far from God.  And God is speaking to some of you right now.  You’ve got to leave where you are to go to where God wants you to be.  Don’t listen to your spiritual enemy who would say to you, “You don’t have what it takes.  You’re going to mess up your future.”  Your future is not in your hands.  You future is in your Heavenly Father’s hands.